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Thread: First LCSD budget work session

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    First LCSD budget work session

    Recently, the Lancaster Central School District (LCSD) held its first budget work session for the upcoming 2017-18 fiscal year. As usual, less than a handful of residents attended – two in fact.

    At this budget hearing the following agenda items were reviewed*:

    1. Operations and Maintenance – N. Mason / J. Phillips**

    Operations total expenditure - $5,181,779; an increase of $134,571 (2.67%) from last year’s budget.

    Non instructional salary increases of $114,847 and an increase of materials & supplies ($25,724) were biggest cost increase contributors.

    Total Maintenance expenditure - $2,050,042; an increase of $20,078 (0.99%) from last year’s budget.

    Total Operations and Maintenance expenditures - $7,231,821; an increase of $154,649 (2.19%) from last year’s budget. Contractual salary increases (3.48%) account for the increase of $154,950. Adjustments in the remaining areas of this budget have lowered the total overall increase necessary to just cover wage increases.

    2. Continuing Education – A. Alderman / J. Phillips

    Expenditure - $188,887; a $14,415 increase (8.26%).

    Contractual expense increased by $18,000 to account for increase in courses offered. Increased revenue from the program offsets the increases in the expenditures.

    3. Transportation – J. Feldmeyer / J. Phillips

    A. Total Transportation expenditure - $6,885,255; an increase of $187,767 (2.80%) from last year’s budget. Approximately 60% of the increase is attributed to salary increases and the remaining 40% to an anticipated increase in special needs transportation that is contracted out.

    B. Bus Proposition (Purchase)

    $815,908 – seven 65 passenger buses
    $141,328 – one 42 passenger wheelchair bus
    $7,000 – estimated legal fees

    Grand Total - $964,236, to be paid for entirely from the bus purchase reserve. No tax impact.

    4. Debt Service – J. Phillips

    Total debt service - $6,636,506; an increase of $460,987 (7.46%) over last year’s budget.

    Although there was a decrease of $606,662 in Serial Bond principal and interest (17-18 is final (lesser) principal and interest payment for 1996 capital project), there was an increase of $1,167,649 in BANS (Bond Anticipatory Notes). The increase in BAN expenditures can be attributed to money that will be borrowed this June for the upcoming year’s construction under the 2015 capital project. All of the debt service expenditures are offset on the revenue side by state aid and use of the debt service reserve.

    5. Employee Benefits – J. Phillips

    Total Expenditure - $26,066,492; an increase of $533,348 (2.09%) over last year’s budget.

    Decreases in Teacher Retirement ($313,080) and Workers Compensation ($96,577).

    TRS contribution rate decreased from 11.72% to an estimated 10.5%. Even with increased wages, the lower contribution rate resulted in a budget decrease. Workers Compensation premium has been reduced due to the efforts of the district to improve safety and mitigate employee accidents and injuries.

    Increase in State Retirement ($81,246), Social Security ($144,282), Hospital & Medical Insurance ($517,256), Dental Insurance ($178,586), and Eye Glass Insurance ($19,855). ERS contribution rate is expected to remain flat at 16.1%. The increase in the ERS expense is able to be covered on the revenue side by the retirement contribution reserve.

    Hospital and medical insurance premiums are initially estimated to increase 5%, but the district declared it will have a more accurate picture in March. Industry trends show premiums increasing around 20%. The district is self-funded so they are not susceptible to those trends, just their own employee’s use.

    Dental and vision insurance premiums are estimated to increase by 10%, but as with medical, the district will have a better estimate in March.

    Reserve funds for ERS, unemployment, and workers compensation are used on the revenue side to offset some of the expenditures in these areas.

    6. Minimum wage increase impact – J. Phillips

    In NYS, minimum wage will be increasing $0.70 per year through at least 2021. The only positions in the district that risk falling below the minimum wage in any of those years is substitute positions. A 2016-17 Board of Education goal was to review the impact of the minimum wage increases and charter a plan for the district’s substitute wages for the coming years. Two different ways of adjusting the substitute wages in a calculated fashion were presented. Using a $ increment ($0.70 per year was presented); the average cost per year over previous year would be $22,000.

    Using a %, the average cost per year would be $26,000

    Grand Total in estimated increased expenditures for the sections of the budget presented over the 2016-17 budget - $1,351,166; excluding bus proposal.

