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Superintendent outlines proposed staffing reductions for 2010-11 school year

Budget Workshop, March 15

(March 10, 2010) -- Facing increasing costs and the loss of state aid revenues, the Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk Central School District is reducing staff for 2010-11 by a total of 44 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions—15.0 FTE teaching professionals (two positions in which the individuals are retiring and are not being replaced); 15.0 FTE teaching assistants; and 14.0 FTE building aides.

RCS Superintendent Daniel A. Teplesky delivered the sobering news at the Board of Education’s March 8 meeting, at which he outlined his recommendations for staffing reductions next year. The reductions will generate more than $1.7 million in savings for the district—savings that are needed, he explains, because the district faces a $1.7 million budget gap—and will carry an estimated 4.5 percent tax levy increase.

Without making any reductions, the district’s budget next year would increase by about $1.55 million, or 3.66 percent, to maintain all current programs and staffing levels. Coupled with the $1.1 million cut in state aid included in Gov. David Paterson’s proposed state budget, this revenue shortfall would require an estimated tax levy increase of 12.5 percent, which Teplesky said in today’s economic climate is simply not realistic. The $1.7 million in staffing reductions would lower the increase in the tax levy to an estimated 4.5 percent, he added, less than the 5.4 percent tax levy increase necessary if the district were forced to adopt a contingency budget.

Teplesky will present his entire preliminary budget to the Board of Education on Monday, March 15, at 6 p.m. in the High School Auditorium. The community is welcome to attend and provide input. The meeting will also be streamed live, through this link. The board will adopt the 2010-11 budget at its March 22 meeting. A public Budget Hearing is planned for May 10 at 7 p.m. at RCS High School. The community votes on the school budget and elects members to the Board of Education on May 18.

Download Superintendent Teplesky's PowerPoint presentation [PDF).

For more information about the district's budget development process, visit the Budget Information Center.

 

 

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