Proposes $89M budget, cuts 44 jobs, hikes taxes 4 percent

GUILDERLAND — After soliciting hundreds of comments from school staff and district residents, Guilderland’s superintendent has proposed an $88.8 million budget for next year, an increase of 1.5 percent in spending over this year. The plan cuts 44 jobs.

If the proposal were to be adopted, the district anticipates a tax-rate increase of 3.96 percent for Guilderland residents.

“In every decision, we tried to think about the impact on children first,” Superintendent Marie Wiles told the crowd of about 40 on Tuesday night in a televised presentation.

Her proposal keeps the controversial full-day kindergarten program and maintains three levels of interscholastic sports — modified, junior varsity, and varsity. It does not include freshman and repeat sports, eliminated in this year’s budget but restored by community fund-raising.

Figuring on a roughly 4-percent tax hike, the district anticipated about a $4 million gap if it were to keep the same staff and programs it has this year. Participants at several budget forums were asked to give their opinions on proposed cuts in four quadrants. Reviewing the comments made at the forums as well as through the district website, Wiles said, “In all that feedback, there was no consensus.”

She also said, “We heard loud and clear the notion: Reduce but don’t eliminate.”

The goal, Wiles said, was to “strike a balance” in making cuts at different levels, for students of different abilities, in the four quadrants, and across different job classifications.

In her proposal, 30.5 percent of the dollars cut are from the five elementary schools; 25.1 percent from the middle school; 36.6 percent from the high school; 7 percent district-wide; and .8 percent in state-required services to private education.

Figuring the percent of dollars cut from programs for students of different abilities, the plan would cut 11.7 percent from struggling students; 82.5 percent from average-need students; and 5.7 percent from students “who need to be pushed to meet their full potential,” said Wiles.

The quadrant to take the heaviest hit was core academic programs at 43.1 percent; followed by enhanced educational opportunities at 23.8 percent; health, social/emotional, and academic support services at 18.7 percent; and educational support services at 14.4 percent.

Tuesday’s hour-and-a-half presentation focused, sometimes in great detail, on what was being cut as opposed to what was included in the budget. Altogether, the plan calls for cutting 44 jobs; 56 jobs were cut for this year’s budget. The district currently employs 737 full-time and 327 part-time workers.

Wiles’s 2011-12 proposal would cut roughly 30 teachers, or 6.2 percent of the current teaching staff of 490. It would cut seven teaching assistants, or 5 percent; 1.6 administrators, or 5.2 percent of the current 32 administrators; and roughly 6 support staff, or 1.8 percent.

Declining enrollment drove a number of the cuts. The district currently has 5,236 students and expects a drop of 114 students next year, mostly at the elementary level.

Wiles, who became Guilderland’s superintendent last October, said she was committed to reviewing, before the next budget cycle, the district’s administrative structure, its use of time in scheduling, and building use.

“Will we always need five elementary schools?” she asked, noting that graduating classes number over 400 students while incoming classes are below 300.

“I am pledging to you a commitment to do some real study — soon,” Wiles told the crowd. After the meeting, she told The Enterprise she hoped to have the studies underway this spring. On scheduling, she said, “Our structure is very expensive; it requires us to be staff rich.”

While an outside consultant might be hired to look at scheduling, Wiles said she thought the administrative structure could be evaluated internally with an eye to efficiency.

“Form follows function is the idea,” she said, using a phrase coined by American architect Louis Sullivan and popularized by his apprentice Frank Lloyd Wright. “We need to start with what we want to accomplish and design backwards,” said Wiles.

Tuesday’s session ended with administrators answering 27 questions posed by audience members through written cards, tabulated by a facilitator. At the very end, Wiles urged people to check the district website for detailed information and also encouraged them to attend upcoming meetings. Regular school-board meetings, which offer periods for public comment, will be held on March 8 and 22. And an informal budget hearing will be held on March 15.

The board is slated to adopt a spending plan on April 12; it goes to public vote on May 17.

Near the start of Tuesday’s session, Assistant Superintendent for Business Neil Sanders went over much of the background he had presented at earlier budget forums. (For more details, go online to www.altamontenterprise.com and look under Guilderland archives in 2011 for Jan. 6, Jan. 13, Feb. 10, Feb. 17, and Feb. 24.)

On the revenue side for 2011-12, Guilderland is expecting about $22 million in state aid and Medicaid, basing its estimates on the governor’s budget proposal. Guilderland also plans to use $2.5 million from its appropriated fund balance, a half-million from appropriated reserves, $450,000 from inter-fund transfers, and about  $1.4 million from local revenues.

For the $88,757,875 spending proposal, that leaves an estimated $62 million to be raised from local property taxes. To keep that figure from being higher — so that the increase wouldn’t top 4 percent — about $4 million in cuts are proposed.