    *Initial/tentative proposed budget; departmental requests
    **Jamie Phillips - Asst. Superintendent for Business & Support Services

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    LCS officials appeal to parents for help with test participation
    by ALAN RIZZO Reporter
    - Lancaster Bee

    Because Lancaster Central has not met state requirements for student participation in standardized testing, administrators issued a plea at a Board of Education meeting on Monday to the district’s parents, hoping they will allow their children to be assessed this spring.

    During a presentation that involved six administrators, Michele Ziegler, Lancaster’s director of instructional technology services and accountability, reported that while test performance among students in Lancaster meets state requirements, participation does not, and that deficiency is putting the district in danger of being labeled a failure.

    She indicated that New York requires that 95 percent of students take and pass state tests in mathematics and English language arts in grades three through eight. Ziegler said the percentages are the same for Regents testing at the high school level and are at 80 percent for science testing in grades four and eight, and for overall graduation.

    “Anything less in any one of these percentages, and we can be flagged,” she said, also reporting that because the district has not met state Adequate Yearly Progress goals for elementary and middle school math, ELA and science testing, students could struggle in high school with state testing. “Our concern is that if fewer students are taking the standardized tests in grades three through eight, then they will have difficulty with the standardized tests when they get to the secondary level.”

    Karen Marchioli, director of elementary education for LCS, reported that last year, only 50 percent of students in grades three through eight took ELA tests, and math was even lower at 47 percent.

    She said the lack of participation limits the usefulness of testing data for local administrators like her, who use it to adjust curriculum, track student progress and evaluate teachers.

    Marchioli said it also limits local decision-making power, if Lancaster is put on a federal or state list of underperforming schools or districts in terms of testing.

    “It takes away the ability for us to spend money the way we want,” she said. “We are told that we have to do certain things, and put certain staff members in certain places.”
    Responding to the presentation, board President Patrick Uhteg argued to parents that district administrators are on their side when it comes to state testing changes and do not use data as a “be all, end all.”

    “To bring students and parents back to the table, we have to convince them that the assessments are a work in progress,” he said. “We have educational reforms coming from the state and federal government, and that’s not going away. But whatever tests are put in front of our students, the data we receive from those tests is going to be used with a scrutinizing eye and as a means to an end, and the end is always to have the best instruction, the best education for our students that we can.”

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    Member Greg Sojka's Avatar
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    Parents absolutely need to continue with the Opt-out movement. There have not been major changes. The tests are poorly written, often have confusing text and questions, with multiple correct answer choices, and are developmentally inappropriate. Previous exams have had text at least 4-5 grade levels above student reading level. Math exams given in April have questions based on standards not yet taught because the school year is not over. It's set up so students can't achieve a perfect score unless they are already above grade level in knowledge and skills. The only way things will change is if parents continue to keep up the pressure and send the message to the government that these tests are unacceptable and a waste of taxpayer money and classroom instructional time. Why are we contributing to the profit of testing companies who don't employee professional educators or people who have knowledge of child and adolescent development?

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    Member gorja's Avatar
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    DO we have many bullying issues? I noticed this in the Lancaster police blotter

    Police Blotter 2/9/17 - 2/10/17
    A complainant reported being harassed by another student from Lancaster High School. The incident was referred to a school resource officer (S.R.O.).

    Georgia L Schlager

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    Bullying is the use of force, threat, or coercion to abuse, intimidate or aggressively dominate others. Bullying occurs in a variety of contexts, such as schools, workplaces, political or military settings, and others. If bullying is done by a group, it is called mobbing

    Viewing bullying in such context, when considering children are influenced by what they see and hear at home, in public and through the professional and social-media outlets, why would anyone expect bullying to not rear its ugly head in schools and on social media?

    It is displayed more that ever by adults. President Trump is a prime example of individual bullying – an aggressive, abusive, mocking, deriding, intimidating behvior. As to ‘mobbing’ how better described than by the fringe left who while portending to protest peacefully – as is their right – do so where violence, hate speech, threats and intimidation is present.

    A nation never more so divided is unwilling to come together; one where our political leaders encourage disruption and resistance.

    Never thought I would see the day when high school children were let out of school to protest; adolescent children at protests holding f*** Trump signs; celebrities using hate speech and openly declaring they had a desire to burn down the Whitehouse; displays of violence and property damage. And then we wonder why children develop such bad behavior.

    People of my generation never thought we would experience today’s social climate.

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