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Putnam Valley's Revised Proposed 06-7 Budget Cuts Teachers, Increases Class Sizes
Students deeply concerned over effects on programs
by Margaret Sternberg
A standing-room-only audience waited patiently through some already scheduled presentations for the Putnam Valley Board of Education to address the overarching topic of its May 18 meeting the defeat of the 2006-7 school budget.
Superintendent Gary Tutty, clearly very subdued and concerned over the rejection of the budget, presented three options to the Board of Education: a revote on the original $39,385,220 budget, revote a revised budget or adopt a Contingent Budget. He then presented a proposed revised budget that reduced the defeated budget by $507,334 to $38,877,886. Tutty said that by reducing the number of teachers $405,216 would be saved, a concomitant reduction of benefits would save $97,118. Reducing Intramurals would save another $5,000. A budget hearing will be scheduled between June 6-13 but the exact date was not determined. The budget revote is scheduled for June 20, 2006.
The revised budget would entail a 4.4 percent spending increase. Tutty warned that the budget decisions that would be made this year would have ramifications on subsequent years' budgets particularly in light of expected decreases in state aid and because the district tries to plan several years forward.
Tutty also presented tax examples showing, under the revised budget, a projected tax rate for Cortlandt of a 4.59 percent decrease, assuming no assessment increase. Carmel would show a 2.47 percent tax increase, also assuming no increase in assessment. In Putnam Valley, taxpayers whose assessment increased 7.7 percent or less, Tutty said, will pay less school tax. If the assessment increased more than 7.7 percent, school taxes would rise. Based upon a 10 percent assessment increase, a taxpayer whose house was assessed at $400,000 and now at $440,000, would pay $165 more in school taxes. A taxpayer whose house was assessed at $600,000 and now at $660,000, would pay $248 more in school taxes.
Under the revised 2006-7 budget two teaching positions and the 0.4 music position would be eliminated from the elementary school. Based upon reducing one teacher each in the first and second grades, class sizes, respectively, would rise from 19.3 to 22.5 children and from 20.6 to 24 children, a situation Tutty resignedly described as "almost palatable."
In the middle school, an art teacher with 1.2 in teaching time would have 0.2 eliminated; two 0.2 Math teachers would be eliminated, and the middle school librarian, a 1.0 position, would be eliminated.
The high school would see the loss of, in total, a 0.8 science position, resulting in the school meeting but no longer exceeding the state lab requirement. A 1.0 English teacher who had been doing Academic Intervention Services would be replaced by a .2 AIS teacher, who would probably do the tutoring after school. A 0.4 audio/visual position would be eliminated.
On the district level, a 1.1 technology coordinator would be moved to the middle school to replace the eliminated media teacher. This person would also teach a class and do staff development over the summer for the 9th grade teachers involved in the laptop rollout for that grade. Intramural stipends would also be eliminated.
A contingency budget, which would be put into effect should the revised budget also be defeated, would require that an additional $335,000 be eliminated from the revised budget and would result in possibly more staff cuts and cuts in sports, co-curricular activities (with the exception of the academic/honor society clubs), field trips, performing arts and in late bus runs as well as one administrator being let go. In addition, under a contingent budget, anyone using the school would be charged for use of the facilities and the AstroTurf field and track area would no longer be available because of the wear involved. In addition, the school would not be able to purchase any type of discretionary equipment.
Responding to a Board question as to why these funds hadn't been cut out of the initial budget, Tutty pointed to the increased class size and the impact on students' learning as well as a general limiting of courses and students' opportunities.
The Board agreed with Tutty that a second budget vote, with a revised 2006-7 budget, should be attempted, with President Tina Mackay opining, once the Board had agreed that putting up the initial 2006-7 budget for a second vote would be fruitless, that the "consequences of going straight to a contingency budget are so dire..." Mackay also voiced concern that academics were taking the brunt of the budget cuts and suggested that the "pain" be spread more equably throughout the departments, specifically citing sports.
Among several students who voiced concern about the budget defeat, Andrew MacIntosh, who graduated last year, talked about "what Putnam Valley High School has done for me," saying that, aside from teaching him how to read and write, "Putnam Valley has made me a better person," elaborating that he had been influenced by many people there "specifically the Arts and Athletics programs." MacIntosh described the staff as "truly special" and said there were "days in the past that I did not see the person who I am today," attributing his being in college and playing collegiate sports to his interactions with the staff at the high school and praising them for "molding" him "into the person I am today."
PV Sophomore Felicia Tavares suggested a community survey on the budget as well as the students taking their own survey to ascertain community feelings on the budget from which the students could then try to help pass the budget. Acknowledging that she and her contemporaries are not yet eligible to vote, she noted that "our opinions matter to us...we think we also need to be heard."
Tavares and several friends later elaborated on feelings, they said, were held by many students. Elizabeth Lange maintained that many in the community were misinformed, based upon what she had heard at the board meeting, and attributed the misinformation to a Pennysaver ad against passage of the budget. She said the students wanted the programs to remain intact and felt that both students and parents should be properly informed, adding there should be more student involvement and that students' opinions "should be embraced, not ignored." Lange, noting that the tax increase for a $1,000,000 house in Putnam Valley came to about the cost of an IPod, said she would "rather have a future in high school and college...and have these opportunities than have an IPod, and I love my IPod, it's with me everywhere."
Eighth grader Vanessa Battista said that if the school is forced to cut so many of its programs, "I might not have the same chance as all the other high schoolers [sic] have had to do plays or sports," concluding that "You make friends by doing sports and extra activities, and that's how everyone meets each other, and that's how everyone starts talking," stressing the benefits of meeting new people and interacting. She also echoed the idea that "it gives you some place to go."
In other business, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Dr. Barbara Fuchs gave an update on data analysis and data "warehousing" with respect to "Curriculum Mapping." Fuchs said that the main focus of curriculum maps is to "make certain that the curriculum is coherent, articulated and consistent across grades and buildings..."
Fuchs then reported on various test results, disaggregating results based on ethnicities, which is required by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). In 4th and 8th grade Science, 95 and 91 percent, respectively, of the students passed and exceeded state standards. For the high school regents course in Living Environment, 85 percent of PV students passed; however, the percentage of students passing in the rest of Putnam County was 91-97 percent, a fact Fuchs attributed to Putnam Valley being a smaller district than either Brewster or Mahopac.
Ann Chesnut presented an update of the Communications Audit. Chesnut summarized some of the accomplishments since the inception of the program, including the district wall calendar program, over 350 press releases, a significant percentage of which had been published in the local press and the upgrading of the Spotlight newsletter.
Areas of concern included centralization of communications, expansion and improvement of communication feedback and focusing communication on the academic excellence and initiatives of the district. Recommendations were to improve overall internal communications, updating of the website more regularly and the inclusion of more information and possibly getting formal communications training for building leadership.
The next meeting of the Putnam Valley Board of Education will be Thursday, June 1, at 7 pm.
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