BC News

Community budget forums begin on January 12
Release Date: Dec. 31, 2008

The district will kick off a series of four community budget forums on Monday, January 12 in an effort to provide as much information and answer as many questions as possible as a difficult budget season gets underway.

The forums will begin at 7 p.m. and will be held in the Bethlehem Central Middle School library. Each forum will provide an opportunity for taxpayers, parents and community members to provide budget input, ask questions and receive answers to “frequently asked questions.”

The first of the four budget forums comes less than a month after the release of Governor David Patterson’s proposed budget for next year. Under the proposal, the district would have to grapple in 2009-10 with a significant state funding cut, including a more than $2.2 million loss in anticipated aid.

“It is my hope that the forums will lead to two things: a greater sense on the district’s part of the community’s budget priorities and greater community understanding about the district’s budget, the pressures on it and what it accomplishes,” Superintendent Michael Tebbano said. “Community participation will be essential this year at a time when budget priorities will help guide some tough decisions.”

The community budget forums grew out of Dr. Tebbano’s interest in building upon the work of the Citizens Budget Group in recent years. He said he believes the forums are a way to open to the broader community the discussions that frame the Board of Education’s budget development work in February and March.

To gain a better sense of how the community wanted the forums to operate, the district launched an online “community budget forum” survey in November that yielded more than 300 respondents. Those surveyed indicated a preference to focus on the academic program and class sizes and areas of savings/efficiencies in the budget through both presentations and opportunities to ask questions.

Through feedback received through the survey, the district is compiling a “frequently asked questions” document to address concerns and topics that many in the community may have. Answers will be presented on an ongoing basis throughout the forums.

Budget forums will be held on January 12 and 26, and February 2 and 9. While the topics covered and questions answered at each forum will differ, those interested in attending should note that they can ask a question or provide input on all topics at any of the sessions.

 

 

 

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