Sachem School Proposed Budget 2011-2012, Long Island, NY

Friday, May 6, 2011

Sachem School Proposed Budget 2011-2012, Long Island, NY

Sachem 2011-2012 budget highlights

Proposed budget 2011-2012 is $287,834,125 up 2.54% from 2010-2011 budget.
Proposed Tax Levy 2011-2012 is $151,445,397 up 3.15% from 2010-2011 budget.
Projected Students for 2011-2012 is 14,572 down 1.68% from 2010-2011.
Contingent Budget for 2011-2012 is $285,338,497.

Click here for Long Island Proposed Budget for 2011-2012 all school districts !

Explains its residents that during these hard times due to state budget cuts and increase in pension, health care, etc. contributions they are forced to increase school tax and will likely lose around 80 teachers under a proposed budget. Mentioned in the newsletter is "Long Island public schools will receive less aid next year ($2.335 billion) than four years ago, in 2007-08 ($2.499 billion)". But forgot to mention the increase in Tax levies by schools over the rate of inflation and building reserves and spending it away.

Some interesting chain of events this year regarding Sachem school budget ...

February 10, 2011
Budget cut for Sachem is more than $16 million

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's proposed cut for Sachem is more than $16 million - part of a proposed $1.5 billion school aid cut to help close the state's $10 billion deficit. The district's $282 million budget is expected to rise to $298 million in 2011-2012, according to district documents, thanks partly to increases in retirement costs and health insurance.
Officials in the Sachem school district, one of Long Island's largest, have told hundreds of staffers they could be out of work at the end of the school year because of a decrease in state aid and rising personnel costs.
The news was delivered Wednesday individually to 450 of the district's least senior employees, including 375 teachers - about 30 percent of Sachem's workforce, union leaders said. Sachem serves some 15,500 students.

March 23, 2011
Sachem Rallies in Albany for Educational Aid

ALBANY -- About 300 teachers from the Sachem school district sporting red and white T-shirts reading, "This is what a laid-off teacher looks like" rallied Wednesday at the Capitol, along with the school board president and superintendent, to demand more state aid.
School district workers who left Long Island on buses before dawn gathered at a theater inside the Empire State Plaza, part of the government complex connected to the Capitol. There, they cheered and whooped and flashed signs, such as "Sachem Deserves Its Fair Share," a reference to the 14 percent cut in state aid to the district under Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's proposed budget. Not long after Cuomo unveiled his budget, the school district informed about 375 of its roughly 1,300 instructors they might lose their jobs as a result.

March 31, 2011
Sachem Gets Back $2.5 Million in State Aid

The Sachem Central School District learned Thursday that $2.5 million will be restored in state aid for the 2011-12 school budget, according to Superintendent James Nolan. It's still a deduction of around $13 million compared to the aid received during the 2010-11 school year.
"We certainly appreciate any funding that comes our way, but in the big picture the true problem has not been addressed," Nolan said earlier in the week. "Long Island continues to shoulder the greater burden and Sachem has still taken the greatest hit despite our recognized, excellent budget management and planning."
Earlier this week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state legislators agreed on a $132.5 billion budget, the lowest figure in 15 years, restoring $272 million to school aid across the state. In total there were $1.2 billion in state education cuts.

April 14, 2011
Sachem school budget cuts 80 teachers

Sachem will ask residents for a 4.49 percent school tax increase and will likely lose some 80 teachers under a proposed budget, officials said Thursday.The plan calls for the district to cut its middle school sports program in half and reduce its budget for clubs by 50 percent.
If voters approve the measure on May 17, Brookhaven residents living within Sachem's borders would see their school taxes jump $265, while Islip homeowners would pay an $224 more. Smithtown residents would fork over an extra $297.
If voters reject the proposed budget, Sachem -- which serves more than 14,800 students -- will enact a $285 million contingency plan. Heslin said that would freeze capital spending and transportation, wipe out the music program, middle school sports and extracurriculars, and cause more staff cuts.

Did sachem win a lottery ? How did a $2.5 million restoration of education aid translate into only 80 teacher layoffs from 300 initially suggested. If the average salary for teachers is $50k then it will save only 50 jobs. I have no clue, any comments !

Source: Newsday and Sachem.edu

1 comment:

Anonymous said...: smoke and mirrors; May 16, 2011 at 11:50 AM

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Long Island Property taxes most important issue, say LIers

No surprise here ! To stop this ridiculous rise in property taxes we have to educate our fellow LIers and contact your representative that they should demand Speaker Silver respond to the pleas of homeowners across the state and support a property tax cap in New York. It has already passed the senate but is being stalled in the Assembly by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

Also this year we are seeing some enormous rise in property taxes in school districts such as William Floyd 12.47% and Seaford 8.99%. Some school districts such as Middle country is resorting to blackmailing its residents. The deal for districts residents is either approved a 6.68% increase or the district is going to force 21.61% increase in tax levy.

Published by THOMAS MAIER at Newsday

By a wide margin, property taxes are the most important issue facing Long Islanders, according to a Newsday / News 12 Long Island / Siena Research Institute Poll. Property taxes were cited overall by 45 percent of respondents, more than twice the 21 percent who cited "availability of good jobs" as the second most pressing issue for Long Islanders. "Property taxes are really an issue here because it keeps the young people from staying on Long Island and it will prevent the older people from staying, too," Tafuri explained.

Property taxes also are a large part of why the 57 percent of those polled said Long Islanders are headed in the "wrong direction" rather than the "right track" in the poll. A similar margin said New York State was headed in the wrong direction as well.

Property taxes are a particularly raw issue in Nassau County, where 53 percent cited them as the biggest issue, compared to 36 percent in Suffolk. Islandwide, Republicans and people 55 years or older complained about property taxes the most. "The Democrats love to spend money and they have to get it from the taxpayers," said one poll respondent, a retired Republican who lives on Nassau County's South Shore.

School costs - the biggest part of property tax bills - were also on the minds of Long Islanders who cited "the quality of public schools" among their top concerns. "The first thing I would do is eliminate tenure for teachers in public schools to cut costs," said another poll respondent, a 50-year-old Garden City man who is a Republican and who did not want to give his name. Although he was happy that his two children attending local schools got a good education there, he said his family's property tax bill has been overwhelming.

Property taxes hit a chord with all respondents, regardless of age, race, gender, religion, location or party affiliation. In addition to identifying the most important issue, the poll underlined the intensity of Long Islanders' general feelings about property taxes, with 86 percent calling the issue "very important" and 11 percent as "somewhat important." Crime, schools, good jobs and health care also received strong reactions, with traffic congestion and the local environment getting milder reactions.

Friday, May 6, 2011