School Funding Transparency Report

Education Law §3614 School Funding Allocation Report

Part F – Narrative Description

1. (A) Describe the local methodology/approach used to allocate funds to each school in the district during the process of budget development and implementation. (B) Please also describe the role(s) of all relevant stakeholders in such budgetary processes and decision-making. (C) Finally, if schools are allocated a significant portion of their funds—either in part or in full—through a formula, outline the nature/mechanics of the formula and the elements impacting each school’s allocation.

   Specifically, the Division of Budget and the State Education Department would consider a complete response to this question to include explicit answers to the questions included in the rubric below, including a substantive discussion on the translation of students needs into the district’s budget (at least 1 sentence per question, when applicable).

   The Budget is lead by the Assistant Superintendent for Business. We have discussions at all levels to discuss budgetary needs of the District.  Budgets are generally based on a rollover budget but are adjusted up or down depending upon funding and/or revenue in any particular year. Principals and Department heads are involved in the budget process as we meet each individually to discuss their building or department’s needs. The District has a Budget Advisory Committee that meets several times during the budget process. We also have approximately 6 or 7 public budget meetings. The budget process is a year round process, analyzing and collecting data but the formal meetings begins in December/January and continue up until the board of education adopts the budget. There is no specific formula but generally school budgets are based on enrollment. Since revenues are scarce, these budgetary figures do not see yearly fluctuation in the amount budgeted.

2. If applicable, is there anything unique about certain schools which explain why per pupil spending at these locations may be significantly higher/lower than the district average?

   There should not be any extreme differences regarding location averages. The secondary school is probably slightly more because of the the age level and cost of educating older children is greater. Also, there is a significant difference is teacher cost depending upon their years in the District. A new teacher Salary can be less than half of our most senior teacher. This can have an impact on costs per student at any particular building.

3. If applicable, describe any items which the district feels are anomalous in nature and require additional description.
   n/a

Education Law §3614 School Funding Allocation Report
Part F – Data Justifications

Part A

A-II. District Spending Allocated to Individual Schools

1. Threshold Triggered: The total per pupil spending amount entered for Other School Districts (excl. Special Act Districts), calculated by dividing $727,000 by 8 pupil(s), varies by more than 25% and $1,000 (per pupil) from the district’s 2019-20 School Funding Transparency Form. Please review and revise the entered data or provide justification below for this significant variance.

District Justification
Tuition is budgeted higher because we don’t always know how many students we will have during budget season

 2. Threshold Triggered: The per pupil spending amount for SWD School Age-School Year Tuition, calculated by dividing total spending by the reported number of pupils, is outside the expected range of $15,000 to $150,000. Please review and revise the entered data or provide a justification below for this significant variance. 

District Justification
This is very short term tuition, usually a week or two

3.Threshold Triggered: The per pupil spending amount for SWD – Summer Education (4408) Tuition, calculated by dividing total spending by the reported number of pupils, is outside the expected range of $2,000 to $40,000. Please review and revise the entered data or provide a justification below for this significant variance. 

District Justification
We budget high because we don’t know how many students will be taking part in the program.

A-III. Central District Costs

4. Threshold Triggered: The total spending per FTE amount for Other Central Services, calculated by dividing total spending by the reported number of FTEs, is below $40,000; a relatively low rate compared to the statewide average. Please review and revise the entered data or provide a justification below for this significant variance. 

District Justification
It is correct.

Part C

C-I. School Allocation by Object  

5. Threshold Triggered: The total amount entered for BOCES Services varies by more than 20% and $1,500,000 from the district’s 2019-20 School Funding Transparency Form. Please review and revise the data entered on Part C-I or provide a justification for this significant variance below. 

Field                                                               Total
BOCES Services…. $4,731,703
2019-2020 SFT Reported Spending…. $2,255,570
Dollar Change from Prior Submission…. $2,476,133
Percentage Change from Prior Submission…. 109.78%

District Justification
Incorrect last year, using forecast5 software for 2020-21

C-II. School Allocation by Purpose  

6. Threshold Triggered: The total amount entered for Grades K-12 Special Education varies by more than 20% and $2,000,000 from the district’s 2019-20 School Funding Transparency Form. Please review and revise the data entered on Part C-II or provide a justification for this significant variance below. 

Field                                                                       Total
Grades K-12 Special Education…. $13,197,475
2019-2020 SFT Reported Spending…. $10,836,220
Dollar Change from Prior Submission…. $2,361,255
Percentage Change from Prior Submission…. 21.79%

District Justification
Last year was incorrect, using forecast5 service software for 2020-21

To download the entire report as an Excel spreadsheet, please click here.

Upon submission to the Division of the Budget and State Education Department, districts are required to publish their New York State School Funding Transparency Forms in full, and in Excel format, on their district websites for at least one full calendar year.