By a vote of 938 to 817, residents of the Broadalbin-Perth Central School District approved the district’s proposed $29,002,495 budget for the 2010-11 school year. The 1,755 voters was a record turnout for the district. The budget carries a 3.98 percent spending increase from the 2009-10 school year. Under the approved budget, the district’s tax levy is expected to increase by no more than 14 percent.
“Planning this budget has been a long and difficult process,” said Superintendent Stephen Tomlinson. “Because of the challenges we knew we would face, our Board of Education made a significant effort to include members of the community in the budget planning process. When they chose to put this budget before the community, they believed it represented the will of the community. Today’s result validates that belief.”
The district’s 2010-11 budget reflects the elimination of seven full-time positions, including three elementary teachers, one music teacher, a teaching assistant and two bus drivers. It also reflects $140,000 in reductions for buildings and grounds supplies and equipment, and includes no budgeted increase for energy costs or instructional supplies.
As a result of the budget cuts, district officials expect that class sizes in some grades at the elementary schools will increase to as much as 27 students per classroom. They also plan to restructure the district’s music program to decrease music instruction from two days to one day per week at The Learning Community, and combine the chorus programs at the high school and intermediate school. The loss of the teaching assistant position will result in a reduction of academic intervention services (AIS) at The Learning Community. In addition, the district will restructure bus routes and establish centralized bus stops in the Village of Broadalbin.
In planning the 2010-11 budget, district leaders faced the potential loss of $1.744 million in state aid as part of Gov. David Paterson’s proposed gap elimination adjustment (GEA). School districts across New York State, including Broadalbin-Perth, will not know their final state aid figures until the Legislature adopts a state budget. If some or all state aid is restored, B-P cannot increase the total amount of the voter-approved budget: Its only options would be to utilize the restored state aid to offset the local tax levy, place the restored state aid in its fund balance, or a combination of the two.
Proposition and Board of Education elections
By a vote of 918 to 795, district residents approved a proposition that will allow Broadalbin-Perth to purchase three 66-passenger school buses to replace vehicles that are beyond their life expectancy. Just under 95 percent of the cost will be returned to the district in the form of state aid, and the funds gained from the resale of the old buses will result in no impact on the local school tax levy.
Residents also voted to fill three seats on the Broadalbin-Perth Board of Education. Five candidates competed for the three seats: Byron Armstrong Barker, Keith Buchanan, Charlie Dezolt, Floyd Douglas and Brandt Minkler. Buchanan and Dezolt won the five-year terms with 1,202 and 891 votes, respectively. Minkler received 848 votes and will serve the remaining two years of the term of John Pecora, who announced he will resign at the end of June for personal reasons.