2011-2012 Budget Fine-tuned At BOE Meeting

The main focus of the Massapequa Board of Education's most recent public meeting was put squarely in the school district's ongoing attempts to fine-tune their upcoming 2011-2012 budget in light of recent heavy state aid cuts.

After opening with their usual Pledge of allegiance, the floor was almost immediately given over to deputy superintendent Alan C. Adcock, who presented the district's updated budget to the board.

Adcock announced that a milestone had been reached in terms of the newest version of the 2011-2012 budget.

"Right now, we have both a budget and a tax increase that's under two percent...the lowest in twelve years," he said. "As a school district, and a very successful one, we want to maintain successful programs for children...it's very important that we preserve resources for high student achievement."

Currently, the overall working 2011-2012 budget for the Massapequa school district clocks in at $179,209, 899. Compared to their 2010-2011 budget of $176,172,498, that's an increase of only 1.72%.

As was the case at the last board meeting, Adcock pointed out that some of the district's "rainy day" funds would be used to lower some of the tax impacts.

"This is helping us get to a low tax increase this year," he said. "We're proposing to add an additional $1.4 million of reserve fund balance [for a total of $5,921,903 to help lower those taxes."

When asked just how much is in the District's "rainy day" fund, Adcock responded with a figure that might at first seem like a comfortable sum.

"We have about $30 million dollars," he said.

However, according to Adcock, that amount is divided up according to different needs, with only a small percentage being available for putting towards offsetting taxes.

"Massapequa schools has just under four percent of its budget set aside as an undesignated fund balance...that's the most allowed by law," he said. "The remaining funds that are set aside are targeted reserve accounts, such as worker's compensation, unemployment insurance, retirement, accrued liabilities."

"At the moment, we have approximately $7.5 million in the undesignated fund balance," Adcock added, cementing the fact that the "rainy day" funds are only a temporary solution as best.

Duding Adcock's presentation, he also illustrated Massapequa as a "high value" district, pointing out that while their per-pupil spending is in the bottom ten percent of Nassau County school districts, their student achievement was among the County's top 25%.

Adcock said that the district's business savvy paved the way for such an accomplishment.

"Ten or so years ago, the board adopted a financial plan," he said. "The cornerstone of that plan was to reduce costs versus expenses. Meaning that, the programs that were so successful for our kids, we built on those programs and improved those programs, but lowered the costs associated with them."

Adcock also discussed how the district's tight business plan have led to their having to borrow less and save more.

"Over the last number of years, we've paid off a lot of debt," he said. "We've received bond upgrades over the last six years, and we're now a AA2-rated school district, and that helps us tremendously when we go out for bond issues."

Massapequa has also saved money by effectively regulating their energy usage costs.

As a reward for running such a tight ship, the Massapequa school district has received the NYS Administrative Efficiency Award two years in a row, which comes in the form of a money bonus. This year's Award came to a total of $192,551.

However, Adcock feels that the state government is doing everything in its power to undermine everything that his district has set out to achieve.

"There's a full-scale attack on public education in New York State," he said, referring to cuts in state aid, in addition to multiple unfunded mandates and new taxes and usage fees.

According to Adcock's presentation, the current version of the school's 2011-2012 budget would actually show a decrease of $587,793 over the previous year's budget, if not for mandated NYS retirement system fees, the controversial Nassau County sewer fee, and skyrocketing health insurance costs.

Up next was the report of Superintendent Charles Sulc, which was quite brief in light of Adcock's extended and heavily detailed presentation. Sulc heaped praise upon the students and facility for their recent academic achievements, including advanced placement recognition of the district by New York State, as well as the district's impressive placing in recent robotics competitions.

"The dedication of the kids, the staff, and the parents that work with them is a true tribute to this community, and we need to applaud all of that," he said.

Also announced at the meeting was the district's intention to crack down on out-of-district parents who send their children to Massapequa schools under false pretenses. The board intends to collect tuition and other costs from offending families.

"This is a very desirable school district to come to," Adcock said. "We're really tough on out-of-district that are coming to our schools. We go through a formal residency process with an investigator, and this is basically a culmination of that residency process."

The next regularly-scheduled meeting of the Massapequa Board of Education is on Saturday, April 9th, at 9 a.m.