The East Islip School District is trying to create a 1.3 million dollar technology fund by proposing a referendum to the community to be voted upon on May 20th, the same day as the budget vote. What do you know about this referendum? Is this a good idea? Is this good for the community?
Yes, the technology in the district needs to be upgraded. We need new computers with up to date Microsoft operating systems (some of the computers that the children are learning on still use windows 95). The question is, is setting up this fund the best way for the district to fund the acquisition of new technology. You may decide for yourself.
The 2006-2007 school year in East Islip was conducted on a contingency budget as the result of the community rejecting two different budgets proposed by the district. The community banded together and rolled up their sleeves to raise enough money to fund Sports in the High School and to retain a number of after school clubs. The children lost a great deal academically, especially in the High School and the Elementary Schools. The Teaching staff was reduced. Children on all levels had to go without. Everyone was affected because on contingency, money was tight.
At the end of the 2006-2007 school year, after denying our children critical programs and being more than willing to deny them athletic and social experiences, The East Islip School District ended the year with a 4 million dollar surplus, which was used to create an Unreserved Fund Balance. An Unreserved Fund Balance is a type of emergency account, money that can be kept by a school district that is over and above the actual budget, and can be saved and used in the event of an unforeseen fiscal need, a type of rainy day savings account. New York State law states that an Unreserved Fund balance cannot be more than 3% of the schools fiscal year budget (the law is increasing the amount to 4% of the budget for the 2008-2009 school year).
The following is taken from the NYSED Budgeting Handbook:
FUND BALANCE
“Year-end fund balances of school districts are the result of the recognition of revenues in excess of amounts estimated and expenditures that are less than the total amount of appropriations. It should be noted that there is no provision in the law or regulations for deficit or negative fund balances.
The total fund balance of a school district's general fund is made up of two parts: Reserved Fund Balance and Unreserved Fund Balance.
The reserved portion of the fund balance is made up of moneys that may be used only for very specific purposes and is, therefore, not available to be used for tax reduction in the next subsequent fiscal year.
The unreserved portion of the fund balance is the amount which is uncommitted and is, therefore, available to be used to reduce real property taxes in the next fiscal year. It should be noted, however, that a part of this unreserved fund balance may be retained by the district and not used for tax reduction in the next upcoming year. This retained portion is called the unappropriated fund balance and is limited by §1318 of the Real Property Tax Law to an amount equal to 2% of the upcoming year's budget ( increased to 3% in 2007-2008 and 4% in 2008-2009). The remaining portion of the unreserved fund balance that is used for tax reduction, is known as the appropriated fund balance.
The legally retained unappropriated fund balance provides cash flow and could be available to meet unanticipated ordinary contingent expenditures without voter approval. This fund balance may also be appropriated, with voter approval, for unanticipated non-contingent expenditures or the funding of certain reserve funds.
Since the term fund balance could apply to the total fund balance or any part of it, school district officials should be certain that any discussion of disposition of balances begins with a clear statement as to the nature of the balance being discussed.”
The budget for the East Islip School District for the 2007-2008 school year is $93,931,066. The maximum amount allowed in the unreserved fund balance, by law, for the East Islip School District at the end of the 2006-2007 school year is 2.8 million dollars. The total unreserved fund balance, as of 6/30/07 was $4,155,136. The district was 1.3 million dollars over the fund balance limit.
Now the district wants to designate this 1.3 million dollars for technology, 1.3 million of the over 4 million dollars that they have already overtaxed you, instead of returning it to the taxpayers by applying it to the new tax levy. The district has been padding various line items in the budget for years, overinflating the actual needs for covering expenses and moving money around from code to code in a virtual shell game. They are doing this to hide the fact that they are budgeting more money than they need to cover various expenses, hiding it from the public in the complexity of a school budget.
Do you know that if this Technology fund is approved, the money cannot be used for any other purpose? Do you know that if this Technology fund is approved, the money cannot be used for at least a year? The money cannot be used without ANOTHER vote of the community approving the expenditure. We will have to wait until May 19, 2009 to vote on them spending this money. Even if the community approves the expenditure, the children will not see any benefit from this referendum until the 2009-2010 school year, at the earliest. What happens to that money if the community votes no on the expenditure? Does this sound like the best route towards addressing our immediate technology needs? Do you know that the district can add up to 1 million a year to this fund, over 10 years, as long as the technology fund balance does not exceed 4 million? Do you know that this fund will be supported by money in excess of future unreserved fund balances, money you are supplying them through inflated taxes, the result of artificially high budgets? We are inviting the district to pad future budgets, knowing full well that they will be able to transfer money into the Technology fund that they would otherwise be legally obligated to return to the taxpayers by applying it to the following years tax levy. This method for funding our technology is fraught with pitfalls and will exacerbate distrust between the district and the community.
No one is denying that the district needs to upgrade its technology, and soon. The district should fund this by creating a line item for technology in this and future budgets so we will have better idea going forward as to what our expenses are and how our needs are being addressed. If the 1.3 million were applied to reduce the 2008-2009-tax levy and 1.3 million were added to the budget as a line item, the budget-to-budget increase would not change at all, and the district could start spending the money to improve our technology in September. The district is working on a five-year technology plan. The Beacon of hope states,” Once the Technology Reserve is approved and funded, the district can begin planning in earnest to meet the goals of its five-year plan for instructional technology.” How can they meet the goals when the funding is uncertain and is attained through chicanery, padding of budgets and clever accounting? This plan to improve our technology is, at best, a poorly planned endeavor, and at worst, an attempt to fool the community into thinking it is providing improved technology to the students of East Islip with absolutely no property tax implications to the tax paying public. Vote no on the Technology referendum and ask the district to fund our technology needs through conventional methods.
Please email this to all your friends and ask them to do the same. We need to get the truth out to as many people as possible. Thank you.
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