It was all in the timing at the S-GI Board meeting

Time was of the essence at the Feb. 14 Springville Griffith Institute Board of Education meeting, as Superintendent Paul Connelly presented the budget schedule as compared to last year’s.

He explained the projected trajectory for budget decisions and reiterated that, under budget plan A, which is the plan the board is currently working with, the district still has to come up with approximately $300,000 in deficit funds. While Connelly said he is confident the district will be able to make it this year, his concerns are longer-ranging.

“We’ve gotta think three years ahead. If the tax cap continues, we will outpace ourselves,” Connelly said. “I’m not sure how much longer we can continue to do this.”

As far as deciding what to cut and how, Connelly presented a chart that broke down each step of the budget procedure, showing the budget process to be several months ahead of last year’s proceedings. A consensus on a basic budget plan was not reached until March 29 last year. This year, that consensus came on Jan. 31. Clarifying a position reduction plan and rolling out a retirement incentive plan was set for Feb. 16 this year, compared to March 15 of last year.

“We’re trying to be ahead and trying to move forward. Let’s get this baby rockin’ and rollin’,” said Connelly. “As difficult as it is, we all have to settle in and do what we have to do to move forward.”

The difficult part of the process, Connelly continued, is the still-fluid tax cap levy delineated by the state comptroller.

“It’s changing day by day, and we’ll continue to jump through hoops trying to stay alive,” Connelly said, noting that the tax cap is hovering around 2 percent, although that number is still not exact. “We’re trying to cut as close to the bone as we can, so that next year, S-GI will still be standing,” Connelly said.

Several board members addressed concerns they had with the budget and the process itself, including Board Member Jeremiah Kane, who said he was still in favor of looking at a tax cap levy higher than 2 percent, as well as making sure the public knows how much of the budget is beyond the board’s control.

“If we continue to have every interest group come up and tell us what they want to do, there’s no way we’ll get this done. My understanding is that we have to get the information, get it to the public and that’s it,” Kane said.

“The board has to take some leadership ... the legislature is made up of lunatics and sociopaths and they have tied our hands. If we don’t want to destroy our programs, we’re still going to have to look beyond the cap,” Kane continued.

Board Member Joan Kelly noted “some disparity” between student interest and the programs chosen to be cut or reduced. Kelly said she hoped that the decision regarding which classes are set to be offered would be a student-driven decision.

Board Vice President Delia Bonenberger agreed. “Kids should be able to say what they want to take,” she said. “We should be able to offer a majority of those things.”

High School Principal Vince Vanderlip assured Kelly and the rest of the board that he would try to offer answers regarding what programs the administration was examining. He also clarified that, in the case of Advanced Placement courses, the administration was looking at cutting sections of courses, not the offerings themselves.

“We’re going to be putting the classes on rotation. We’re going to still be offering the same classes, just not as many sections,” Vanderlip explained.

Elaine Rinfrette, a college teacher and district resident, voiced her concerns regarding AP courses, following information she heard at the Erie County Association of School Boards Legislative Breakfast, which several board members and the superintendent also attended.

At that meeting, representatives from the legislature heard concerns from school districts about mandate relief, fairness in funding and sustaining the education system in New York state.

Jean Ranney, ECASB legislative team leader and executive board member said, at the meeting, “There is a standard process for school districts when money is tight: cut staff, cut programs, spend down the fund balance. After three years of frozen state aid, last year’s mid-year state aid cut, the expiration of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, federal funds and now the end of [the] education jobs funds and implementation of the local tax levy limit, we have reached a point where we can’t cut our way to a solution. We are only cutting our school districts further into decline.”

Several of the legislators present at the meeting noted that the governor’s office had planned hearings for entities to report on mandated relief, to encourage the governor to consider the strain the tax cap levy and lack of mandated relief is putting on school districts, particularly in the area of providing well-rounded programs.

Rinfrette, who said she attended the meeting as a “concerned citizen,” brought her perspective back to the S-GI Board for the members to address.

“I attended the legislative breakfast ... on Saturday [Feb. 11],” said Rinfrette. “Just providing mandated courses will not provide the best education for our students. It is imperative that we have a district that values success.”

Connelly assured Rinfrette that S-GI will be offering AP courses, just on a smaller scale.

“There’s a distinction between sections and courses. It’s not that we’re not offering the courses, just that the sections won’t be as regular,” Connelly said. “We know it’s important and we’re doing our best to toe the line.”

Business Administrator Ted Welch reported that he was focusing on numerical projections and “securing the last numbers we need” to determine the exact figures that go into budget calculations. He said that the administration met with the teacher’s union to discuss the retirement incentive plan, and that it was the intention to give employees approximately one month for the return of commitments. He asked for those to be in by March 16.

As the budget process moves forward, Connelly said that he plans to clarify the position reduction plan, then share the retirement incentive offering and determine the exact numbers the board and administration have to work with as a final budget plan is created, including expenditures and revenues, state aid and the statewide tax cap. The presentation, along with background information on the budget process as a whole, is available on the S-GI District website, www.springvillegi.org, under the “board of directors” tab.

Resident Lori Ploetz spoke on her concerns over half-empty S-GI school buses.

“I’m always concerned when I see a bus pull out and there’s only [a few] students on the bus,” Ploetz said, asking if there was some way to consolidate services.

Connelly responded that, legally, the district is required to provide ridership for every student, but that many students do not take advantage of the service.

“Make your kids get on the cheese. It’s that simple,” Connelly responded. “Put your kids on the bus; you’re paying for it.”

Williams added that a single bus run time had been considered in the past and that it would continue to remain on the board’s radar for discussion.

Connelly said he did not want to give an exact date on when employees would know whether or not their positions may be in jeopardy, but that the board and the administration would all be presented with that information at the same time.

“There’s been an awful lot of speculation, but we really don’t know how it’s all going to play out,” Connelly said. “What I do know is that we’re providing a very comparable program to all of our neighbors. We had a very rich program, which is wonderful, but the economy just can’t support it anymore.”

In other board news:

- The board rescheduled the April 10 meeting to April 17 and canceled the April 24 meeting, to be reinstated as needed if the budget process requires additional meeting time.

- The board adopted a revised 2012-13 budget development calendar.

- A grant in the amount of $1,000 from the Reid Family Foundation, to benefit the science and math departments in the amount of $500 each, was accepted.

- The board accepted the report of examination performed by the office of the New York state comptroller for the period of July 1, 2008 through Aug. 5, 2011.

- The following policies were approved for a first reading: Response to Intervention, The Role of the Board in Implementing a Student’s Individualized Education Program and Media/Municipal Governments/Senior Citizens.

The next S-GI Board of Education meeting will take place on Feb. 28 at the Springville-GI High School media center at 7 p.m.