Schools

School District: Many 'Unknowns' Surround $123M Post-Sandy Budget

Parents call for administrators to reconsider teacher cuts.


The aftermath of Hurricane Sandy has monopolized decision-making throughout Long Beach, from City Hall to the halls of Long Beach School District, which proposes a $123 million budget for 2013-2014 and number of cuts that have given many parents pause.

“It was important for us to build a budget that allowed for sustainability in a post-storm world in a community that was particularly hard hit,” said Superintendent David Weiss when he presented the proposed budget with Michael DeVito, the district’s chief operating officer, during Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting at Long Beach High School.

The budget’s initial draft represents an increase of $937,950, or 0.77 percent, from the current spending plan of $122.1 million, and calls for a  $92.3 million tax levy, the total amount of money raised by property taxes, which is a 1.0 percent hike, or an additional $925,ooo, above the existing plan.  

Weiss and DeVito emphasized that numerous “unknowns” hover over the post-Sandy budget, in that they are unsure how certain questions will be resolved and what the financial impact will be on the district and homeowners. One unknown is the impact the storm has on the assessment of the community in which an estimated 200 to 400 homes citywide will end up condemned that could lead to their coming off the tax rolls, a drop in property values and a tax base that will likely shrink.   

“If property values shift within the community, something that is not normally unstable, that could have a major impact on taxpayers within the community,” Weiss said.

Steve Freeman, president of the Long Beach Classroom Teachers Association, opened the question period of the presentation by pressing the district to provide a dollar figure of a one percent increase to the average homeowner.

“It’s a standard barometer of at every district to announce what one or two percent means to an average homeowner,” Freeman said. “How can the public make an informed decision on their taxes if they don’t know what they’ll be paying.”

Roy Lester, president of the school board, whose seat is up for reelection in May, replied that the City of Long Beach will hit residents with a 14 percent increase this year, and the city and school district still don’t know at what percentage the Federal Emergency Management Agency will reimburse their various projects, including the construction of a proposed $40 million boardwalk.

“The effect at this point, without knowing the reassessment, is very difficult to judge,” Lester said, to which Freeman countered that last year’s assessments are already set and any challenges aren’t for 2013.

Weiss said the district is working with state legislators on property tax legislation, and if the state fails to provide reimbursement to Long Beach, everyone’s share of the tax levy will increase, which he called a “major unknown.” And the district is in negotiations with FEMA, with the goal of getting 100 percent recoupment, he added. DeVito said that the state has assured the district the proposed $18.3 million in state aid will increase, but that amount remains unknown.

While the district seemed sure that enrollment wouldn’t increase, what remains uncertain is the extent to which it could drop, as about 90 students at both the elementary and secondary levels have left the district since the storm.

Amy Rand said she might not enroll her son in middle school next September because her family may have to move from their Canals home that was hit hard during Hurricane Irene and Hurricane Sandy. “Our taxes keep going up, I have absolutely no property and we’re paying over $10,000 in taxes as it is; there’s no way we can continue doing this,” she said.


Why the Increase? Why No Increase?

The budget’s increase is tied to state-mandated expenses for retirement contributions, health care insurance and payments on serial bonds for a $98 million district-wide preservation plan to upgrade schools and facility that the community voted to approve in 2009. These collective costs alone amount to about $34 million. Last year the state enacted a 2 percent property tax cap, but exceptions are made for district’s that have previously approved capital projects to repay. Long Beach is permitted a 5.52 percent increase.

For the third consecutive year, the proposed budget carries a 0 percent increase in operating expenditures. “This is our goal: we were really trying to get to a point where the only amount we added to the budget … is the additional debt service that we have to pay on the voter-approved preservation plan,” DeVito said.

But the zero percent increase had some parents question how long the district could sustain such conservative practices and has them worried about the future. “What are we going to do with next year’s budget,” asked Gerri Maquet, past president of Central Council PTA. “It’s not going to get any easier year to year.”


Cuts to Positions But Not People

Weiss said that there aren’t any cuts to academic programs in the budget, and he and DeVito said the district will cut positions but not necessarily employees. The budget includes both staff cuts and additions. For example, the district will eliminate custodian positions while adding five clerical positions from part-time to full-time employees.

“Not only are we cutting things, we’re adding things also,” DeVito said. “Part of it is trying to be smarter and more efficient with our resources, and sometimes you have to add.”

The district also proposes to cut deans as well as teachers-in-charge, while hiring more vice principals at the elementary level. “In our APPR [Annual Professional Performance Review] environment, we are mandated to do different types of staff evaluations, and vice or assistant principals are able to do that and teachers-in-charge are not,” DeVito said.  

Bill Snow, president of Long Beach Schools Employees Association, challenged the administrators’ characterization of their staffing plan.  

“You stated that you’re cutting positions not people; well, every position has a person associated with it, so I don’t understand that statement, especially when we go to the bus matrons that are being let go from the Blackheath program,” Snow said. “There’s five or six positions there, and each of them has a person associated with it. So, you’re cutting programs and you’re cutting people.”


Community Members Have Their Say

Before the audience to commented on the proposed budget plan, Weiss asked that they “ take a look at it not only from the point of view as the parent, but as a community member.” More than two-dozen parents, teachers and students voiced their concerns, many of whom focused on the proposed elimination of deans and teachers-in-charge, who assist principals with overall academics, discipline, behavior issues and referrals for special services.

Parent Stacey O'Conner echoed many others when she called the teachers-in-charge “the backbone of our young children’s social and emotional well being. What is more important than our children’s social and emotional well-being? Certainly not an extra person to evaluate teachers for APPR. Please reconsider cutting these very valuable people.”

Jennifer Reznick, a parent with two children enrolled at West School, called the teacher-in-charge at the school “extremely important,” and asked the administrators to reconsider cutting that position. “Who is in charged when the principal goes to a budget meeting, who is there for the children when they have a problem, a bullying issue or something, and the principal is not in the school,” she asked.

Three high school students addressed the board collectively, telling the trustees that eliminating the two deans at the school “wouldn’t be fair,” suggesting that they would be lost without them since they regard them as guidance counselors and friends. Meanwhile, a few parents stress the importance of deans in regard to safety issues. Parent Joy McCarthy said safety has always been her biggest concern.

“I truly believe that cutting a dean at the high school and cutting a percentage of the deans at the middle school is a safety issue,” McCarthy said. “There’s 1,400 children at that building and there’s a lot going on. A fight breaks out in an English room and there’s a food fight in the cafeteria. How do manage that if you’ve got two vice principals out at conferences? I don’t get the logistics. I think that’s a safety issue.”

A couple of parents suggested cuts to administration positions. Among them was Jill Butensky, a Lido Beach parent, who suggested that if the district needs to save money, it should consider cutting the position of some of the district’s top earners, including four positions in administration that amount to $450,000 in annual salaries.

“We cannot afford for you to take away programs and teachers from our children,” she said. “And this should not be something we need to convince you of.”  

The district will hold a series of other budget meetings, including a budget work session on April 9, budget adoption on April 23, a budget hearing on May 14. The vote on the budget is May 21.

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