WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey. February 23, 2009 UPDATED 10:30 A.M. EST February 24, 2009: The White Plains Superintendent of Schools Timothy Connors introduced a Preliminary Budget for the 2009-2010 school year of $185.9 Million Monday night, trimming the budget through targeted layoffs and a policy of not filling retiring positions, without identifying who and how many teachers, teaching assistants, secretaries and custodians would be affected by the personnel cuts. The budget, year to year is up less than 1% (0.81%) from the current budget of $184.4 Million.
Timothy Connors, welcoming the public for the Budget Unveiling.
Reduction of the number of certified teachers, secretaries, teaching assistants and custodial personnel make up the bulk of the reduction and reduction in fringe benefit costs, lopping $4 Million from the previous suggested 2009-10 budget of $190.3 Million the Superintendent submitted to the Board of Education in January.
The Superintendent declined at this time, in an interview to specify the total number of persons losing their positions and who they were and what their positions were. He said he had the areas for personnel cuts identified, however. The new budget was described by the superintendent as an “austerity budget,” and was described by the Assistant Superintendent of Business as the equivalent of any Contingency Budget the district would be forced to if the budget were voted down.
The Superintendent said that attrition, retirements and layoffs could be anticipated across ranks of Certified Teachers, Teaching Assistants, Custodians, and Secretarial Personnel to achieve a little more than half a percent reduction in salaries from $100.2 Million this year to $99.6 Million in salaries a reduction of $607,240 in salaries for 2009-10.
Teacher Settlement Anticipated and Provided for in Salary/Fringe Benefit Allocation
He said the $99.6 Million figure included wage increases expected as a result of any settlement achieved in the teacher-school district mediation process which resumes Thursday at 4 P.M. He said any layoffs of teaching personnel would not impact class size significantly and would maintain the class size parameters White Plains expects.
In an interview with WPCNR, he declined to place a number of actual layoffs at this time, pending public reaction to the preliminary budget which the board seeks Wednesday evening from the public at a forum to be held at the high school at 7:30 P.M. He said if the public requires more cutting, the layoffs would grow, and he had identified the layoff sectors already and knew where more would come from.
Fred Seiler, the Assistant Superintendent for Business said the Preliminary Budget would be equal to about what a contingency budget would call for based on the subustantial decline in inflation the last six months. He points out here that the Preliminary Budget at an increase of just 0.81% year-to-year is less or equal to any possible contingency budget the school district would be allowed to present, should the budget be defeated in voting May 19. Last year the budget increase year-to-year was 5.95%.
The $4,387,958 in reduction from the $190.3 Million January budget, saw $607,240 in salaries being the biggest dollar reduction followed by a big $768,391 in “other expenses” —the bulk of which was $468,900 saved in maintenance and service contracts, followed by $88,000 cut from curriculum and staff support, $82,579 from Administrative, $50,000 from legal and $34,689 from Graduations, admissions, subscriptions.
BOCES services were reduced $246,156; Equipment was reduced $166,169, Tuition $393,262, Supplies by $152,589. The budget goes up $1,491,183.
No comments were made as to the expected revenue from the district.
Mr. Connors said the district awaits the finalization of the city tax roll Monday March 2. Currently the roll is at $288.4 Million. The City Assessor expects that will decline several hundred thousand dollars up to a million dollars, when interviewed last week by WPCNR.
In the Preliminary Budget presented tonight, the Salary Forecast was cut $3.4 Million to $99.6 Million from the previous 09-10 Preliminary Budget (submitted last month) for Salaries of $103 Million.
Fringe Benefit costs were trimmed $1 Million from the $2.3 Million previously projected in January. $300,000 more in savings from the $190.3 Million target were achieved by $200,000 more culls in maintenance, with $100,000 from postage, contractural printing, rentals, advertising.
$2.9 Million in “Other Expenses” Escape Scythe From January Budget
The Superintendent did not make any cuts in the $190.3 Million budget submission involving a number of significant six-figure budgets, classified as “Other Expenses,” that total $2.9 Million—and do not involve staff personnel, including:
Joint Facilities (with City), $60,000;
Fees and Dues $3,000;
Insurance, $660,000;
Educational Support Services $775,000;
Curriculum, Staff Development Support, $225,000;
Adminstrative, $237,450;
Medical & Pyschological Services, $55,500;
Legal Services, $350,000;
Accounting & Financial Services, $170,000;
Environmental Safety, $120,000;
Software, $174,200;
Local Travel, $19,350
Conferences, $60,000
Sewer Tax, $260,000
None of the above categories escaped further cuts. The bulk of the $4.3 Million decrease falls on the teachers, teaching assistants, custodians, secretaries. To be fair, insurance, legal services, and sewer tax may of course not be available to cut.
Fred Seiler said that the district has saved substantially on contributions to the teacher and New York State employees retirement funds (down $65,465 and $220,645 respectively), but cautioned that the hemorrhaging of the stock market this year will result in a substantial increase in those two categories next year because there is a one year lag in contribution adjustments based on state retirement fund performance.
Included in the budget was a new $598,000 for additional language courses beginning in sixth grade in the middle school — the only new program.
A total of $200,000 was cut from Summer Enrichment Programs including the much-touted Emerging Scholars program for grooming minority youth for advanced placement classes.
The complete list of Summer Enrichment Programs that have been eliminated at the present time:
Enrichment summer classes 2-4 for 101 students
Enrichment summer classes 5-7 for 107 students
Enrichment summer classes 8-11 for 179 students
Emerging Scholars Institute for 28 students
