Hen Hud Departments Present Tight Budgets

The s working to cut $2.6 million from its proposed 2012-2013 in order to stay under the state’s mandated 2 percent tax cap for next year. In the last month they have shaved $300,000 off their budget through factoring in additional revenues from special education tuition, cutting custodial overtime and athletic program reductions. They have added expenses for tax certiorari payments due and a small technology budget increase.

At last night’s board meeting the school superintendent Dr. Daniel McCann told the audience that the transportation budget will not be presented for another month, that the district realistically needs to cut at least 15 teachers, but hopes they find a way to prevent that; and that he would be taking a zero percent increase next year.

“We are in a very difficult situation as a community and also from the difficult economic times," McCann said. "We need the cooperation of unions and if everyone cooperates together we can save jobs."

The Athletic and Technology Department directors presented their proposed budgets to the Board of Education at the meeting. Their presentations come two months after the public voted down a $25 million bond that would have funded new science and technology classes and athletic fields.

The Athletic Department Director Thomas Bakcer proposed a 2012-2013 $553,444 budget, which is $25,000 less than the 2011-2012 budget and represents .78 percent of the entire school budget.

Baker proposed reducing games, contests and scrimmages, holding off on buying new equipment, freezing inventory and eliminating a second cross country coach salary and a freshman baseball coach salary. The proposed budget would cut the freshman baseball team, but still allow for freshmen to try out for and join the junior varsity team. These reductions would save the district $33,133.

Baker also proposed cutting $27,000 from the department’s transportation costs by reducing overtime and transportation trips. This would include cutting holiday and Sunday practices and having teams going to the same campuses share buses rather than each sport team take their own.

The transportation and program reductions would cut $60,133 from the budget.

 “Talk about bang for your buck,” said Board Member Mary-Pat Briggi, expressing appreciation for athletics’ role in building well-rounded and disciplined students.

McCann commended Baker for his work and student athletes, who were recognized for the achievements earlier in the night, for being ambassadors for the Hendrick Hudson school district.

The Hendrick Hudson High School Director of Technology Matthew Swerdloff presented his department’s proposed 2012-2013 technology budget, which would make cuts in staff development and software and small increases in contracts and supplies. Swerdloff proposed a $635,236 budget, which represents an approximately $19,000 increase from the 2011-2012 budget, which was $616,014.

Budget reductions in 2012-2013 would include eliminated maintenance and support for wi-fi, networking and storage hardware, which is essentially eliminating insurance on those systems. This would save $7,500, but if something went wrong the district would have to find money to fix it.

“Most of the time we are running pretty well, but we are stretched,” McCann said.

Reductions also include reducing ITA, eliminating System Operator stipends, reducing software from BOCES line and replacing it with open source (free) software. These reductions would save about $36,000.

The budget would add $56,500 for a new tech support CPI a .2 technician (who would work one day a week) and increased backup and storage fees and supplies ($8,000 for toner and bulbs). Swerdloff said the district needs to budget for supplies because that funding was cut in 2011-2012 and supplies are now needed again.

System operator support stipends (which were low level after school tech support) that are cut would be picked up by the .2 technician and possibly a print management service.

 “We really need another full time person but that is not realistic so a .2 person will help a lot. But if we continue to grow the way we are we will need another fulltime technician,” Swerdloff said.

Not included in the budget are infrastructure upgrades that would have been funded by the bond that was voted down in December. Also, the proposal does not budget for smart boards, projectors, 24/7 support and an additional fulltime technician.

“It’s clear you have done a lot of growth with our budget restraints and we appreciate it,” Board Chair Marian Walsh told Swerdloff.

Also at the Feb. 8 board meeting:

-Dr. Alice Gottlieb presented a mid-year academic update based on data from ELA and Math, k-12 ERB and WrAP Results. "

-The High School Social Studies and AP Social Studies Department presented their goals and curriculum.

-Superintendent of Business Enrique Catalan presented a general budget update.

-School Superintendent McCann presented a “A critical period in the fiscal history of the Hendrick Hudson School District, 2001-2012” to the audience.

You can find all budget related documents on the Hen Hud website, here.