Nearly 150 attend Long-Term Planning Forum, provide input
On Tuesday, Jan. 24, nearly 150 parents, residents and teachers attended the district’s Long-Term Planning Forum where they heard more about the financial state of the district and what’s at stake for Duanesburg students and the community. They also provided input about the future of the school district during small-group roundtable discussions.
During her opening presentation, Superintendent Christine Crowley explained that the district is once again facing a $1 million deficit going into the 2012-13 budget development process. The combination of a steady decline in revenue from state and federal aid, continued increases in expenses (e.g., health insurance premiums, unfunded mandates), declining enrollment and a dwindling fund balance reserve has backed the district into a financial corner. In addition, the state’s new tax levy “cap” further impedes the district’s ability to raise revenues.
“Over the past few years, the board has made so many cuts and reductions that the district is already operating on a bare-bones budget,” said Crowley. “In fact, the budgets for the past two years have actually been less than previous years.”
At the same time, the board has, in recent years, used a substantial amount of its fund balance reserve to help balance the budget and avoid even deeper cuts. However, if the district continues to use the fund balance in this manner, the district will simply be out of money by the 2014-15 school year.
“So, what if we do nothing and keep operating the district as it is?” asked Crowley.
The answer is that the board would have to exceed its tax levy limit and raise taxes 18 percent, or cut $1 million from the budget. That means eliminating such non-mandated programs and services as kindergarten; sports and clubs; most art, music and technology offerings in grades K-6; AP and UHS classes and also reduce art, music and technology offerings in grades 7-12.
“We realize these would be irresponsible options for Duanesburg students and residents,” said Crowley. “And they would only be short-term solutions, which is why we need to look at long-term options for our future.”
Community tapped for feedback on
future options
Like other small school districts in New York, Duanesburg is exploring new ways
to share services with other districts as a potential way to reduce costs while
maintaining some programs and services.
Duanesburg currently shares busing services with other area schools and participates in healthcare, energy, purchasing and workers’ compensation consortiums. The district is also applying for a grant to explore the possibility of sharing central office and/or transportation services with all Schenectady County school districts.
But this year, as Crowley explained at the forum, the board is also looking into other options, including sharing additional services, “tuitioning” its high school students to another area high school, or even merging/consolidating with neighboring districts.
As Superintendent Crowley and Board of Education President CeCe Tkaczyk emphasized on Tuesday night, no decisions have been made about any of the options discussed at the forum. Nevertheless, many residents did express, in their small-group discussions, the desire for the board to be proactive and begin collecting as much information as possible.
“We want to keep our community intact,” said one resident. “Yet, we understand that change must happen, so we need be the leader and be involved in the future of the school district.”
To that end, the board is set to apply for a grant with the Schoharie, Middleburgh, Cobleskill-Richmondville, Jefferson and Berne-Knox-Westerlo school districts that would fund the lion’s share of a study that researches the efficiency of such shared services as transportation, academics, staffing, special education, central office responsibilities, etc., as well as a potential consolidation among the districts included in the study.
Furthermore, at its Feb. 7 meeting, the board is expected to vote on a resolution that enters Duanesburg into a feasibility study with the Schalmont and Mohonasen Central School Districts. The board is also planning to meet in February with the Berne-Knox-Westerlo school board for a discussion about shared services and consolidation efficiency.
“We want to gather as much information as possible about our future options,” said Crowley. “We are fortunate to at least have some time to conduct these studies, get the community involved and work together during the decision-making process.” She reiterated that the board is only agreeing to conduct these feasibility studies and that any potential merger on the horizon would need to go to a public vote.
A summary of the community’s input shared with the seven facilitators who ran the small-group discussions is currently being compiled and will be posted on the district’s website in the coming weeks. Answers to questions posed by residents at the forum will be posted online as well.
If you have additional questions about the information discussed at the forum (e.g., budget, future options, etc.) please submit them to Communications Specialist Tara Mitchell at tmitchell@duanesburg.org.
To download a copy of the PowerPoint Presentation, follow this link.
To download the evening’s agenda, follow this link.