The front page of the 23-page report from The Council of School Superintendents titled, On The Edge: A Survey on School Fiscal Matters, shows a photograph of a group of people standing at the precipice of a cliff. There is a person leaning at the very tip, looking back at the group motioning towards the vast ocean as if to say, “jump.” Is this person supposed to represent the dramatic cuts in state aid over the past three years? Or is this person supposed to symbolize Governor Andrew Cuomo two percent tax cap — giving that final push into the financial abyss? Whatever the case, the survey conducted in August and September of 2011 reveals that district superintendents throughout the state for the past three years have taken huge steps to curb school budgets necessitated by cuts in State aid and attempts to keep property taxes at a minimum. The two percent cap is, according to the report, just the icing on the cake.
The survey was sent to 691 superintendents, with 243 or 41 percent responding. Onteora District Superintendent Dr. Phyllis Spiegel-McGill acknowledged her participation. Urban superintendents in New York City, Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers and Syracuse (the Big Five) did not respond since their taxes are not levied year to year.
During the 2008-2009 school year, State aid began to decline with the largest loss coming in this 2011-2012 fiscal school year by $1.3 billion. The last of the stimulus money through the Federal 2010 Education Jobs Fund will end by 2012-2013. McGill said for Onteora that meant a loss of three-quarter of a million dollars in State aid for 2011 and an additional $500,000 in Federal aid in 2012. Poorer urban and rural school districts have gotten the brunt of the blow because of a heavier reliance on State aid. Wealthier districts in Westchester and Long Island, the two examples Cuomo used to promote his two percent cap will not feel the financial blow as quickly.
The survey reports that 90 percent of superintendents received less help from the State than they did three years ago, while 75 percent report conditions as worse or significantly worse compared to a year ago. Superintendents reported that if they were given additional state aid, their first priority would target struggling students, the second would be to reduce property taxes.
80 percent of the districts reported lay-offs of teachers and 63 percent reported increased class sizes. Also reported were 4.3 percent of teachers laid off or cut through attrition. The largest cut to staff however came from student support staff at eight percent and administration at 7.5 percent.
Cuomo has consistently touted the two percent cap to protect property owners, explaining that school districts are fat with reserves and overpaid staff. According to law, school districts cannot exceed reserves larger than four percent of their budget and 89 percent of superintendents raise concerns over dipping too much into reserves to fund recurring operating costs. Reserves are typically used as a rainy day funds or to ease tax spikes in school budgets. At a recent school board meeting McGill said, “I think the Governor has been very outspoken about misappropriating funds, misusing funds, but that’s not true and it’s certainly not true of Onteora. I don’t know where he is getting that from, it’s a very forced generalization and it has nothing to do with our district.”
Cuomo took a symbolic five percent pay cut and draws a salary of $179,000, publicly noting that some school superintendents collect a larger salary than his. According to the State Education Department, a superintendent average salary statewide is $165,464. The survey reveals that in 2011, 66 percent of superintendents reported accepting a salary freeze; it’s been a growing trend over three years.
Once the two-percent tax cap goes into effect for the 2012-2013 school year, school districts will have no other way to pay for the significant cost increases primarily stemming from health and retirement benefits. The report states that a two percent increase will be absorbed, and unless a solution is found, reserves will run dry and there will be continued cuts to staff, extracurricular activities, art, music, equipment, building maintenance and technology. Onteora will need to rely on its reserves and is projected to go into debt by 2016. McGill agrees that school property tax is unfair to homeowners, but that contract obligations towards benefits and unfunded mandates tie the hands of district leaders. They are left with only one option — cut.
The State won a $696 million grant for the Federal Race To the Top initiative, but once doled out, school district’s will see half of that amount over four years or less than .5 percent of its aid. Of superintendents, 91 percent say the program cost will exceed the amount of funding needed. “It’s the most expensive unfunded mandate I’ve ever seen,” McGill said. Onteora received such a small amount of aid that it was absorbed into the BOCES budget for staff development. In an email statement McGill wrote, “Recurring, significant reductions in State and Federal aid coupled with the implementation of the new two-percent cap, however understandable, will force the district to consider deeper cuts and changes for all departments and schools.” Or as McGill said during a phone conversation, “I already picked the low hanging fruit.”
McGill encouraged the public to listen to the audio report of the financial presentation by Dr. Rick Timbs by going to the district website at Onteora.k12.ny.us and click on BOE presentation and September 27 meeting. A handout of the report is also available in PDF. McGill said discussions will be ongoing at board of education meetings and encourages the public to attend. ++
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