Maintaining Balance in Times of Stress Nassau PTA Legislation Roundtable Hofstra University March 3, 2013 Joseph C. Dragone Assistant Superintendent for Business Roslyn Public Schools

Part I: State Aid

The Governor’s Proposal on School Aid for 2013-14 (Exec Runs) $550 million in “formula” aid changes including: Foundation Aid (no change), Gap Elimination Adjustment Restoration ($321.5 million), High Tax Aid (-$50 million) Expense Based Aids ($278.8 million) $203 million in one-time “stress relief” (pensions, etc.) $125 million in grant programs (extended day, performance, etc.)

Devil in the details? Foundation Aid and High Tax are flexible forms of aid GEA reduces the amount of flexible aid available Expense aid is reimbursement for textbooks, debt service, special education excess costs, transportation, etc. 74% of statewide reduction in High Tax Aid is on LI!

Differences across Counties Nassau lost $9.2 million more in High Tax Aid than it received in Gap Elimination Adjustment Restoration 94.9% of the increase in Suffolk County aid is explained by expense reimbursements

A little bit of history… When aid is increasing, LI receives only “its share” When aid is decreasing, LI pays back more than “its share”

Island Wide Data (117 Districts)

Impact on LI Property Taxes

Are LI Budgets out of control? Measured in 1990 dollars LI aid per pupil declined by 14%! LI expense per pupil increased by only 1.3% per year!

State Aid by County since 08-09 The loss in aid over the past 5 years (Public SAMS)

ARRA – EJF – Exec Proposal To be fair – we did get some relief in 2010-11 and the proposal for 2013-14 does increase aid to Long Island

Part II: Fund Balance

A Tale of Two Districts Roslyn is lucky to have significant resources, does not depend upon state aid, and a current budget that is sufficient to meet the needs of its pupils Sachem has limited resources outside of state aid which has been cut drastically and a budget which has already been trimmed in response to taxpayer demands

Where did the fund balance go? (percent changes from prior year)

Did State Aid have any impact? Data taken directly from Public SAMS

Percentage Increases

Fund Balance Impacts

Island Wide Data

Reserve Management Assumptions State Aid will continue to grow and be 12% of our budget even if our budgets increase Assigned fund balance in year 1 is 2% of our budget Unassigned fund balance in year 1 is 4% of budget

Budget - Expense = Assigned

Budget - Expense > Assigned CQ zone

Budget - Expense < Assigned RP zone

Can Nassau be far behind?

Questions? Please remember that the real expert in your district is your business official and your superintendent If I could be of assistance, I would be happy to talk to them. I can be reached at Joseph C. Dragone Assistant Superintendent for Business Roslyn Union Free School District 300 Harbor Hill Road – Post Office Box 367 Roslyn, New York 11576 e: jdragone@roslynschools.org v:  (516) 801-5030 f:   (516) 801-5037 c:  (631) 512-1948