Newfield schools tackle budget deficit

The Newfield Central School District’s Board of Education once again confronted the district’s precarious budgetary situation at its April 1 meeting and discussed measures necessary to eliminate the deficit.

Business Administrator David Shaw said that the district had been approved for CARES Act funding of $287,727 March 19, 2020. He said that cutting expenses helped save about $800,000, reducing the deficit from about $1.5 million to $700,762.

Because the deficit was still high, Shaw said the district had to lay off people the Friday before the meeting. The combination of layoffs and resignations resulted in 15 positions being eliminated, a number Shaw said could change but was roughly 10% of the district’s staff. He said he is grateful to everyone who had a role in ensuring the layoffs were handled respectfully.

“We don’t take this lightly at all,” Shaw said. “But when we’re facing numbers like this, we have to take some steps to improve our financial situation. This is the position we find ourselves in.”

Some district employees left voluntarily. Shaw said a retirement incentive, worth 20% of the base salary for those retiring June 30, would result in the district saving $230,400 for next year, as well as additional savings in following years. He said the figure took into account the cost of the incentive, as well as hiring people to replace four out of the nine retirees.

“Just because someone’s retiring doesn’t mean you don’t have to replace them,” Shaw said.

Superintendent Eric Hartz thanked Shaw for his hard work, as well as the retirees for choosing to voluntarily leave their jobs so younger employees could keep theirs.

“This has been a very, very difficult decision for a lot of people,” Hartz said. “And what, for me, came out of this was these retirees were looking at what was best for the district and for other young people.”

After the Board voted to accept the resignations, Board President Jennifer Pawlewicz gave an emotional thank-you to the departing staffers. She said that Lori White, who served the district for 38 years, was her teacher and that the district was lucky to have the outgoing teachers for as long as it did.

“What a beautiful thing to do, just to really end your career this way,” Pawlewicz said. “I just felt it really needed to be recognized.”

Shaw gave the Board a report on the projected budget, which was the third version of this year’s budget. He stressed that the budgeted numbers were not the actual expenses, a distinction that had not been made clear in the previous year’s budget, and compared it to a home budget.

“That’s kind of how a home budget works,” Shaw said. “You make your best guess based on the information you have, and then it doesn’t work out, and you adjust.”

Shaw said expenses could exceed or fall short of expectations due to COVID-19-related factors. One example he cited was how diesel fuel costs are high this year, despite his prediction that the district would spend less on gasoline for buses this year. Despite acknowledging that the budget numbers are not always accurate, Shaw tried to explain the budget to the Board.

“I’m here to help,” Shaw said. “I want it to be as painless as possible for everybody, and frankly, if I can’t explain it to you, it means I don’t understand it, so I’d better be able to explain it to you.”

The Board also discussed the current tax levy. If the tax levy remains at the tax cap, the district is expected to get $220,735 less than the previous school year, a 3.57% reduction. The district can keep the tax levy the same as last year or increase it for $61,911 in revenue per percent increase, but doing either will require a 60% supermajority of Newfield residents’ votes to pass the budget, as opposed to a 50% majority.

Board member Jeremy TenWolde said it would be unwise for the district to reduce revenues at a time when expenses were rising.

“I do think that this is the year where we have to ask the community to share a little bit of the load,” TenWolde said. “I think we are cutting our expenses as much as is practical, really. Anything more we do literally hurts the kids.”

Despite this, TenWolde cautioned the Board about increasing the tax levy too much, saying it is a difficult economic year and voters will be hesitant to pay more taxes. He said that if the Board fails to get the supermajority needed to pass the budget the first time, there will be two options — give the voters a budget without a tax increase or try for a lower tax increase and resort to a contingency budget if the voters also reject that budget. But the latter option is risky.

“We only get one more shot,” TenWolde said.

Newfield approves Story Walk

Newfield’s Board of Education voted to allow the Family Reading Partnership to develop a Story Walk at Newfield Elementary School.
Jenny Carr, librarian for Newfield Elementary School, said the Family Reading Partnership approached her to discuss this project. In a Story Walk, pages of a children’s book are laminated and mounted on posts around a trail, and children read the book while walking the trail.

Beverly Wallenstein, program and outreach coordinator for the Family Reading Partnership, described the Story Walk as an alternative way to promote literacy. She said there were four walks installed already in Danby, Dryden, Groton and Enfield, and she was excited to install another.

The route for the Story Walk will be around school grounds, starting in the wooden playground and leading to the little road at the top of the school, on a route that is designed to avoid interfering with the school activities. The walk is planned to have a total of 10 posts with story pages on the route, and Wallenstein said the locations are up to the Board.

Board member Scott Jackson asked who would pay for the walk, and in response, Wallenstein said the Family Reading Partnership would be responsible for installing the posts and updating the story pages seasonally. Amber Smith, executive director of Family Reading Partnership, said that a grant from the Tompkins County United Way will fund the project, including maintenance of the trail.

Board member Christina Ward expressed her appreciation for the Story Walk project.

“I have walked some before with my young kids, so thank you for including us in the grant,” Ward said.

In Brief:

Board meetings rescheduled

The Newfield Board of Education will hold a special meeting April 15. The next regular meeting will be held April 28, having been rescheduled due to spring break.