Core academic programs

One of the controversial big-ticket items under discussion for cutting was the district’s full-day kindergarten program, now in its second year. The superintendent’s proposal keeps the full-day program, rather than reverting to a half-day of kindergarten.

Wiles cited research showing many positive effects of early education. “Perhaps more compelling is our own local data,” she said, noting that 41 percent fewer students need added support in first grade after having attended full-day kindergarten last year. She also cited “astounding statistics,” showing how pleased parents were with their children’s progress.

Financially, the district would lose aid based on enrollment, meaning the savings for returning to a half-day program would total about $240,000, she said. Also, two fewer teaching assistants were needed at the elementary level for reading and math this year because of the success of the full-day program.

Finally, Wiles said, the district’s state aid for going to full-day kindergarten is one time only so if, in three or four years, the district decided to return to full-day kindergarten, it would have to do so without the aid.

Wiles’s proposal also keeps the four-teacher team intact at Farnsworth Middle School and rejects the options to reduce requirements for high-school juniors. “The junior year is pivotal,” she said.

The budget proposal does make these cuts in core academic programs:

— Increasing class size by one student in kindergarten, first, and second grades, cutting one teacher for a savings of $69,000, affecting 23 students in one section;

— Increasing class size in third, fourth, and fifth grades by one student, to cut 6.8 teachers for a savings of $469,200, affecting 75 students in three sections;

— Increasing class size in high-school Regents courses from 26 to 28, cutting 1.6 teachers to save $110,000;

— Reducing foreign-language sections at the middle school due to enrollment, cutting .8 of a teaching post to save $55,200;

— Reducing 16 sections to 14 in seventh grade to reflect enrollment, cutting 2.8 teachers to save 193,200, affecting 50 students;

— Reducing integrated English and social-studies sections from eight to four at the high school, cutting 1.8 teachers to save $124,200, affecting 140 students;

— Offering seniors meeting graduation requirements an option of reducing their course load to cut one teacher and save $69,000; and

— Reducing sections in English, math, social studies, and foreign language at the high school due to enrollment, cutting 2.75 teachers for a savings of $189,750.

Enhanced opportunities

The superintendents’ budget keeps the enrichment teacher currently at the middle school, rather than making the $69,000 cut that had been discussed, which would have affected 400 students. The plan reduces enrichment to one day a week at each of the elementary schools, cutting 3.5 teachers for a savings of $155,500, affecting 380 students.

Wiles’s proposal also keeps modified sports, played at the middle-school level, at a cost of $69,220, which affects 231 students. While the proposal keeps three levels of interscholastic sports — modified, junior varsity, and varsity — it does not include freshman sports or repeat sports. Last year, the budget cut these freshman sports: football and boys’ and girls’ soccer in the fall, and boys’ lacrosse, baseball, and softball in the spring. Additionally, the repeat sports of fall cheerleading and winter track were cut at the junior varsity and varsity levels; those sports are for both boys and girls.

Sports boosters then rallied and raised funds, roughly $70,000, from the community to restore all sports for this school year.

The 2011-12 proposal, Sanders told The Enterprise yesterday, cuts the one remaining freshman sport — basketball for both girls and boys. This saves $11,300 and affects 29 students.

About modified sports, Wiles said on Tuesday, for most sports, there are limited or no alternate community-sponsored opportunities for student participation, and Guilderland would be at a long-term competitive disadvantage with other Suburban Council school districts that aren’t contemplating cuts to modified sports.

The proposed budget also makes these cuts to enhanced educational opportunities:

— Reducing non-mandated sixth-grade courses to 20 weeks of foreign language, and 10 weeks of technology, cutting 2.4 teachers to save $165,600, affecting 400 students;

— Reducing co-curricular offerings at the high school and middle school to save $120,590, affecting 580 students. Decisions on which organizations to cut haven’t been finalized; the number of participants is being considered and a draft list, Wiles said, keeps student government, the yearbook, and the school newspaper;

— Limiting instrumental lessons to ninth- and tenth-graders at the high school, cutting half a teacher’s post, to save $34,500, affecting 73 students;

— Eliminating the Foreign Language Early Start program in the elementary schools, cutting one teacher to save $72,020, affecting 693 students;

— Eliminating all field trips to save $40,000;

— Offering eighth-grade accelerated science during the school day, increasing access by 30 students, cuts six-tenths of a teaching post to save $35,580;

— Reducing support for Tech Valley High School tuition by one to save $12,000. Wiles noted that Tech Valley High was meant to be a model of hands-on, real-world learning on which other schools could model their programs;

— Eliminating Italian 1 at the high school, cutting four-tenths of a teaching post to save $27,600, affecting 25 students. Wiles said that students “in the pipeline” would be able to continue their studies and the district will still offer three other foreign languages — Spanish, French, and German;

— Reducing Syracuse University Project Advance classes, which are college-level courses taught at the high school, from five to three, cutting one-quarter of a teaching post to save $17,250, affecting 30 students; and

— Eliminating eighth-grade studio art, cutting two-tenths of a teaching post to save $13,800, and affecting 15 students. Wiles said those students could take studio art in ninth grade.

