SHERBURNE – Four candidates registered their petitions by the deadline on Monday for three open seats on the Sherburne-Earlville Central Schools District Board of Education.
The seats are currently held by Thomas Caton and Patrick Dunshee, both of Earlville, and Thomas Morris of Sherburne. All three were elected as new board members in 2007, and all but Caton are running for re-election to another three-year term.
Newcomers John Cook Jr. of Smyrna and Daniel Piliero of Earlville have also thrown their hats into the race.
Sherburne-Earlville Central Schools District residents will have the opportunity to cast their votes May 18 for or against the candidates as well as the district’s 1.99 percent tax increase.
The tax increase covers a New York State reduction to the district of $919,187.
The Sherburne-Earlville Board of Education has already approved the school’s $28,975,880 million budget for the 2010-2011 school year. It represents a 3.73 percent increase from the prior year. The budget reflects a loss of up to seven staff members, including four teachers who will retire and not be replaced.
The budget saves a total of $370,180 in salary reductions and $66,000 in benefits. Ongoing administrative restructuring discussions led to replacing the district’s instructional technology department administrator, Todd Griffin, with a teacher, and moving Griffin into retiring district’s Assistant Superintendent Thomas Strain’s position, but at a lower salary.
Here’s the breakdown on salary savings:
New Assistant Superintendent: $30,000 reduction in salary
New Structure for Technology Department: $40,000 reduction in salary
Delete Social Worker: $50,049 plus benefits cut
Delete Grade 5 teacher: $66,246 plus benefits cut
Delete Kindergarten teacher: $65,792 plus benefits cut
Replace Kindergarten teacher: $25,000 reduction in salary
Delete Special Education Teacher: $69,605 salary cut
Reduce Physical Education Teacher to part-time: $21,488 reduction in salary
Custodial Worker: $12,000 reduction in salary
Strain said a final determination hasn't been made regarding another special education teacher.
Griffin officially becomes assistant superintendent on July 1. As IT director, he managed 1,400 computers and smart boards, other projectors and technology. He also served the district as chief information officer, reporting student statistical information to the state as mandated.
Sherburne-Earlville’s district student population is down from 1,850 in 2003 to 1,447 in 2010. The district has a principal and an assistant principal each in the elementary, middle and high school buildings. The district also has a superintendent, an assistant superintendent, a director of special education and an athletics director.
The district’s budget was projected after infusing $900,000 from an unreserved undesignated fund, up from about $60,000 in years past, as well as $250,000 from retirement contribution reserves.
Assistant Superintendent Thomas Strain said the district’s unreserved fund balance is left at about the 4 percent limit required by state law. He said money had been put aside in retirement reserves to offset anticipated rate hikes. Debt service funds were also tapped.
Strain also said state aid to the district’s a $25.2 multi-year capital building project was going up slightly, and aid from DCMO-BOCES is also up due to increased utilization of services this year.
The building project, approved by district voters in 2009, has no impact on the school budget or the tax levy.
If faced with another $900,000 state cut again next year, Strain said approximately $600,000 would be on hand. The amount has been used to pay off a $3 million bond note the district took on to replace its fleet of buses. The last payment was this year.
“We can and are able to reduce our expenditures by $600,00 just by doing that. There will be more retirees, we presume, but that’s another year away,” he said.
The board’s next meeting is at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 28 in the elementary school library.