First Draft: School Budget Could be $80 Million Next Year

Teaching jobs, textbook funds and other expenditures that directly impact the classroom are all on the chopping block in Port Chester this year, as the school board presented its first budget draft to the community.

During a budget presentation at the Thursday Board of Education meeting, interim Superintendent Thomas Elliott did not sugarcoat the dire financial situation.

He reminded his audience that some extra costs– like the presence of extra hall monitors and elementary school librarians– have already been eliminated in the past two years, leaving little choice but to make cuts in more difficult areas, like teaching staff and funding for textbooks.

In every scenario, the budget will rise beyond the $77 million the district spent this year, even if voters reject the board's final budget. Now, the conversation is focused on whether the district should approve a small increase accompanied by layoffs and cuts, or a larger increase with fewer slashed jobs and programs.

Some board members say they don't want to ask the taxpayers for more.

“Not only are we paved into a corner by all bad things happening, so are the people in the community and I don’t think they’ll support [this expenditure increase],” said board member Jim Dreves.

Cuts will have to go deeper, a reality that has led to some uncomfortable conversations.

Between textbooks, instructional software, and BOCES services, the district could shave $139,000, barely making a dent in the budget shortfall. Reductions in state aid and mandatory costs associated with pensions have contributed to the gap.

Five hundred more children have also entered the Port Chester School District in five years, on officials to accommodate rising enrollment levels with more teachers.

But the district will slash jobs, not add them; twenty-six teachers have given official retirement notices, positions have been consolidated, and fewer staffers are covering existing teaching and staffing shifts.

The district's budget is $77 million this year; with a proposed $3,272,899 increase, the new budget could top $80 million.

And about those tough choices? Most of them haven't been made yet.

“I think we have to say a starting point, because an increase of 4.23 percent in this economy, I don’t know if this is where we want to be," said board member Anne Capeci. "We’ve never really had to cut teachers on this Board of Education before, and I’d hate this to be the year where we succumb to the economy."

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