Advisory group to work on school budget

The Long Beach School District’s newly formed Budget Advisory Committee has kicked off its budget talks for the 2012-13 school year, and the group will help school officials craft a spending plan amid a number of challenges facing the district, such as a property-tax cap and rising pension, healthcare and other costs.

The 11-member committee, which acts on behalf of Long Beach residents, is made up of resident volunteers who meet multiple times a month, from January through April, to develop a list of recommendations for the Board of Education and administration as they begin work on the budget.

School Board Vice President Roy Lester noted the importance of the committee’s involvement, as the group reviews the spending plan and makes a presentation to the board before the community votes in May. “The budget advisory committee almost always has offered some very good solutions,” he said.

In May, residents overwhelmingly approved the district’s $118.6 million budget for 2011-12, 1.86 percent larger than the previous school year’s budget. School officials said the current budget maintained academic programs and benefitted taxpayers. The tax levy — the total amount the district needs to raise through property taxes — remained unchanged, at $88.9 million.

A challenge that school officials and the committee face during this year’s budget preparations is the newly enacted property tax cap, which passed by a 57-to-5 margin in the State Senate on June 24.

The new law limits the amount that a school district or village board can increase property taxes in a given year to 2 percent, or the rate of inflation, whichever is smaller. With a 60 percent majority of voters, however, local communities can override the cap on a school budget.

The vote sparked concern among school officials, including the district’s Chief Operating Officer, Michael DeVito, who said that local communities should decide what the proper level of taxation for district expenditures should be.

“It’s a constraint,” he said. “We hope to be able to present a budget that complies with the two percent formula so that all we need is a simple majority vote.”

Lester said that while budget increases have remained relatively low over the years, a number of challenges are likely to come up during this year’s budget talks.

“The tax cap is the biggest challenge, so are increased pension costs, and trying to stay solvent with reserves is always important,” Lester said. “Those are things we have to consider. The problem is there are a lot of liabilities that any district has that have to be adequately funded. We’re looking at everything.”

Asked if the 2012-13 budget might include cuts to academic programs or layoffs in the district, DeVito said it was too early to say.

“We plan to cut back on some of our spending for next year,” he said, though he did not elaborate. “We’re still in the preliminary stages.”

DeVito added: “I think [the committee] will be helpful if they’re going to be ambassadors to the community about the current economic climate,” he said. “In that way, they can be very helpful and explain the two percent formula, expenditures, and the impact if the budget fails.”

District Clerk Carole Butler said that she believed the committee is interested in being a “positive force” for the district.

“They’re all very interested community members,” she said. “They’re trying to be productive and have the district save money without short-changing the children. Everyone has the same goal. I think some feel it’s their civic duty.”

According to DeVito, the committee was formed in early December. The committee, he said, consists of 11 members, in addition to himself and School Board President Dr. Dennis Ryan. Both will provide resources and information to the group, he said.

Butler said that some residents reached out and inquired about how they could join the committee after learning of the opportunity through announcements in newspapers, the school district’s website and at board meetings. Additionally, some members from the previous committee volunteered to serve again, Butler said.

DeVito said that the committee has already begun hosting meetings at the administrative building on Lido Boulevard.

Previous committees have focused on security expenditures and transportation expenditures, DeVito said. Though DeVito said he is not sure what the committee’s input will be this year, his hope is that the group works collaboratively with the school officials. Previous proposals by the committee include increasing the number of students assigned to school buses to reduce the number of buses in use, as well as urging the district to take “fiscally prudent” positions during contract negotiations.

“I hope that they partner with the district to be innovative with the budget,” he said, “and to partner with us to create a responsible budget.”

Despite a tough economy, and as state lawmakers grapple with a $2 billion deficit, DeVito said he was confident that the district would prevail in creating what he described as another fiscally responsible budget.

“There have been some assurances that there won’t be any mid-year cuts [in state education aid],” he said. “We feel comfortable that state aid promised for the year will be as it was promised. That we’re still in a tough economic situation, perhaps that will impact us more in the future than this year.”

Lester said that board members would remain open to recommendations from the committee, and emphasized the importance of making cuts when necessary to save the district money.

“I’m always looking at a more efficient way of educating our children,” Lester said. “Sometimes it’s a lot of little cuts, but those things add up. Those are the things you have to watch out for.”