School budget adopted in Baldwin

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The Baldwin Board of Education adopted its 2015-16 budget last week with little fanfare. There are no significant increases or reductions in the adopted budget, which does increase overall by $2.4 million to $124.4 million.

The district’s tax levy — the amount it can raise through property taxes — went down to 1.39 percent, Superintendent Dr. Shari Camhi said. Unlike other years since the 2 percent tax cap was signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2011, the governor has not released projected state aid figures for individual districts this winter. The “state aid runs” are not expected before the state is required to pass its budget on April 1, Camhi said.

As of now, the district is not projecting a state aid increase for next school year. Currently, $25.2 million of the district’s budget, or roughly 20 percent, comes from state aid. Educators and lawmakers have questioned Cuomo’s motives for withholding the state aid runs, saying that the governor isn’t providing the information until teacher evaluation reforms are agreed to.

The program portion of the budget, which makes up 77 percent of the spending plan, would increase $1.43 million to $95.8 million. Teaching salaries would jump $444,000, due in large part to the addition of five English as a Second Language, or ESL, teachers — a mandate required by the state.

Other new pieces to the program side of the budget are two K-12 department supervisor positions — fine and performing arts and foreign language — added high school character education assemblies and increased professional development for teachers.

The administrative portion of the proposed budget will increase by $730,000, to $12.3 million. The main reason, Carol Smith, assistant business manager, explained at a February budget work session, is that the district has consolidated its supervisory positions. In years past there were 10 supervisors, or chairs, at the middle and high school levels, each overseeing one of the five main subjects. Now there are five supervisors, each of whom oversees a subject for grades six through 12. But they now teach fewer than three classes, which means their pay gets shifted to the administrative side of the proposed budget.

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