Health, social/emotional and academic support services

All of the items under consideration in this quadrant were included, in some form, among the cuts in the superintendent’s budget:

— Reducing high school classroom-based science support, cutting 2.7 teachers for a savings of $186,300, affecting 100 students. There is no requirement for more than one teacher to be present in any science class or lab, said Wiles. Calling the current model “very expensive,” she said students who are struggling can still get extra help during advisory periods;

— Reducing the social-worker staff district-wide from 10 to 11, cutting one job for a savings of $74,00. The United States Department of Education recommends one social worker for every 800 students while the School Social Work Associates of America recommends one for every 400 students; the new ratio at Guilderland will be one for every 530 students, said Wiles, noting that guidance counselors, psychologists, and assistant principals also offer support;

— Reverting to a three-house model at Farnsworth Middle School, cutting two jobs for a savings of $114,200, affecting 300 students. In the current four-house model, the fourth house is divided, said Wiles, and there are only three house principals;

— Reducing elementary teaching-assistant hours for math and reading, cutting two jobs and saving $52,000. There is reduced need based on results from full-day kindergarten, said Wiles, and struggling elementary students are supported with direct instruction through reading and math specialists;

— Reducing teaching-assistant hours at the high school, transitioning to a co-teaching model for special education, cutting two jobs for savings of $52,000. The current model of 15 special-education students working with one teacher and one teaching assistant is being changed to a model of 12 students working with two teachers, said Wiles;

— Reducing teaching-assistant hours for math at the high school, cutting one job for a savings of $26,000. One teaching assistant can serve seven sections of math, said Wiles; there are 15 sections that require assistance;

— Reducing private-school nursing services by one-half of a nurse’s job for a savings of $23,550, affecting 100 students. Federal guidelines recommend one nurse for every 750 students, said Wiles. Guilderland school nurses serve about 500 students at each elementary school, 600 students at the middle school, and 900 at the high school. The district is required, by law, to provide nursing to private schools; one nurse at St. Madeleine Sophie serves 100 students, said Wiles; and

— Limiting summer school to students repeating courses would save $27,405 and affect 230 students. Summer school, said Wiles is “a key part of our drop-out reduction plan.”

Educational support services

Wiles’s budget proposal keeps the transportation limits for busing students as they are now. State law would allow the district to increase the eligibility to three miles for high-school students and two miles for younger students.

While there was “some misconception” that students would have to walk to school, Wiles said the change, instead, meant the district would not be responsible for transportation within those limits. Walking is not an option in heavy traffic areas, she said. As parents drove students or older students drove themselves, increased congestion would raise safety issues, said Wiles.

Also, she said, the district would lose $209,000 in aid, making the savings, pegged at $387,230 before subtracting the lost aid, insufficient to warrant change.

The superintendent’s budget also does not defer $100,000 worth of projects to improve energy efficiency.

Wiles’s budget does make these cuts to educational support services:

— Reducing teacher leader appointments at the middle school and high school for a savings $40,370. Teacher-leader posts will continue at the elementary schools, where there are no instructional administrators for core subjects;

— Reducing purchase of instructional technology equipment by $50,630;

— Eliminating library typists, cutting 2.65 jobs for a savings of $87,45. Office staff or volunteers may take on this work;

— Reducing administrators for special education from four to three, saving $56,770. The post at the middle school would be cut; house principals at Farnsworth and the district’s special-education administrator would pick up the duties, Wiles said. Also, a teacher would be assigned part-time to facilitate meetings of the Committee on Special Education; the cost for that half-time job is figured into the savings;

— Eliminating the instructional administrator for guidance, cutting six-tenths of a job for a savings of $51,770. Those duties would be shifted to the high-school principal, said Wiles;

— Removing personal appliances like coffee pots and microwaves to save $45,000 in energy costs;

— Reducing district office clerical staff by one job to save $33,000; and

— Reducing late bus runs by one to three days a week, saving $21,600.

Wiles outlined the duties of Guilderland’s administrators, including the three assistant superintendents, the seven building principals, the three assistant principals at the high school, the three house principals at the middle school, the nine instructional administrators, and the four special-education administrators.

“They make it possible for teachers to focus on teaching,” she said. “Administrators are our problem-solvers, our planners.”