At its December 3rd budget workshop the Bronxville Board of Education studied three factors affecting the 2013-14 school budget - mandated retirement costs, rising enrollment, and private school transportation. Assistant Superintendent Dan Carlin explained the specific details of each factor. Required employer contributions to state retirement systems are projected to rise $1,099,357. State pension funds require all school districts and municipalities to contribute certain percentages of payroll into these systems; there is no local control of this mandate. For the employee system (ERS), this percentage is expected to rise from 18.9% of salary paid to 20.9%. For the teacher system (TRS), the percentage is expected to rise from 11.8% to 16.5%. The preliminary calculation of $1,099,357 does not include any negotiated salary increments from year to year, so the final number will be higher. These increases in retirement costs represent a 2.8% difference in the overall tax levy, which exceeds the legislated tax cap by a significant margin.
Rising student enrollment is a second pressure on the budget. Although the overall budget has been relatively flat since 2008, the student enrollment has grown, with 3% occurring in the current year and an additional 2% anticipated in 2013-14. The biggest jump is expected at the Middle School, which is projected to go from 403 students to 420 students. In order to keep average class sizes at the Middle School below 25, the district would need to add the equivalent of a full time teacher. Superintendent David Quattrone mentioned that in the case of the High School, the District had deliberately increased some class sizes in order to introduce certain electives. He added that staff additions involved multiple variables, including impact on space, teacher quality, ripple effects on other programs, and long-term demographics.It is not clear that the district can afford any staff additions in the present context.
A third budget factor is private school transportation. The state requires the district to transport students who reside in Bronxville to private schools within a fifteen mile radius. The costs of this service have declined over the past three years, dropping from $556,707 to $384,200. This drop reflects the fact that fewer Bronxville students are currently using this service (74 in 2009, 57 in 2012) and also favorable contracts recently negotiated with transportation providers. Bronxville now participates in a consortium with Eastchester, Tuckahoe, Pelham, and New Rochelle, coordinated by BOCES. The Board's analysis and discussion focused on opportunities for reducing costs and optimizing service, and Carlin provided a detailed analysis of the transportation logistics involved for each private school and the potential cost savings. Private school parents in attendance expressed concern about potential reductions in current service, turning instead to public transportation. Board President Brashear responded that the Board intends to be sensitive to such issues as age of student, length of ride, safety, and specific circumstances, but remained hopeful that some efficiencies could be found.
This workshop followed an earlier session in September that focused on the use of reserves and long-range planning. The next workshop will occur on February 9, at which time the Superintendent will present a rollover budget -- what would it cost to run the same programs in 2013-14? -- for the Board to consider.
