81 Teacher Layoffs Loom in Three Village

The Three Village Central School District is staring down an $8.1 million budget gap – and a potential layoff of about 81 teachers if alternate solutions aren't found to eliminate that gap.

That was the revelation at Tuesday's school budget workshop, during which Jeff Carlson, assistant superintendent for business services, detailed the grim situation that the district is facing: Even with a tax levy increase of 4.05 percent – that's what's allowed for Three Village this year under state aid formulas – the district won't be able to make up for a loss in high tax aid from the state, soaring pension contribution and health insurance costs, and a contractual raise for teachers that could amount to an increase of between 5.4 percent and 6.1 percent.

The budget gap has to be closed somehow, Carlson said, and the district hasn't forgotten the conclusions drawn during the 2012-13 budget season – that issues such as dropping down to half-day kindergarten or an eight-period day shouldn't be touched. Thus, laying off about 13 percent of its 600 teachers along with some program changes are the likely solutions this year if more funds aren't delivered by the state, he said.

"This is the first go-around. Nothing's written in stone yet. The board hasn't had the chance to discuss this. This is the first propsoal of reductions to be made," Carlson said. "Some of these may come off the table ultimately, but certainly more will be added to that to get to where we need to be."

He continued: "Absolutely all grade levels, all departments will be impacted," he said. "I always say we try to make it as so the kids will see as little impact, as little change as possible. But there will be an impact, absolutely no doubt about it. Class sizes will be increased. No way around that. And we absolutely will have to reduce or eliminate some electives, programs and services. There's just no way to make all the cuts that we need to get under the tax cap without doing that."

The most a tax-cap-budget would yield in additional revenue for the district is $5,486,414; combined with this year's $176.7 million spending plan, the district is looking at an approximate budget of $182.2 million. The major areas of increasing expenses are teacher salaries, state retirement system contributions, health insurance costs and special education costs.

At most, teacher salaries will amount to a $4,150,000 increase over the current year; the actual amount will depend on the Consumer Price Index, which will be determined within the next couple of weeks.

There is no indication that the Three Village Teachers Association will open up its contract for re-negotiation to immediately control that increase, as it did for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 academic years. "We have approached them and asked them that, and it looks like at this time they would not be interested in doing that," Carlson said.

Claudia Reinhart, president of the Three Village Teachers Association, could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Prior to 2010, Carlson said, the district did not have to resort to layoffs of this magnitude due to budget constraints; rather, he said, teachers were excessed due to declining enrollment or programmatic changes.

Part of the problem, he also said, is that in past years, the district may have postponed the impact of those renegotiations – a problem common to school districts that plan for getting the tax levy simply "as low as possible this year."

"That's a problem we're facing now. ... The board does not want to do some kind of deal only for it to be more costly down the road," Carlson said.

Beyond teacher salary increases, other major jumps in the upcoming budget include:

• State retirement fund contributions – $4,240,000 (34 percent)
• Health insurance costs – $2,970,000
• Other salary increases (clerical, maintenance/operations, administrators) – $465,000
• Special education costs – $800,000
• Contracted services – $460,000

Beyond teacher layoffs, other looming cuts include:

• Supplies and equipment – $300,000
• Assistant coaches, after school fitness, sports and wellness clubs – $100,000

What could be a game-changer for the school district is state aid: If more is restored, teacher layoffs and program cuts may not be as steep. Carlson said state aid numbers will be solidified within the next several weeks as the state legislature draws its own budget together.

If the adopted budget falls within a 4.05 percent tax levy increase, only a simple majority of voter approval will be needed in order to pass the budget. Should the budget fail twice, an additional $5.3 million would need to be cut, as no tax levy increase would then be allowed.

The school budget workshop series will continue for the next several weeks, with meetings on March 12, March 19, April 2 and April 9. The Board of Education anticipates adopting the budget on April 9; the community will vote on the school budget on May 21.

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