Online Conversations with Practitioners: Governor’s Proposal and Tax Cap Issues 2016
NYSASBO’s Deborah Cunningham hosted An Online Conversation with Practitioners January 27 on Tax Cap Issues for 2016. Below is a summary of that conversation. Let us know what you think and how the Governor's proposal and the Tax Cap affect your district.
The panel commented on the impact of the Governor’s budget recommendations and how they expect to budget given the complete education system, state aid and local revenues. They discussed the impact of a Tax Cap that essentially allows for no increase at all and a STAR tax rebate for eligible taxpayers in school districts that stay within the cap.
The webinar featured four practitioners from three school districts: a low-wealth city school district struggling to raise student achievement, a high wealth suburban school district which depends on local taxes for the majority of their revenues, and a rural district, one of the few, with a successful Tax Cap override last year.
Practitioners included Dr. Laurence Spring, Superintendent of Schenectady City School District, Mary Callahan, Assistant Superintendent for Business at the Port Washington Union Free School District and Superintendent Scot Taylor and Business Manager Kendra Seaver from rural Tioga Central School District.
Schenectady is a small city, high need school district. Schenectady is one of the poorest school districts in the state and its wealth has been declining in recent years. Dr. Spring reported that again, the governor’s proposal was woefully inadequate for supporting critical educational programs and services in Schenectady. He expects a serious budget shortfall and will not recommend piercing the tax cap, since Schenectady taxpayers are already over taxed.
Port Washington is a low need, relatively affluent school district on Long Island. As such it is a district that depends on local revenues for 90 percent of its budget. Mary Callahan reported that the Governor’s proposal was disappointing. For example, Port Washington received approximately $200,000 out of $1,000,000 in outstanding GEA and noted that her district, although affluent, has an economically diverse community, is experiencing increases in English learners and has a low tolerance for tax increases. Although the district has used fund balance in response to GEA reductions in the past, Ms Callahan noted that fund balance is diminishing and not a long term strategy for a successful budget. If local revenues are constrained and fund balance is low the only options are increased state aid or reducing education programs.
Tioga Central School District is a high need rural school district. Last year, Tioga’s proposed tax cap override was defeated in the first vote and passed with the second vote also for an override, one of the very few districts to experience a successful override. Superintendent Scot Taylor and Business Administrator Kendra Seaver reported that the Governor’s proposal was disappointing especially with regard to Foundation Aid. In their school district a one percent increase on the tax levy results in a $30,000 increase in revenue. They will pursue a tax cap override again this year.
Deborah noted that NYSASBO will advocate for more funding for school districts at the joint legislative budget hearing in Albany January 27. Superintendent Spring commented that if the state constrains local revenues and doesn't provide funding for an adequate education, there will be serious consequences for students. Key programs for extra time and help and student support services such as mental health have been cut, limiting the opportunity of students to receive a meaningful high school education.
Scot Taylor and Kendra Seaver described the process last year when Tioga’s budget was defeated in the first vote with a proposed override and passed with the second vote also for an override. They noted that a successful override requires an ongoing conversation with the community and a willingness to reduce the district’s tax request while retaining critical programs. They also said that the district received a gift from a donor, which allowed them to reduce the tax request and get approval of the second budget vote. This emphasizes the importance of additional funding for making the district whole and seeking voter approval.
Larry Spring said he reduced costs but preserved programs by instituting a Budget Workbook in which community members, parents and school staff reviewed programs and services from the point of view of the relative success, or return on investment, of each. He noted that this process helped identify unintended consequences of planned reductions and built public empathy and support for the school district’s budget.
Scot Taylor and Kendra Seaver described their participation in a project of strategic resource use with the State Education Department and consultants from Education Resource Strategies and how their process helped them to reduce costs, preserve programs and implement new instructional models to increase student learning.
The practitioners also discussed tax tolerance in school districts and what school districts can do to increase taxpayers’ contributions to schools. Taylor and Seaver noted that Comptroller’s audits documenting the low tax effort of their district compared to similar districts influenced their ability to increase local taxes.