Superintendent's Notes - Bethlehem CSD, Delmar, NY

Budget: We are beginning to put together the budget planning for the 2010-11 school year. This process begins officially at the District Community Budget Forums occurring on 1/12, 1/26 and 2/9. All of these meetings begin at 7:00 p.m. at the MS Library on Kenwood Ave. We will be taping the meetings for rebroadcast on our Web site. The budget is still in a tough position, given the current state of the economy. The projected loss of more state aid, coupled with the rising costs of running the school district, may seriously impact many programs next year. Your involvement is very much needed as we craft priorities and program needs to meet the experiences that have made our school district an exceptional place.

State Aid: Once again, we confront the prospect that the State Legislature will be enacting a serious deficit reduction in our state aid for 2010-11. Currently, we project the reduction to be close to $2.5 million. The revenue that we receive as a school district comes from three sources: federal aid, state aid and property taxes. A change in any of these funding sources stresses the balance of the other two, none more noticeably than the tax levy from the community. Our goal continues to be one of controlling the tax levy. Our 2009-10 tax levy was 2.0%, one of the lowest levies in 26 years, and we hope to be able to do the same this year. But this leads to big questions: Which programs are we willing to sacrifice? At what point do we say that we cannot sacrifice any more programs? What matters most to the community – a math teacher or lights at evening games?

Please consider participating in our community forums to assist the Board of Education in answering these questions.

Snow Days and Calendar Questions: This year we have planned for two snow days in the schedule. These days are allotted for safety concerns. If the winter travel of the district creates a concern for student and employee safety, then we need to take a day off to ensure all are safe. Due to the shortage of days in the current school calendar, if more than two days are needed for weather emergencies then we will need to reclaim the last two days of the April vacation. We certainly hope this will not be necessary, but living in the northeast you will agree nothing is for certain. Please check our Web site if you need more information.

Have a happy holiday season. Thank you for your support of the educational programs at BC.

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