Pocantico Will Send Budget Back To Voters

Note: This article cited cost-per-pupil numbers that were based on the total proposed budget divided by the amount of students in a district. For Pocantico that number resulted in nearly $80,000 per student. However, these numbers did not take into account New York State's fiscal accountability report which divies up district expenditures on instruction by the amount of students in individual categories (general education and special education). Those numbers are significantly less, and are now included below in italics.

The Pocantico Hills Central School District was one of the big losers during county-wide school budget votes on May 18.

Two weeks ago, the district had its budget narrowly rejected by 23 votes – with only 407 individuals voting on the Pocantico budget, there was a 53 percent disapproval of the measure.

After having their budget defeated, the board of education will submit a new budget to the voters later this month.

The district's original budget would have amounted to $25,973,765 in spending, 10.35 percent more than the 2009-2010 budget. Despite the increase, there would have been a tax decrease of 8.03 percent in Greenburgh and 2.05 percent in Mount Pleasant due to a recent surge in the value of the district's commercial property.

The Pocantico budget would have created one of the highest cost-to-student ratios in the county. If the budget would have been passed in full, there would be roughly $80,000 allocated per student. The TUFSD budget, in comparison, would create about $22,500 per student for the coming year. These numbers were based on division of the total budget by the amount of students.

Pocantico's interim District Superintendant Jay Scotto-Friedman pointed out that these numbers were not the same as those cited in New York State's fiscal accountability report. Those numbers, which separate out instructional expenditures from line items such as operating expenses, transportation, debt service and district-wide administration, use allocated instructional dollars divided by total students.

According the State, Pocantico still spends well over the state average of $18,365 per student (in 2007-2008), expending $35,689 per student for the 2007-2008 school year (the most recent information available from the state). Similar schools spent about $30,394 per student, the report noted. The Union Free School District of the Tarrytowns spends $22,512 per pupil according to the same NYS report card.

Scotto-Friedman said that Pocantico numbers were higher than neighboring districts, in part, because the school has to supply education to Woodlands Juvenile Correctional Facility and to a larger amount of students with special needs. In 2007-2008 the district had 94 students that needed special education, the district spent $40,173 on each pupil.

In response to the defeated budget, the Pocantico Hills Board of Education will submit a revised budget to the community on June 15, 2010. The revised budget is $516,314 less than the defeated budget, and provides for a projected 10.34 percent reduction in taxes for the town of Greenburgh, and a 4.50 percent reduction in taxes for the town of Mt. Pleasant, said a statement released by the school.

Should the proposed budget be defeated on June 15, 2010,  the Board of Education will be required to adopt a contingency budget for the 2010-2011 school year. That budget would be substantially lower than the revised and original budget. Information on the contingency budget could not be found on the school district website and school officials have not yet returned calls for comment.

A release by the District warned that if the school had to operate under a contingency budget the community would not be able use the District's facilities in the same way as it had under an approved school budget. Under a contingency budget, school facilities may be used only if approved by the Board of Education, and only if all identifiable costs associated with that use are collected by the District in full and in advance. These facilities would include the use of the school building, fields, and the swimming pool.

The Budget vote is scheduled for Tuesday, June 15, 2010 in the school library from 7:00 a.m. through 9:00 p.m.

The draft 2010-2011 goals and the proposed school budget are available for review both in the school, and on the District's website  at www.pocanticohills.org.

Check back for updates on this story.