BERNE — The Berne-Knox-Westerlo School District plans to use the extra money it got in state aid — about $406,000 over this year’s allocation — for one-time expenses. The district also plans, after years of budget cuts, to add courses for students who excel.

“We fared relatively well with the understanding this is a one-time windfall,” said BKW’s school business manager, Sarah Blood. “The gap can only be eliminated once.”

In order to close its own budget gap, the state, since the 2009-10 school year, took money from each school district’s aid allocation, known as the Gap Elimination Adjustment. The state budget agreed on last week, which allocates nearly $25 billion for public schools, eliminates the GEA, a measure supported by both Democrats and Republicans.

BKW has drafted a $22,592,000 spending plan for next year that stays under the state-set levy limit with a 0.5-percent increase. “That’s 11 cents per $1,000 of assessed value,” said Blood of the tax increase over the current year.

Altogether, Blood said, BKW is getting $9,751,547 in state aid, covering less than half of its expenses. The district will use $1.3 million from its reserves, which total about $6 million altogether. For the current year, to avoid increasing taxes, BKW drew $1.5 million from its reserves. “We want to decrease dependency on reserves,” said Blood. Most of the rest of the revenues will come from local property taxes.

“We’re being very smart with the funds we have. We’re using funds in a healthy manner that is sustainable,” said Blood who is new to BKW this year. She used forms to survey administrators and staff in the fall.  “Every department has determined their needs,” she said in February.  “We told them to think big as well as prioritize.”

Under the leadership of a new superintendent, Timothy Mundell, the BKW budget is being presented at six community venues throughout the Hilltowns. Three more presentations remain — April 9 at the Senior Center in Berne, April 11 at the Knox Town Hall, and April 16 at the Knox Reformed Church.

Blood said 10 or 12 people had attended each of the first three sessions. “It’s been very positive,” she said of what she calls the “roadshow.” “We heard really good questions and suggestions,” said Blood.

“They’re able to have a better understanding,” she said of citizens who attended the budget sessions, “and then talk to others in the community.”

At the same time, Blood said, district leaders got ideas on the budget from a community forum and from the Budget Advisory Committee, which was initially suspended by the school board but then, after objections, reinstated.

Asked to characterize the feedback, Blood said, “They want to see more opportunities for students who excel. We’ve been doing a good job with support for those that need help. Now we’ll provide additional opportunities, getting classes that will better prepare students for college.”

BKW has an unusually large expense — $688,605 this year — for out-of-district tuition. Blood said the money is for 14 to 18 students who “have special needs we cannot accommodate.” Next year, that cost will decrease slightly because a few of those students will graduate, said Blood, noting, “We have a high percentage of special-needs students.”

Classes for students who excel

Blood said that, to meet the needs of the students at the other end of the learning spectrum, three teachers will be hired at the high school. A new agriculture program is starting at BKW and a long-defunct Future Farmers of America chapter has been re-established.

Mundell told The Enterprise last year that one of the things he heard on his listening tour of the district was enthusiasm from “lots of kids and parents in 4-H” and “excitement over the state fair.”

He went on, “We need to tap that energy…We’re an agricultural community,” said Mundell, stressing the wisdom of “looking in your backyard” to find the path to the future.

Blood said that BKW students who will study agriculture next year — two classes will be offered in-house — have already been to a farm safety session at Cobleskill College. The plan for the future, although not as soon as next year, is to work with Cobleskill so students can get college credit. Blood, who has a bachelor’s degree in agricultural education, is excited about the program.

BKW will also offer college-level Spanish next year, and, through distance learning, will offer Latin, she said.

There will also be a new math class, which, she said, will “teach real-world math concepts by the students actually building things.”

Next year, too, high school students can also elect to take a new Advanced Placement, or college level, government class, a class on the history of the Helderbergs, or a class on the history of sports.

How is all this being added with such a small increase in taxes? “We’ve been looking critically at the budget this year, making things more efficient,” said Blood. “We’re doing a good job cleaning up health-care benefits, making sure people being charged for are still here. And contracts were settled at lower rates than anticipated. We’re looking more wisely at our money.”

One-time expenses

The 2016-17 budget includes a number of what Blood termed “one-time expenses,” to be covered by the one-time additional state aid.

The high school track will be resurfaced at an estimated cost of $70,000, said Blood. That should last for 10 years, she said. The community rallied to finish building the track when grants and allotted funds ran out. “We need to respect that and take care of it,” said Blood. “It’s in dire need of being resurfaced.”

Also, new lockers are to be installed on the first floor of the high school for a cost of $23,000 to $26,000. “They were purchased used,” Blood said of the current lockers. “They are damaged and past their lifetime. They are too small for all the textbooks and backpacks students have.”

Finally, next summer, for about $45,000, a “large asbestos abatement” project will take place in the basement of the elementary school.

“We need new wiring for high-speed internet,” said Blood, so the asbestos problem has to be taken care of. The wiring itself will be paid for by the statewide Smart Schools bond.

The school board is slated to adopt a proposal on April 18 and the budget goes to public vote on May 17.

Candidates

At the same time, voters will elect two school board members.

Petitions for candidates are due on April 18 by 5 p.m.; 25 signatures are required.

So far, only the incumbents — Joan Adriance and Matthew Tedeschi — have taken out petitions, according to Denise Robinson, the board’s clerk.

Tedeschi was just elected in February to fill out a term vacated by Earl Barcomb, who was elected to the Knox Town Board.

Tedescshi came in second in a five-way race for two seats. Nathan Elble came in first and is filling a seat vacated by Vasilios Lefkaditis who was elected Knox supervisor.

Adriance, who has served on the board for eight years, is currently its president. She studied business administration for her bachelor’s and master’s degrees, has lived in the Hilltowns since 1982, and works in the health-insurance industry.

Tedeshi, a BKW alumnus and lifelong Hilltown resident is a partner in an insurance agency.

The posts carry three-year terms and are unpaid.