Nyack overwhelmingly passed their budget last month. We applaud the passing of this budget and for those who don't know much about it we present the facts as presented by the District and our analysis. For a broader discussion of the 2000 vote check out The Trustee Vote page.
Source: Nyack School District
Budget Increase 6.71%
Tax Levy Increase: 7.32%
Full-Day Kindergarten
Reduced Class sizes
Expanded After School and Summer Programs
Honors Academy (Reach for the Stars)
Increased Staff Development
Increased Staff
Curriculum Development and Modification
HS Computer Upgrade
World Language Study (elementary schools)
PSAT's Administered to all students
Conflict Resolution/ Bias Awareness Program
New 12th Advanced Placement Computer Science Course
Student Data Warehouse (COGNOS)
Additional Text and Library Books
Special Education Restructuring: consultant-teacher model for pre-referral intervention and expansion of collaborative teaching model into elementary schools
Salaries 53.6%
Benefits 11.4%
Subtotal 65%
BOCES 10%
Utilities & Operations 6%
Transportation 4%
Debt Service 7%
Contractual (including insurance) 4%
Materials, supplies 3%
Cost per pupil (2000-2001) $15,339
Average Teacher salary $68,861
Average Teacher salary w/benefits $79,878
BUDGET INCREASES
The 2000-01 budget increase from last year is about $2.9 million.
About half that increase, $1.4 million, is in teachers' salaries and benefits for both regular and special ed. That is the usual cost of living increases, as well as an additional 12.4 new teachers. New teachers, meant to lower class size, form the most significant change in this year's budget: a change in quantity, not necessarily quality.
The next biggest increases are all under $200,000. They are, in descending order:
$190,000 mostly in cleaning and maintenance
$170, 000 in 5 more special ed students going to BOCES (total of 59)
$160,000 increase in transportation
$127,000 in Retirement incentive
$104, 000 in Staff development, more than half of which is consultants
$100, 000 new computers for DaVinci Center and classrooms
PIE/ TASK FORCE ITEMS
Recruitment is to go up from $5,000 to $10,000, although the district only spent $3,000 of this year's recruitment budget.
The total for in-service training/workshops is $70,000: double last year. Please note that teacher training for the entire staff costs about $50,000 less than the Assistant Superintendent's annual salary.
There is an unspecified (?) new Middle School reading program at a cost of $14,250.
The on-going STARS program is both afterschool and in the summer for elementary, especially reading. Budgeted to go up $40,000, which is double what they spent this year.
In special education, private tuition is expected to be cut in half as fewer kids are sent to other schools, but there is no cut in teachers, home tutoring increases, and salaries for director and chairperson go up a total of $25,000.
An item marked diversity related issues (People's Institute?) = $50,000.
Data system costs $59,000. [This may well fall under new State mandates.]
The 2000 budget represents the largest single year tax hike in the past four years, however it does include a number of new initiatives. The New York State Standards have certainly had a very big impact on this budget as schools struggle to raise the level of education for all of their students.
Does this budget address the Achievement Gap? In some ways it does. Here's how:
1. The COGNOS computer system will provide statistics and therefore progress reports on the performance of each group of students in the district.
2. The Professional Development budget includes $50,000 for programs like "Undoing Racism" which we feel are important for the entire staff and large segments of the community to take part in.
3. And Full-Day Kindergarten will be a benefit for low income families who otherwise would have no additional childcare or educational programs for their 5 year olds.
For all of these budget items we applaud the district.
Does this budget go far enough in this area? Probably not. There are certainly more aggressive and expensive ways to tackle the Achievement Gap. The programs proposed in this budget do represent a first step.
As for the rest of the $46 million budget, there is little discussion required. Teacher salaries and benefits comprise two-thirds of the total budget and they were recently awarded a new five year contract. All other budget items appear to be basic necessities.
