Malverne Residents Speak Up About School Budget

Delivering quality education while keeping the tax burden low is a balancing act that many school districts are struggling with right now, and Malverne is no different.

"We have obligations to the public..and also to the students, faculty and staff of the district," said Dr. Patrick Coonan, president of the Malverne Board of Education, at the start of the open forum for the 2011-2012 school budget last Tuesday. "Balancing those are a bit of a daunting task."

As of the April 5 meeting, the proposed budget was $1,792,098 over the 2010-2011 budget, with an increase of 3.89 percent, but it included many cuts and reductions, including the elimination of about 40 employees.

"The biggest issue here is personnel," Coonan said. The district's contributions to employee and teacher retirement plans alone amounted to a roughly $1 million increase - 11.5 percent higher for teachers and 10.2 percent for other employees compared to last year.

The district's business administrator Thomas McDaid explained that these cost are mandated by New York State and out of the hands of the board and administration.

"The state gives us a percentage of the salaries that we're supposed to pay each year, and this year the rates went through the roof," McDaid said. 

He added that the increases are due to the investment problems with the retirement system that have been going on for the past three years.

"They say it's a five-year process...so it's possible for the next two years we could be dealing with increases like this," he said.

While Malverne teachers contribute around 20 percent of their health insurance costs, higher than most in Nassau County, the district's share for all employees still rose 13.7 percent to $3,844,574.

"When you take the increases in salaries and benefits that represents 88 percent of the budget increase this year," McDaid said. "That means we have less than $250,000 to spend throughout the rest of the budget."

As a result, about 250 budget lines, more than half, have been reduced or not funded at all including supplies.

Coonan said, "Basically we will open the school year and close budgets to expenditures immediately." 

Maintenance has also been cut and some of the reserve money that is often put aside for emergency repairs is being used to lower the tax levy, as suggested by Gov. Andrew Cuomo although Malverne is not a district that over-funds their reserves.

"We've taken everything we can without putting ourselves in trouble," Coonan said. "There's rumors going around about us hiding money, but what we're keeping in reserves is what we're going to need for emergencies."

"We are totally transparent," he said, adding that the district's auditors recently gave them high marks on how they manage their money.

Spiro Colaitis, assistant superintendent for District Operations, said the cuts to the supplies and maintenance lines did concern him though. "I dread a tragedy out there like we had a few years ago," referring to the steam pipe between the high school and middle that blew and needed to be replaced.

"We've trimmed things down and don't have the fat in the budget to do anything like that," he said, adding that the district would need to scramble for money in the event a major incident like this did occur. Still, he said he was comfortable with the budget proposal.

Deputy Superintendent Richard Banyon was most worried about the staff cuts and the unfunded mandates as he looked over the budget proposal and into the future.

"We got hit this summer when the state raised the benchmarks," Banyon said, explaining that this increased the amount of students requiring AIS services by 300 to 500 percent.

"I don't have a crystal ball....the teachers have major concerns about the assessments in Math and ELA [ in May and June]" he said. "If we don't do as well as we want to do then we'll have more AIS services to provide and I don't know where we're going to get that money from, but we'll find it."

Mandates like this, as well as those requiring districts to pay double-digit increases to employee retirement plans also worried McDaid.

"We have no control," he said. "I'm concerned about this budget but also future budgets, especially if they come down with that tax cap. That's what I lose sleep over."

Add to that decreases in state aid, potential salary increases as the district continues to negotiate employees' contracts and normal inflationary costs, and crafting a zero budget-to-budget increase becomes nearly impossible.

"What would a zero budget increase look like?" Coonan asked.

To offset the $1.7 million increase the district would need to cut an additional 21 percent of its teaching staff.

"We can't do that," Coonan said.

Superintendent James Hunderfund explained that already under the proposed budget there will be a 10 percent reduction in administration and another 10 percent in teaching staff, leading to larger class sizes (about three extra kids on average in the elementary school classes) and potential cuts in courses in the secondary schools that are not required for graduation.

"We're losing some tremendous people," Hunderfund added.

Coonan pointed out that it's the least senior teachers who will go first.

A tenured college professor himself, Coonan said he is "okay" with tenure," but thinks there needs be a fair and equitable way to evaluate teachers that goes beyond just looking at test scores.

"Unfortunately, in circumstances likes this you lose some of the most motivated, brightest people who are starting their careers and there are some people who should have ended their careers," he said.

Coonan also expressed the board's intent not to cut extracurricular programs that perform well in the district, including sports, music and its award-winning marching band and robotics team.

"We're not going there unless we are absolutely forced," said Coonan, who compared cutting these programs to smacking down the students and staff who worked so hard to build them up to where they are today. 

