Scarsdale School Superintendent Outlines Budget Challenges for 2013-14

Though the last five years have brought modest school tax increases to the community, this year, challenges from the state could lead to a far greater school tax increase to fund the 2013-14 school budget. At the first community budget forum on Wednesday January 9, Mike McGill and Linda Purvis set the stage for upcoming budget discussions and explained the forces that will define the process.

McGill first gave a global view of the issues faced by schools across the country:

-At a time of a global revolution in innovation and technology American schools have fallen behind in producing achievement-oriented talent. At the same time, other countries are investing in education and shifting from schools that emphasize conformity to those that teach innovation and creativity.

-The marketplace is changing and when Scarsdale students graduate there will be fewer lifetime jobs. Instead, employers will seek a new breed of initiators and innovators with global competencies.

-The acceptance rate at the countries top colleges, including the Ivy League, MIT and Stanford was just 9.2% last year.

-In New York, we continue to face a difficult and uncertain economic climate. There is anger at unions and teachers, intrusive state and federal regulations and more and more unfunded and costly mandates.

For the last five years, budget growth has averaged 2.58% and a host of factors made it possible for the board to keep the increase below 3%. Among these were:

• Enrollment growth stablization
• Refinancing of debt service
• Employee cooperation on salaries
• Effective management of self-insured health plan
• Staff attrition
• Curtailment of capital investment

Since 2008-9, 15 full time positions have been eliminated and new staff has been hired at lower salaries. Debt refinancing saved the district $300,000 and improvements to the district's energy infrastructure reduced consumption. Department budgets at the high school have been reduced by 17%.

In the past five years the community has demonstrated overwhelming support for the current educational program, with school budget approval rates of more than 70%.

However, for 2013-14, the administration has already learned that Scarsdale's contribution to the state retirement system will add $3.5 million or 2.5% to the overall budget. That payment alone will cause the budget to increase beyond the 2% state cap by what McGill says is "a considerable amount." In fact, later in the meeting, Robert Berg said, "from what I see we are looking at a tax increase of 6-7%?" and McGill replied, "yes."

In addition, since the Board opted to use some of the reserve funds to balance the 2012-13 budget, these surplus funds are not available to fund the 2013-14 budget and buffer the community against a larger increase for 2013-14. In 2012-13, $6,195,354 of reserve funds were used to fund the 2012-13 budget, representing 4.37%.

Also this year, contracts with the teachers union as well as other school staff such as secretaries, custodians, bus drivers, and ground workers will be renegotiated in collective bargaining sessions. The outcome of these negotiations will impact the school budget as well.

Representatives from the school PTA's had questions about the budget. First, since a long-term plan for buildings and facilities was presented on Monday night, they wanted to know how improvements to the infrastructure would impact the 2013-14 school budget. (You can see the presentation on proposed building changes to the high school to enhance the educational program here:)

Dr. McGill explained that the infrastructure improvements were part of a long-range plan and suggested that the Board could consider issuing bonds to finance these improvements as interest rates are now low. This would have little impact on the current budget.

Questions were also posed about more immediate plans for construction of the fitness center at the high school, as $350,000 was already approved in the 2012-13 budget. McGill said that construction of the new "Wellness Center" had been incorporated into the larger scheme but acknowledged that this project may need to be undertaken this year.

McGill also said that school security was on the administration's agenda and said two ideas were under discussion.

According to the superintendent, there are now security locks available for classroom doors that lock both from the inside and the outside. McGill said that the district will replace locks on all classroom doors with these new locks.

The district will also revisit the idea of posting greeters or guards at school entrances. This is easier to do at the elementary schools where there are only one or two entrances, but challenging at the high school with its multitude of doors.

The first District Safety Team meeting will be held on January 14. The team includes representatives from each school, parents, principals, police, representatives from the buildings and grounds staff, and technology team. They will discuss current practices and explore what improvements might be made to enhance school security. The district will also consult safety experts from schools and universities.

A second School Budget Community Forum will be held on Wednesday January 16 at 10 am at the Girl Scout House.