The Cost of Underfunded Mandates May 2011

1. The Cost of Underfunded Mandates May 2011 READ School Districts: Brewster, Croton-Harmon, Garrison, Haldane, Hendrick-Hudson, Highland Falls/Fort Montgomery, Lakeland

2. Meeting Goals • Explain our analysis of underfunded mandates. • Illustrate the need for legislation which requires calculating local costs associated with bills before they are enacted. • Illustrate the need to review current mandates to see if there are alternatives to reduce costs. • There are ‘low-hanging’, less politically driven mandates that can be adjusted to reduce tax payer costs immediately. • Illustrate the need to slow down APPR implementation, which could be one of the largest underfunded mandate to date. 2

3. R.E.A.D. Specific Focus • Rolling back underfunded mandates, by making lawmakers aware of their actual costs • Sharing cost saving ideas among the R.E.A.D. districts • TRS and ERS pension fund shortfalls 3

4. Underfunded Mandates • Be informed: • We need to understand where and how funding is spent. • Responsible leadership: • We represent taxpayers. These mandates are paid for by local property taxes. • Accountability and transparency: • School districts must show how they spend money. 4

5. Underfunded Mandates R.E.A.D. created a template that itemizes and presents information on estimating the cost of Underfunded mandates. • Over 90 mandates are included, segmented into categories: 5 R.E.A.D. Presentation, Fall 2010 NYSBBA Conference

6. Underfunded Mandates • State, Federal and SED mandates are included. • Does not include mandates which R.E.A.D. feels are necessary district obligations. • Does not include costs associated with Benefits (retirement system, health, etc.), Wick’s Law (over the life of the loan), Triborough and other major benefit, negotiation or construction costs. • The compilation is an objective view of mandate costs. • Each mandate has cost consequences whether or not they are beneficial. • The list is continuously updated and revised to be a more accurate representation of mandate obligations. • The most recent revision is an update developed in December 2009. R.E.A.D. Presentation, Fall 2010 NYSBBA Conference 6

7. Mandate Cost Calculation • Each district compiles their own data. • NYSBBA and Westchester Putnam School Board Association (WPSBA) are helping to coordinate the effort. • Definitions for mandate have been developed so that districts are consistent in identifying costs associated with mandates. • Methods for estimating personnel hours and other costs, ST3 locations, etc. are provided to make cost calculations easier. • Templates for estimating testing costs and Wick’s law costs are provided. R.E.A.D. Presentation, Fall 2010 NYSBBA Conference 7

8. Underfunded Mandates • Categories, descriptions, and account codes are provided. • School districts provide actual amounts. • Aid is subtracted from total costs. As per SED ST3/Descriptions 8

9. The Cost of Underfunded Mandates • In FY ‘08-09, the total cost for these Underfunded mandates for seven districts was $94.4 million, or an average of20%of the entire school budget. Total School District Budgets: $464.8 million Source: Underfunded Mandate spreadsheet, 8 districts, FY ’08-’09: Brewster, Carmel, Croton-Harmon, Garrison, Haldane, Hendrick-Hudson, Highland Falls/Fort Montgomery, Lakeland 9

10. The Cost of Underfunded Mandates *Other = Health & Safety (1.4%), Finance (.4%), Buildings and Grounds and other (category not specified) mandates (<1%) Source: Underfunded Mandate spreadsheet, 8 districts FY ’08-’09: Brewster, Carmel Croton-Harmon, Garrison, Haldane, Hendrick-Hudson, Highland Falls/Fort Montgomery, Lakeland 10

11. Statewide Costs * Not including big 5 cities and special act districts. Source: Underfunded Mandate spreadsheet, 8 districts FY ’08-’09: Brewster, Carmel Croton-Harmon, Garrison, Haldane, Hendrick-Hudson, Highland Falls/Fort Montgomery, Lakeland 11

