BOE: Everything is on the Table When it Comes to Budget Cuts

The Babylon School District’s budget process is going to be a painful experience given that at least $728,000 must be cut from this year’s school budget to meet the state’s mandated 2 percent tax levy cap.

The initial proposed ‘cut’ list developed by district administrators, and presented at Monday night’s board of education workshop, includes everything from slashing transportation and eliminating kindergarten, to expanding class sizes on the K-6 level and potential layoff of six fulltime teachers.

None of those proposals, nor the idea of cutting all school clubs, reducing art and music programs, eliminating seventh and eighth grade sports, field trips and the after-school homework program, are welcome ideas to board members or the dozen-plus residents who attended the meeting.

In fact, the only thing that did seem to make board members happy was the turnout for the meeting.

“I’m so happy to see so many people here tonight,” said Lisa McKeown, chair of the board’s finance committee.

The workshop turned into a finance committee meeting of sorts with Interim Superintendent Peter Daly presenting the budget cut options, and related costs of each, and board members giving quick feedback on the recommendations.

For Daly, it’s his 13th year of district budget work, and the worst scenario he’s seen in all those years. It also marks a sea change in how budget development is now done, he told the audience.

“This is a monumental shift with the emphasis on meeting the tax cap number compared to years where we’d develop a budget reflective of what we wanted to give the students,” he said.

Unless state legislators and Governor Andrew Cuomo vote to remove the cap legislation, the scenario of having to cut nearly a million dollars will be a continuing challenge for the next several years.

In fact district leaders predicte the cuts will be in the $750,000 range for several years, reaching $827,000 in the 2014-2015 school year. The implications could be worse in following years given the district may not have a $2.7 million fund balance to use to lower the tax levy.

“This is not going away. This tax cap knows no boundaries and will change the landscape significantly,” said Daly.

Discussion on budget cuts will be the focus of finance committee meetings and budget workshops coming up in the next few months. The board must adopt a budget by April 16. The budget vote and board election is set for May 15.

The board's next official meeting will be Monday, February 13, at 7:30 at the high school library and it's expected the budget will be an agenda item.

The next finance committee meeting was not available as of presstime and Patch will update the story when that meeting is scheduled.

The first official district budget presentation will take place at the BOE's workshop session on Monday, February 27 at the high school library at 7:00 p.m.