Policy 5110

BUDGET
5110 BUDGET PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT

Budget planning and development for the District is an integral part of program planning so that the annual operating budget may effectively express and implement programs and activities of the District. Budget planning is a year-round process involving participation of District-level administrators, principals, directors, coordinators, teachers, and other personnel. The process of budget planning and development will allow for community input and opportunities for public information and feedback.

The Superintendent has overall responsibility for budget preparation, including the construction of and adherence to a budget calendar. Program managers will develop and submit budget requests for their particular areas of responsibility after seeking the advice and suggestions of staff members.

Principals will develop and submit budget requests for their particular schools in conjunction with the advice and suggestions of staff members and their own professional judgment. Each school's budget request will be the principal's recommendation as to the most effective way to use available resources in achieving progress toward the approved educational objectives of the school. Program budgets and school budgets will reflect state and/or federal requirements, special sources of funding, and District objectives and priorities.

The Board will give consideration to budget requests, and will review allocations for appropriateness and for their consistency with the District's educational priorities.

All budget documents for distribution to the public will be in plain language and organized in a manner which best promotes public comprehension of the contents. Documents will be complete, and accurate, and contain sufficient detail to adequately inform the public regarding data such as estimated revenues, proposed expenditures, transfers to other funds, fund balance information, and changes in this information from the prior year's submitted budget.

In accordance with Commissioner's regulations, the budget will be presented in three components which are to be voted upon as one proposition. The law prescribes the types of items to be included in each component and further prescribes that all relevant costs be included in the component.

a) A program component which will include, but need not be limited to, all program expenditures of the District, including the salaries and benefits of teachers and any school administrators or supervisors who spend a majority of their time performing teaching duties, and all transportation operating expenses;
b) A capital component which will include, but need not be limited to, all transportation capital, debt service, and lease expenditures; costs resulting from judgments and tax certiorari proceedings or the payment of awards from court judgments, administrative orders or settled or compromised claims; and all facilities costs of the District, including facilities lease expenditures, the annual debt service and total debt for all facilities financed by bonds and notes of the District, and the costs of construction, acquisition, reconstruction, rehabilitation or improvement of school buildings, provided that such budget will include a rental, operations, and maintenance section that
includes base rent costs, total rent costs, operation and maintenance charges, cost per square foot for each facility leased by the District, and any and all expenditures associated with custodial salaries and benefits, service contracts, supplies, utilities, and maintenance and repairs of school facilities; and
c) An administrative component which will include, but need not be limited to, office and central administrative expenses, traveling expenses and all compensation, including salaries and benefits of all school administration and supervisors, business administrators, superintendents of schools and deputy, assistant, associate or other superintendents under all existing employment contracts or collective bargaining, any and all expenditures associated with the operation of the Office of the Board, the Office of the Superintendent, General Administration, the School Business Office, consulting costs not directly related to direct student services and programs, planning, and all other administrative activities.

Additionally, the Board will append to the proposed budget the following documents:

a) A detailed statement of the total compensation to be paid to the Superintendent, and any Assistant or Associate Superintendent in the ensuing school year, including a delineation of the salary, annualized cost of benefits and any in-kind or other form of remuneration;
b) A list of all other school administrators and supervisors, if any, whose annual salary for the coming school year will be at or above that designated in law for such reporting purposes, with the title of their positions and annual salary identified; 
c) A School District Report Card, prepared pursuant to Commissioner's regulations, which includes measures of the academic performance of the District, on a school by school basis, and measures of the fiscal performance of the District (see subheading School District Report Card); 
d) A Property Tax Report Card prepared in accordance with law and Commissioner's regulations (see subheading Property Tax Report Card); and
e) A Tax Exemption Report prepared in accordance with law (see subheading Tax Exemption Report).

The Board will ensure that unexpended surplus funds (i.e., operating funds in excess of 4% of the current school year budget, not including funds properly retained under other sections of law) have been applied in determining the amount of the school tax levy. 

The proposed budget for the ensuing school year will be reviewed by the Board and publicly disseminated, in accordance with law, prior to its submission to District voters for approval.

District funds may be expended to inform the public regarding the annual budget and to present the annual budget to District voters; however, these funds will not be utilized to promote either a favorable or negative opinion of the proposed budget.

