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Ask the Superintendent - April 18, 2007
On April 16th, after four months of workshops and
presentations by administrators, the Board of
Education adopted the proposed school budget for
2007/08. In my next three columns, today, May 2nd,
and May 9th, I will offer a detailed explanation of
the proposed budget.
By way of example, each year the expense of
maintaining or “running” a household increases. The
costs of fuel, utilities, repairs, groceries,
insurance, and more simply seem to escalate. A
school district faces similar increases. The key to
being successful, whether it be a homeowner or a
school district, is keeping the inevitable increase
manageable through a carefully planned budget and
with prudent spending.
The budget being placed before the voters on May
15th, totals $55,290,743, which is a 6.9% increase
over last year. The following chart will help
explain the budgets and percent of increase from
previous years.
|
GOSHEN CENTRAL
SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET HISTORY |
|
Year |
Budget
|
% Increase |
| 2003/04
Budget |
$40,313,356
|
7.1% |
| 2004/05
Austerity Budget
|
$42,988,644 |
6.6% |
| 2005/06
Budget
|
$48,744,712
|
13.4% |
| 2006/07
Budget |
$51,711,300 |
6.1% |
| 2007/08
Proposed Budget |
$55,290,743 |
6.9% |
(The large increase
in the 05/06 budget occurred when we became
responsible for educating the students from St.
Dominic’s, which is a residential group home. That
expenditure is fully aidable and we are totally
reimbursed by the State of New York. The law,
however, requires the district to include this cost
in our total budget even though the cost is never
passed on to district residents).
Each year a portion of the school budget is offset
by the revenue that the district earns. This revenue
includes services we provide to other school
districts, Medicaid reimbursements, interest on
investments, rent from BOCES, and reimbursement for
educating Incarcerated Youth and students from St.
Dominic’s Group Home. Another form of revenue
helping to reduce the cost to district residents is
State Aid. The final revenue portion of the budget
is known as the tax levy, which becomes the
responsibility of district residents. The following
chart summarizes these categories.
|
GOSHEN CENTRAL
SCHOOL DISTRICT REVENUE 2007/08 |
| State Aid
(conservative)
|
$12,175,750 |
| Other
Revenue |
$8,876,058 |
| Tax Levy |
$34,238,935 |
| Proposed
Total Budget |
$55,290,743 |
Through careful
planning on the part of the Board of Education and
all of the administrators, we have been able to keep
the tax levy increase below 5% for three consecutive
years and avoid “spike increases” that are often
seen in school budgets.
Also playing a key role in the budget development
was the Citizens’ Budget Advisory Committee, which
met weekly to review the budget presentations and to
ask the “difficult questions.” Readers may recall,
the Citizens’ Budget Advisory Committee certainly
does, that a promise was made to residents three
years ago to keep the tax levy increase below 5%.
This year the tax levy increase is 4.3%, which is
the lowest increase in eight years. The following
chart summarizes these categories.
|
GOSHEN CENTRAL
SCHOOL DISTRICT TAX LEVY HISTORY |
|
Year |
Tax Levy
|
% Increase |
| 2000/01
Budget
|
$19,920,000 |
18.36% |
| 2001/02
Budget
|
$22,125,000 |
11.07% |
| 2002/03
Budget |
$24,952,068
|
12.8% |
| 2003/04
Budget |
$26,936,730 |
8.0% |
| 2004/05
Austerity Budget |
$29,823,130
|
10.7% |
| 2005/06
Budget |
$31,266,570
|
4.8% |
| 2006/07
Budget |
$32,820,520
|
4.9% |
| 2007/08
Proposed Budget |
$34,221,632 |
4.3% |
A major force
that continues to drive our budget is student
enrollment. It might be interesting to compare
district enrollment in the year 2000 with this
year’s current enrollment to see how much we have
grown in seven years.
|
2000/01
Enrollment |
2,662 |
|
2006/07
Enrollment
|
3,062 |
|
Projected
Enrollment 2007/08
|
3,126 |
Scotchtown Avenue
School is our fastest growing school as illustrated
by the following:
|
2005/06
Enrollment |
637 |
|
2006/07
Enrollment |
672 |
|
Projected
Enrollment 2007/08
|
718 |
On May 1st, the
Board of Education will hold its Annual Public
Hearing on the Proposed 2007/08 School Budget. This
offers an opportunity for district residents to see
the budget firsthand and to ask questions. This
meeting starts at 7:00 p.m. in the Board Room at the
Main Street School. In the meantime, we are “off on
our Budget Tour” visiting many local venues. Please
remember our slogan, “Any group of two will do.” If
you would like us to come to a meeting to explain
the budget, all you need do, is ask.
Next week’s article will focus on the two
propositions (Transportation and Telephone/Security
Capital Project) Shortly you will be receiving our
annual budget newsletter. If you have any questions
about the budget before or after reading the
newsletter, please call 294-2410.
Roy Reese
Superintendent of Schools
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