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Putnam Valley School District's First Quarter's Budget Status Meets Expectations
Board Tackles Budget Process
By Margaret Sternberg
September 30 represents the close of the first budget quarter of the Putnam Valley School District, and at the October 18, 2007 meeting of the Board of Education Assistant Superintendent of Finance Paul Lee presented a quarterly status report.
Revenues for the district are expected to be about $214,000 more than the $40,945,232 budgeted, primarily due to tuition monies the district has received.
Expenditures are divided among six areas: general support, instruction, transportation, benefits, debt service and the general fund.
In the area of general support, the district expects to have approximately $72,000 more than the $4,180,940 estimated for the total fiscal year. Under instruction, over the fiscal year the district expects to show a positive variance of $760,318, due primarily to savings in the areas of special and regular education and fewer than expected placements.
Transportation is expected to be less than a scant $500 ahead of the fiscal year cost estimate, while debt service, which is known from the start, shows no variance either positive or negative. Benefits spending for the entire fiscal year is expected to be $7,724,084. The district budgeted conservatively in this area, anticipating spending more than is now found to be needed, and currently expects to under spend the estimate by $337,685.
The general fund appears to be, over the full fiscal year, ahead by $1,125,863, which represents 2.7 percent of the adjusted budget balance.
Lee said that current expenditures accounted for approximately 13 percent of the total budget, which mirrors past trends.
Dovetailing the budget status report, the board discussed the "budget strategy" for the upcoming year. Stung by voters' initial rejection of the district's 2006-7 budget, the board has increased efforts to limit spending and to solicit public input during the entire budget process where, in the past, public input had been near the conclusion of the lengthy process and directly before the board voted to approve the budget for public referendum.
Board President Tina Mackay said one objective would be not to "sacrifice the program portion of the budget to absorb retirement costs that are really legislated, and we have no control over those." Trustee Mary Maus suggested working with a "ballpark figure" to maintain what the district now has [in programs and mandated expenses.]
Discussion of a budget ceiling caused Trustee Frank Real to comment that there were certain costs "out of our control. Our budget to budget increase with the status quo results in a 9 percent increase," adding that using a cost of living increase "makes a lot of sense." Superintendent Dr. Marc Space suggested using cost of living as a baseline, followed by finding out the amount of state aid and constructing the budget from that point. President Mackay suggested that any budget increase should be no more than 5 percent.
Vice President Guy Cohen suggested that a Budget Committee comprised of community members meet with the Administration and that the committee then bring their findings directly to the board. Cohen said this had been tried in the past, with varying degrees of success. Several other suggestions were for the inclusion of students, the community in general, people with no children in the schools, and the "key communicators."
In other business, the meeting was the occasion of a number of Pride in Putnam Valley citations. Thomas Ricci and Hannah Schmidt both received certificates for being 2008 National Merit Scholarship commended students. Also given Pride in Putnam Valley certificates in a separate and surprise presentation were all of the school board members, who were thanked for their service by Superintendent Space. Board members also received Certificates of Appreciation from the PTA/PTSA. Board President Mackay thanked everyone, saying that "It's truly a pleasure to serve on the board."
A plaque was given to the district by the superintendent and school board of Jefferson Parish Public School in Louisiana in recognition of "extraordinary contributions to our system, so unselfishly given following Hurricane Katrina." The Make a Difference and World Language Clubs had both been responsible for the aid the Jefferson Parish School received, and members and advisors were recognized with Pride in Putnam Valley certificates.
The board also approved services with LifeTrack Services, Inc. to conduct High School Senior Exit Surveys and Post- Graduate Surveys. The service will compile baseline data on graduates to be used for curriculum study and improvement.
The next meeting of the Putnam Valley Board of Education will be Thursday, November 1, at 7 pm.
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