Watching the schools’ fiscal stress

Lawrence School District tops the list of school districts with “moderate” financial strain among the 23 school districts around the state in the same grouping, including five others on Long Island, based on the indicators used to create the first state comptroller’s report on the fiscal stress of New York’s 674 school districts.
The report, released on Jan. 16, was described as an “early warning system” by Brian Butry, a spokesman for Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. Using a 100-point scale, school districts with fiscal stress were placed in three categories: significant, moderate and susceptible to stress.
“Comptroller DiNapoli has visited and discussed fiscal stress in communities throughout the state that are facing fiscal challenges in order to address the specific problems that local governments have,” Butry said in explaining why the study was conducted. The indicators included districts’ fund balances, operating deficits, available money and debt.
Lawrence Superintendent Gary Schall said that the unassigned fund balance — money used for revenue shortfalls and emergencies — and the operating deficit — the difference between spending and revenues — were the district’s most glaring deficiencies. The unassigned fund balance is approximately $800,000 lower than the past two years due to the expenses for Hurricane Sandy repair, for which, Schall said, the district expects to be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Anticipated increases in health insurance, pensions and automatic salaries creates a $1.63 million revenue deficit. But the superintendent expects an uptick in tax revenue to cover $1.2 million of that deficit, and the remaining $430,000 could be saved by potential retirements.
“We’re at moderate stress, but it’s not something the district is alarmed about,” Schall said of his district’s score of 63.3. “We are debt free. The reserves are on the lower side, but it is certainly acceptable.”
Board of Education President David Sussman said that the score means the district must continue being “fiscally prudent” as it moves through the budget process and negotiates contracts. Over the past three years, the district has cut administration and support staff to keep spending in check as the state-mandated tax cap and decreases in state aid have reduced revenue.
Sussman also pointed to the district’s lack of debt as a positive, and said that sometime in the near future, the Number Six School would be sold, providing Lawrence with an infusion of money. “I would tell [residents] not to worry, as the district has been fiscally conservative, and we make sound fiscal decisions,” he said.
In addition to fiscal stress, the report also noted what it called environmental stress. The indicators are student enrollment, property value, budget vote results and poverty. Lawrence has a low score of 20.
Though the Hewlett-Woodmere district currently has no fiscal stress based on the comptroller’s study, administrators are keeping an eye on environmental factors that could affect its financial standing, said Dr. Peter Weber, the assistant superintendent for business. It’s environmental score is 30. Weber said that the district has sustained its student population, and its budgets have always been approved by residents, but it is monitoring an increase in the average number of students in families qualifying for free and reduced-price lunches and a decline in property values since 2007.
The district has focused on fiscal restraint over the past six years, especially when it comes to employee pay, the single largest portion of any district’s budget, Weber said. In 2012 the district eliminated 15 faculty positions, and has offered buyouts to administrators. Hewlett-Woodmere’s conservative financial outlook, he said, “is reflected in reductions in the number of positions, limits on any growth in salary and changes in compensation packages for new administrators.”

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