Beekmantown Central faces major cuts

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February 23, 2012

Proposal slashes 40 jobs, entire athletic program

ASHLEIGH LIVINGSTON Press-Republican The Press Republican Thu Feb 23, 2012, 06:17 AM EST

BEEKMANTOWN — Facing fiscal crisis, Beekmantown Central School is considering drastic cuts, including the elimination of nearly 43 positions and the entire interscholastic athletic program.

Beekmantown Superintendent Scott Amo told the School Board at Tuesday night's meeting that the district must eliminate $3.2 million in expenditures from its 2012-13 budget.

"Reductions in people are inevitable," he said. "$3.2 million isn't going to be found in erasers and paper clips."

JOB CUTS

Amo presented the board a summary of possible reductions in expenditure for its consideration, calling for the elimination of a total 43.4 full-time-employee positions across the district for a savings of $2.6 million.

This would include assistant-principal positions at both the middle and high schools, as well as an additional half of an administrative position at the High School.

Also included in the eliminations would be 31.4 instructional positions, 8.3 of which would come from Beekmantown Elementary School; 6.1 from Cumberland Head Elementary School; 8.1 from the Middle School; and 8.9 from the High School.

The remaining 9.5 eliminations would be support staff, three of which would come from the Middle School, two from the High School, 2.5 from the bus garage and two from Buildings and Grounds.

SPORTS ELIMINATED

Amo's summary also proposes elimination of all interscholastic athletics, including modified, junior varsity and varsity teams, saving the district an estimated $326,554.

Cutting athletics, Amo said, would not prohibit other groups, such as booster clubs, from funding Beekmantown athletic teams if they choose to do so.

OTHER CUTS

In addition to athletics, the board will consider reducing the district's extracurricular clubs by 50 percent, cutting back use of BOCES services and eliminating the driver-education program.

Another proposed cost-saving measure is to reduce some state-mandated services to the minimum-required levels, including academic-intervention services, elective offerings and foreign-language, art, music, physical-education and library-media classes.

CONCERNED

Beekmantown parent Lori Kashorek, who has three children in the district, addressed the board with concern regarding reductions to the music program.

"I think it needs to be stated also that we have a very high quality (music) program with a very high level of participation, and that needs to not be taken lightly," she said. "And I know one family that's considering other options than this district if their musical needs can't be met."

'A TOUGH YEAR'

Amo told the board that while it may decide not to make reductions in the areas he recommended, it must be able to bridge the $3.2 million gap just the same.

"I'm projecting this isn't a conversation about losing the desire to keep a valuable thing valuable," he said. "That's not the goal here … The challenge is $3.2 million."

The reasons for the budget gap, Amo explained, include a reduction in appropriated fund balance from $3.6 million to $1.8 million; contractual increases in the costs of employee wages and benefits by more than $1 million; increases in fuel and utility costs; and a decrease in state aid and other revenues, forecast at $300,000.

"This is a tough year," Beekmantown School Board President Steve Trombley said at the meeting. "This is quite devastating, and there's just no money."

SUBJECT TO CHANGE

Amo said because the district used more than $3.5 million of its $7 million in fund balance to minimize the tax-levy increase for the current school year, the district will designate about $1.8 million for 2012-13 and retain around $1.5 million for unforeseen circumstances, as allowed by law.

He did point out, however, that his budgetary estimates and recommendations are based on a number of variables that are subject to change in the coming weeks and could potentially affect the final budget.

NEXT MEETING

The Beekmantown School Board will meet again at 6:15 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 28, at which time Amo is expected to present a preliminary budget proposal to the board.

All School Board meetings are open to the public.

Email Ashleigh Livingston at: alivingston@pressrepublican.com