He said there will be minor reductions, but nothing that will have an impact on the activities, which he described as integral parts of students' education too.

"It's part of social learning, cultural learning...and musical is essentially another language," he said, also citing studies that show students who participate in music programs also perform better than their non-musical peers in other subjects.

In response to Coonan's request for input from residents in attendance, Malvernite Ida Berry questioned his decision to take extracurriculars off the table. 

"You started this whole converstaion with there are certian things you are not going to touch," Berry said. "You really don't want much from us, because you came here already with blinders. 

"If 88 percent [of the budget] is salaries and benefits...something else has to go," she added.

Coonan justified his statement by pointing out that sports, music and robotics for the district for the entire year only amounts to $314,000.

"These are small impact items, but have large impacts on student performance," he said.

He then added, "I'm inclined to talk about summer school," which costs the district $300,000. There's already been talk about raising the amount the district charges for its summer recreation program.

Another resident in the audience responded immediately, yelling out "But that benefits the students!"

The woman instead wanted to see teachers and other contracted employees take a pay freeze.

"You shouldn't be increasing salaries if you're laying off people," she said, but was given a quick crash-course in the collective bargaining process.

Hunderfund told her "nothing has been negotiated to date so there is no salary increase technically," still the district needs to budget for this.

Last year, Hunderfund said, the district was able to save teaching jobs and offer retirement incentives by tapping into stimulus funds and artificial income from federal and state resources that are no longer available.

Conversely, this year the district is forced to work with less government aid, while it's expenses continue climb. In addition to those already mentioned, BOCES special education costs also rose to $385,000, as did the amount the district pays to send students to charter schools. This rose from $330,000 to $526,000.

"We have no control over that," Coonan said.

There were a few bright spots in the budget, including food services, which to date is operating with a slight profit. McDaid hopes this trend continues and has allocated less funds to this budget line.

One faculty member suggested the district explore more ways to reduce its paper use by adopting more green initiatives to lower expenses. A few residents tried to nit-pick the budget lines, looking for potential savings. They questioned the amount of chaperones employed for after-school activities and detention, the intent of certain programs like the homework centers and the cost of tutors contracted for students who need at-home and "twilight" instruction.

Margaret Delligatti, a parent and aunt to children who attend the district's schools, instead expressed her support of the administration and the board.

"My concern is with their education, their school supplies and activities proivded to them," she said, pledging to approve whatever increase the board proposes.  

"I drive a Ford Expedition," she said. I go to the gas station and have to pay what the price is...supermarket prices are up. I have to pay them. We all know across the board everything gets raised."

She argued against the "nit-picking," "finger-pointing" and teacher layoffs, saying, "This is about our childern and their education and their future. That's the bottom line."

Still, Hunderfund and Coonan both agreed that there were some areas that could be trimmed further.

"I think this budget is too high," Hunderfund said. "The budget I'm going to bring to the board is going to be lower than this. I don't think I can do much with it but refine it a little more."

Coonan challenged the members of the board and administration to make difficult decisions, saying that in his career he often works with distressed hospitals on the brink of bankruptcy who must make similar choices.

"We put them under the microscope and must restructure without hurting patient care," he said. "Peoples' lives are in their hands here and you need 'X' amount of nurses no matter what and the same thing applies to teachers, but do you need to have two managers on this unit?"

Regarding whether the superintendent or deputy superintendent would take a salary freeze this year, Hunderfund said, "There will be discussion, I'm sure... they've just been kind to us so far," explaining that the board will address this when they are ready.

The administration will present its final proposal to the board on April 12, who will then vote to adopt it. Once that final budget is adopted, a contingency budget can be discussed. At the meeting, McDaid said he will also offer more details about how much will be allocated to the reserves.

"You can't be penny-wise and pound-foolish," Hunderfund said, condeming Gov. Cuomo's recommendation for district's to rely on their reserves to get through this year as a "simplistic solution.."

"You don't get reserves without being able to save and as you use reserves (ie. for unemployment insurance) you run out...then you're broke," he said, pointing to Roosevelt as an example.

Right now, he said the district is in a good position.

"We're not over-funded...but we don't even want to talk to you about this 2 percent [proposed] tax cap," Hunderfund said. "When you do the numbers on that, they're so scaring and so devastating to school districts we believe some districts will fold," leading to "horrendous cuts."

Coonan conveyed the board's commitment to the education of the students in the district, while promising to be cognizant of the burden on the taxpayers.

"We're trying to balance that very fine line," he said. 

"I live here too. My school taxes are about $11,000 personally...maybe more," he added. "The last thing I want to do is stick them up into the stratosphere and not be able afford to live here anymore."