This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Schools

Blind Brook Board of Education Approves $39 Million Budget

Blind Brook School Board accepted a $39 million budget with a 0.7 percent tax levy increase for 2011-2012. Three-term board member Lawrence Engle announced he will not seek re-election.

The Blind Brook School Board adopted a 2011-2012 budget of $39,587,508. This budget represents a 0.70 percent increase in total spending when compared to the budget last year.

This budget also calls for a tax levy increase of 0.7 percent, down from the 1.95 percent tax levy increase submitted in the earlier budget.  The expected total tax levy is now $33,696,968; down $418,693 from the earlier number.

Outgoing school board member Lawrence Engle called the proposed budget “nothing more than miraculous.”

“Amongst all the districts in Westchester, we’re most unique,” said school board President Steve Kaplan. According to him, the budget “puts us at the bottom of the first quartile” in terms of tax levy increase throughout the county.

Kaplan also said the district will receive an additional $30,000 in state assistance from Albany.

Find out what's happening in Ryewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Overall expenditures were reduced by $338,080 from the earlier proposed budget.  According to an internal memorandum to the Blind Brook Board of Education made available to Patch, several line item adjustments were made:

Expenditure revisions made to this latest budget draft

Find out what's happening in Ryewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

  • Removed $300,000 contingency
  • Removed $50,000 repair reserve
  • Debt Service reduced by $85,000 as a result of refinancing
  • Transportation reduced by $22,000 as a result of elimination of Wolverine contract
  • Central Office reduced by $20,000 as a result of reduced auditing and BOCES charges
  • Operations & Maintenance reduced by $18,000 as a result of a number of budget line reductions
  • Curriculum & Instruction reduced by $9,000 as a result of reduced BOCES charges
  • Instructional increased by $85,000 as a result of increases to MS salary, textbooks and BOCES costs
  • Technology increased by $54,000 as a result of advancing the wireless project timeline
  • Benefits increased by $18,000 as a result of changes to payroll (MS, coaching stipends and lane changes)
  • Legal increased by $9,000 as a result of additional anticipated extraordinary legal costs
  • Guidance increased by $2,500 as a result of the anticipated clerical salary increase

Revenue revisions made to this latest budget draft

  • Increased the appropriated surplus line to $1,500,000
  • Increased the state aid line by $29,545 taking into account the final state aid figures for 2011-2012 released today

Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Facilities Jonathan Ross said the budget, which cuts 11.6 FTEs or 16 jobs, “protects the core” and would not affect the district’s ability to deliver on its curriculum and instructional goals.

The most difficult times are still ahead and the administration will begin preparing for the “spectre of 2013” as early as this June. It is in that fiscal year, said Ross, the impact of both the sluggish economy and anticipated state budget controls will be fully upon the Blind Brook district.

A complete budget book will be available online early next week, Ross said.

Tax Assessor Will Attend April 26 Meeting

Anticipating there will be questions about property revaluations as well as possible property tax increases for some district residents, Kaplan said tax assessor Mitchell Markowitz will be present at the April 26 school board meeting. Residents will be able to learn more about the assessment valuations and how they can be aggrieved. Kaplan said the session is not to address specific appeals by residents, but to answer questions and provide information.

Stark Redeploys Resources From Kindergarten to Second Grade

The Board approved a recommendation from Superintendent Stark to reduce kindergarten sections to 4 and increase the number of second grade sections to 5. 

After hearing an up-to-date report of incoming kindergarten and second grade student numbers from Ridge Street School Assistant Principal Tracy Taylor, Stark recommended the board reallocate the number of sections for those grade levels so that teachers could begin preparing for the upcoming school year.

According to Taylor, figures yesterday afternoon indicated there will be 78 incoming kindergarten students and 91 incoming second graders. Three of the kindergarten students and one of the second graders are children of faculty.

The conversation reopened a discussion earlier in the year about class sizes. Stark repeated his position that the district should not adopt defined enrollment caps.

“The district does not have an enrollment cap per se, but a point at which it has conversation, investigation of what it wants to do,” said Stark.

For grades kindergarten through second, that point is 22 registered students per classroom. Stark said leaving enrollment caps off the table would leave the district some flexibility in how to deal with what he called “fluid enrollment situations.”

“I don’t believe that at any time this district should ever consider hard caps,” said Stark. “I don’t think it’s in the interest of the district. At these numbers we investigate, that’s a reasonable way to go.”

Stark said that based on anecdotal evidence, it was not likely a large enough number of kindergarten students would register in coming weeks to require an additional section, but it was clear that the second grade was more quickly approaching the need for an additional section.

Kaplan agreed. “You could pick up another half dozen kindergarten students, the second grade will have a more favorable ratio.”

Modified Sports Rejected

After considering the addition of modified basketball to supplement winter activities at the middle school level, the Board ultimately decided not to fund hoops, especially since there is already a village recreation program. Sheri Zarkower and Nancy Barr voted in favor of the basketball team, but were outnumbered.

“We cannot be everything to everybody, “ said Engle. “We’re concerned about basketball, when there are plenty of opportunities to play? We can’t be everything to everybody.”

Engle Announces End of Service

Board member Lawrence Engle announced that after three terms of service, he has decided not to seek re-election. “The commitment of time has grown immeasurably during the last nine years,” said Engle, who said the pull of his professional obligations and family life had won over the requirements of the school board post.

As an outgoing campaign, Engle said he would be challenging the board “to think, plan and act" for the year 2020. “Where do we want Blind Brook to be in 2020?” asked Engle. “We can’t wait for Albany to save our schools. We must save ourselves.”

Fellow board member Nancy Barr was the first to express her disappointment at Engle’s announcement. “I think it’s a great loss to school district and the board that you will not be running again,” said Barr.  “Your passion, intellect and institutional memory will really be missed. I hope you will stay very involved.”

Stark also had praise for Engle. “I would include wisdom to describe the impact Larry has had.”

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported the number of second grade classes for the upcoming school year. There will be 5 sections of 2nd grade averaging 18 students each, according to Asst. Superintendent Jonathan Ross. Also changed were references to the difference between the budget last year and the one just adopted. A quote attributed to Asst. Superintendent Jonathan Ross was omitted. RH

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?