After a long series of trials and tribulations as a result of political turmoil in Albany as it relates to education reform in New York state, the Farmingdale Board of Education unanimously voted at their Wednesday, April 15 public meeting to adopt their 2015-16 budget for voter approval.
The spending plan that will be put before local residents for the district budget vote and elections scheduled for May 19 comes in at a total of $157,357,708; this represents a .55 percent increase over the previous year’s budget, or $861,060.
The tax levy increase is set at 1.28 percent.
At previous Board of Education meetings, it was suggested that it might not be possible to deliver a final budget by the end of April due to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s act of withholding state aid runs from school districts, pending the passing of his educational reform bills through the State Legislature. With no idea how much state aid they would be receiving, schools state wide were forced to construct their 2015-16 budgets essentially blindfolded.
But with the recent approval of the state budget, state aid runs were finally released, and Farmingdale has learned that they will be receiving an approximate $1.1 million increase in aid compared to their original budgeted amount (based on the amount of aid provided last year); nonetheless, Assistant Superintendent Paul Defendini said that this windfall didn’t come without strings attached.
“The Governor managed to get most, if not all, of his educational reform package passed,” he said. “These reforms include an Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR), and there are two categories for every evaluation —student performance and teacher observation. Other areas included in the reform agenda include governing teacher tenure, failing schools, professional development, certification and collective bargaining.”
All of the new APPR measures must be locally negotiated, and failure to receive state approval by Nov. 15, 2015 will result in the state providing zero increase to aid when compared to last school year. As a result of the strict timeframe, Defendini said that Farmingdale Schools is taking a “wait and see” attitude with the actual amount of aid that they will end up getting in the end.
“This time frame is unbelievably ridiculous, and if it is not met, we get nothing of that additional $1.1 million,” he said.
“Knowing that, we will construct a multi-year budget planning process and recommend that we discount that additional $1.1 million and maintain the current state aid budget as it stands, assume that extra money won’t come…if it does, fantastic, that’s an additional $1.1 million that will help us prepare for the future. If it doesn’t at least we’re not putting ourselves in a deficit.”
The current school budget, Defendini said, currently maintains all programs and staffing positions within the district.
It was noted at the meeting that, for last year’s budget vote, a whopping 70 percent of residents approved Farmingdale Schools’ spending plan. Defendini urged such overwhelming support once again this year, noting that if the proposed 2015-16 budget were to be defeated by voters, it would necessitate a minimum reduction of $1,522,221; this would result in a great deal of harm for students within the district, he said.
“If the budget is defeated, it would require cuts to programs in a whole host of areas,” he said. “We would have increased elementary class sizes, reduced electives, reduced athletic teams, musical groups, extra-curricular activities, maintenance, support services and more.”
Superintendent of Schools John Lorentz applauded the effectiveness of the adopted budget and voiced his appreciation to both administration and Farmingdale residents for making it happen.
“I want to thank not only Paul and his staff for how they approach and create the budget, but I also want to thank the community for supporting us as well,” he said. “For the last several years, we’ve managed to stay within the parameters and maintain our financial position and our programs as well and that’s not an easy take. It takes a lot of coverage on all of our parts. Other districts are not in this position and not having the fiscal issues that most districts have is really significant.”
Another item up for voter approval on May 19 is the district’s request to establish a new capital reserve to support capital
improvement projects and upgrades to district facilities, including roof replacement district-wide, renovations to classroom heating systems, and much more. The maximum limit of the proposed new capital reserve is not to exceed $20,000,000, according to Defendini.
“This is an incredible opportunity…we will be able to do $20,000,000 of work to the district,” he said. “And the best part about this is that this will come at no cost to the community whatsoever…we will be making debt service payments every year, like you make on a mortgage, but the improvements will save us more in energy than it’s costing us to pay for the debt service payments.”
The budget vote and district elections will be held on Tuesday, May 19, at Howitt Middle School from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