School District Report Card

Each year the District will supply data as required by the State Education Department (SED) and will receive a School District Report Card, sometimes referred to as a New York State Report Card. These provide enrollment, demographic, attendance, suspension, dropout, teacher, assessment, accountability, graduation rate, post-graduation plan, career and technical education, and fiscal data for public and charter schools, districts, and the State. The School District Report Cards consist of three parts:

a) Accountability and Overview Report - shows District or school profile data, accountability statuses, data on accountability measures such as ELA, Math, and Science scores, and graduation rates.
b) Comprehensive Information Report - shows non-accountability data such as annual Regents examination results and post-graduate plans of students completing high school.
c) Fiscal Accountability Supplement - shows expenditures per pupil and some information about placement and classification of students with disabilities.

School District Report Cards are also available online at the SED website.

Property Tax Report Card

Each year, the Board will prepare a Property Tax Report Card, pursuant to Commissioner's regulations, and will make it publicly available by transmitting it to local newspapers of general circulation, appending it to copies of the proposed budget made publicly available as required by law, making it available for distribution at the Annual Meeting, and otherwise disseminating it as required by the Commissioner.

The Property Tax Report Card will include:

a) The amount of total spending and total estimated school tax levy that would result from adoption of the proposed budget, and the percentage increase or decrease in total spending and total school tax levy from the District budget for the preceding school year; and
b) The projected enrollment growth for the school year for which the budget is prepared, and the percentage change in enrollment from the previous year; and
c) The percentage increase in the average of the Consumer Price Indexes from January first of the prior school year to January first of the current school year as defined in Education Law; and
d) The projected amount of the adjusted unrestricted fund balance that will be retained if the proposed budget is adopted; the projected amount of the adjusted restricted fund balance; the projected amount of the assigned appropriated fund balance; the percentage of the proposed budget that the adjusted unrestricted fund balance represents; the actual adjusted unrestricted fund balance retained in the District budget for the preceding school year; the percentage of the District budget for the preceding school year that the actual adjusted unrestricted fund balance represents; and a schedule of reserve funds setting forth the name of each reserve fund, a description of its purpose, the balance as of the close of the third quarter of the current fiscal year, and a brief statement explaining any plans for the use of each reserve fund for the ensuing fiscal year; and 
e) The District's school tax levy limit calculation. The District will submit its school tax levy limit calculation to the Office of the State Comptroller, SED, and the Office of Taxation and Finance by March 1 annually. If a voter override of the tax levy limit is necessary, the budget vote must be approved by 60% of the District's qualified voters present and voting.

A copy of the Property Tax Report Card prepared for the Annual District Meeting will be submitted to SED in the manner prescribed by the Department by the end of the business day next following approval of the Property Tax Report Card by the Board, but no later than 24 days prior to the statewide uniform voting day (i.e., the third Tuesday in May).

SED will compile such data for all school districts whose budgets are subject to a vote of the qualified voters, and will make this compilation available electronically at least ten days prior to the statewide uniform voting day. Links to each school year's Property Tax Report Card can be found on SED's official website.

Tax Exemption Report

A Tax Exemption Report will be annexed to any tentative or preliminary budget and will become part of the final budget. This report will be on the form as prescribed by the State Board of Real Property Services and will show the following:

a) How much of the total assessed value of the final assessment roll(s) used in the budgetary process is exempt from taxation;
b) Every type of exemption granted as identified by statutory authority;
c) The cumulative impact of each type of exemption expressed either as a dollar amount of assessed value or as a percentage of the total assessed value on the roll;
d) The cumulative amount expected to be received from recipients of each type of exemption as payments in lieu of taxes or other payments for municipal services; however, individual recipients are not to be named; and
e) The cumulative impact of all exemptions granted.

Notice of this report will be included in any notice of the preparation of the budget required by law and will be posted on any bulletin board maintained by the District for public notices as well as on any website maintained by the District.


Policy References:
Education Law §§ 1608(3)-(7), 1716(3)-(7), 2022(2-a), 2023-a, 2601-a(3), and 2601-a(7)
General Municipal Law § 36
Real Property Tax Law §§ 495 and 1318(l)
8 NYCRR §§ 170.8, 170.9, and 170.11
State Education Department Handbook No. 3 on Budget


Adopted: 6/22/99
Revised: 9/6/22

Policy 5110