Proposed Budget Seeks to Maintain Current Program and Minimize Impact of Revenue Losses

On March 25, the Honeoye Falls – Lima Board of Education approved a budget proposal for the 2008-09 school year totaling $38,675,847, a 3.78% increase over 2007-08 budget.  The proposed budget will go to voters on May 20, 2008. 

“The real story of this program budget cycle is the loss of revenue we are projecting for the 2008-09 school year,” said Dr. Michelle Kavanaugh, Superintendent of Schools. 

At this point, the revenue picture for 2008-09 remains uncertain.  With the economy in a downturn, we have adjusted our projected interest earnings downward for next year. In addition, the state legislature has yet to finalize its budget, which will indicate the level of aid that schools will receive.  HF-L is budgeting based on known information. It is established that the increased state aid that former Governor Spitzer had promised schools has not come to fruition. HF-L’s state aid under the Governor’s Budget is projected to remain flat at 34% of the revenue budget for the 2008-09 school year.  Finally, the Governor’s budget included a $200,000 cut in BOCES aid for HF-L and mandated a shift in preschool special education costs from the County to the District.  None of these indicators show a strong revenue picture for 2008-09 and have led the District to budget conservatively.

The largest loss of revenue is due to the Monroe County “FAIR” Plan which calls for a projected loss of $640,000 of Monroe County sales tax revenue for HF-L.  This revenue source serves as a property tax credit for Monroe County residents.  Although the Monroe County School Districts’ recent appeal of the “FAIR” Plan was a success, the County may appeal the court’s decision, and it is unknown if or when our schools will actually regain this funding.  Since we are uncertain that these funds will be restored, we have budgeted conservatively.  The Monroe County sales tax has served as a tax credit for our Monroe County residents in the past, and the loss of this revenue would impact our Monroe County residents.  Should this revenue be restored, a process is in place to determine how the funds will be used.  Returning the money to the taxpayers, thereby reducing the tax rate, is one area that will be considered. 

Livingston County residents experienced a similar impact when Livingston County ceased sharing sales tax with its schools several years ago.

Throughout the program budget planning process, the Decision Input Units, Program Budget Advisory Council and Board of Education have remaining cognizant of the impact that the losses of revenue will have on taxpayers.  A total of $668,301 was reduced from original budget requests through the review process and a number of other requested budget items were removed before recommendations were submitted due to the revenue issues emerging.

The proposed budget adds no new programs and seeks to maintain current programs and the improvements made in 2007-08 in response to class size concerns.  The budget includes two contingency instructional staff positions that may be used to further address class size concerns.  It reallocates existing staff and proposes an increase in instructional staffing of 1.483 positions to address shifting enrollment at the K-5 level, growing enrollment at the 6-12 level, additional foreign language enrollment at the high school and continued foreign language instruction at the primary level. Staff reallocation also occurred at the Middle School, where declining enrollment allows the District to reassign a full time teacher to serve as a “Dean of Students” in that building. This position is needed to address an unfilled administrative assistant principal vacancy. Another administrative position that will remain unfilled is the Director of Food Service whose position will be addressed through reorganization.

The proposed budget supports moving to an all Enriched Developmental full-day Kindergarten program.  While the Board is committed to allowing for parent choice, interest in the current extended-day and half-day programs has waned and providing three programs has become costly due to transportation expenses associated with the programs.  Parents may still opt for an early release option for their child, but district transportation will not be provided for this option, and parents will need to pick their child up at school.  The elimination of the additional bus runs associated with the extended-day and half-day programs has resulted in a savings of $70,000.

“The District has worked hard to minimize the impact of revenue losses on our taxpayers,” Kavanaugh said.  “We are achieving more with less.  We’ve left vacated administrative positions unfilled, initiated a spending moratorium, increased our efforts to seek grants and alternative funding resources, extended long-term replacement plan cycles for textbooks, supplies and equipment and saved costs by reducing negotiated healthcare contributions.  Our efforts to minimize costs, while maintaining the best possible educational experience for our students, will continue.  It is a true point of pride for us that HF-L is ranked in the top 1.5% of schools in the nation by Newsweek, and at the same time, is the district with the lowest per-pupil cost in Monroe County.”

Detailed information on the budget will be posted on the District website in the coming weeks, and all residents will receive our budget newsletter in the mail in May.  Anyone with questions about the budget may contact Dr. Michelle Kavanaugh, Superintendent of Schools, at 624-7010. The budget will be voted upon on May 20, 2008 from 6 am to 9 pm in the HF-L High School Lobby.