12. The Cost of Underfunded Mandates The numbers add up quickly for eight school districts... • Over $587,881 in testing costs. • Over $151,460 in internal audit costs. • Over $541,093 in data warehousing costs. • Over $287,338 in special education legal costs. • Over $66,185 in Special Education (STAC) reporting. • Over $118,000 in clerical costs associated with professional development & monitoring highly qualified teacher requirements. • Over $209,779 in inspections, monitoring, and compliance (OSHA, DEC, elevators, fire safety, extinguishers). Source: Underfunded Mandate spreadsheet, 8 districts FY ’08-’09: Brewster, Carmel Croton-Harmon, Garrison, Haldane, Hendrick-Hudson, Highland Falls/Fort Montgomery, Lakeland 12

13. The Cost of Underfunded Mandates * Not including big 5 cities and special act districts. Source: Underfunded Mandate spreadsheet, 8 districts FY ’08-’09: Brewster, Carmel Croton-Harmon, Garrison, Haldane, Hendrick-Hudson, Highland Falls/Fort Montgomery, Lakeland 13

14. Legislation Initial RequestsMay 2011 • Underfunded mandate reduction act, following the lines of the federal paperwork reduction act. • Requires a cost estimate for each new mandate from the legislature or the education department. These costs would be calculated for the different types of local districts and accumulated for a statewide total mandate cost. • Legislation to reduce the cost of the new comptroller’s audits, which have cost taxpayers more to conduct than they have saved. • Reduce the frequency to every two years • Streamline the requirements on districts who have had clean records for two cycles, to a half-cost audit. • Support for the bill allowing amortization of TRS payments (Member Abbate’s Bill Number A06309 - Same as State Senate Number S 4067). • Delay introduction of APPR until costs associated with implementation such as data collection, reporting, training, etc. are known and mechanisms for paying for these costs are implemented. • Estimated costs for 6 Rockland districts are $2.7 million per year. Extrapolated to 675 school districts the cost per year could be over $306 million per year. 14

15. R.E.A.D. Brewster Central School District 30 Farm to Market Road Brewster, NY 10509 Superintendent Dr. Jane Sandbank jsandbank@brewsterschools.org 845-279-8000 President of Board of Education Dr. Stephen Jambor oehan@aol.com Haldane Central School District 15 Craigside Drive Cold Spring, NY 10516 Superintendent Dr. Mark Villanti mvillanti@haldane.lhric.org 845-265-9254 President of Board of Education David Merandy dmerandy@haldane.lhric.org Hendrick Hudson Central School District 61 Trolley Road Montrose, NY 10548 Superintendent Dr. Daniel McCann Daniel.McCann@henhudschools.org Phone: 914-257-5112 President of Board of Education Marion Walsh Marion.Walsh@henhudschools.org

16. R.E.A.D. Highland Falls-Fort Montgomery School District PO Box 287 Highland Falls, NY 10928 Superintendent Dr. Debra Jackson djackson@hffmcsd.org Phone (845) 446-9575 President of the Board of Education Kevin D'Onofrio kdonofrio@hffmcsd.org Lakeland Central School District 1086 East Main Street Shrub Oak, NY 10588 Superintendent Dr. George Stone gstone@lakelandschools.org 914-245-1700, ext. 222 President of Board of Education Elizabeth Kogler

17. R.E.A.D. Garrison Union Free School District 1100 Route 9D Garrison, NY 10524 Superintendent Gloria J. Colucci* gcolucci@gufs.org 845-424-3689 President of Board of Education Carol McCullough cmccullough@gufs.org Croton-Harmon Union Free School District 10 Gerstein Street Croton-On-Hudson, NY 10520 Superintendent Dr. Edward R. Fuhrman Jr.* Edward.fuhrman@chufsd.org 914-271-4793 President of Board of Education Karen Zevin Karen.zevin@chufsd.org * R.E.A.D. Co-Chairs for 2010-2011 Website: http://www.READ1.Org