Voting Tools

Details: The community is voting on a bond for the school district on Tues., Dec. 10th from 7am-10pm at the High School. Use the gym entrance. Parking is reserved for voters.

Information about the bond is on the district's website here.

Set an alarm or reminder on your phone to make sure you get there before 10pm!

There is only a single referendum on the ballot. Here's a picture of the sample ballot:

Don't forget to update your profile pic (and get your I Voted sticker!)

Facts -- and where to find them

Is school enrollment declining?
No. The district looks at demographic projections regularly. Most recently, we looked at both enrollment projections and the capacity of our buildings. The report is here: http://www.northshoreschools.org/boe/presentations/demographic-capacity-study-19.pdf
The presentation is here: http://www.northshoreschools.org/boe/presentations/demographic-capacity-study-19.pdf and the video can be found at the meeting on March 28th: http://www.northshoreschools.org/boe/Board_Videos.html
Importantly, the study notes that the middle school has the highest capacity and thus has corresponding improvements in the bond. You'll also see in the data that North SHore did have a 10% decline from a historic high.

Without the bond, would we get a tax cut?
This post explains new debt at a tax neutral level versus a $150 tax cut. You can also read this post which includes the link to the presentation by the district's bond counsel on the impact of the bond - and the potential tax cut if there is no bond. This presentation includes a wealth of charts and schedules.

Will we be able to sell our homes?
An answer here would be speculative but we do know from the demographer's report (see Is School Enrollment Declining above for links) that the majority of people buying homes here seem to be doing so for the schools.

Does the district have financial information?
Absolutely. The district routinely posts financial information to their website here including budgets, past spending, reserve information and the the results of multiple annual audits. Additionally, bond information is posted here.

Why do we need a bond if we have reserves?
Read this post.

What is the Board of Education and who are the trustees?
The Board of Education is elected by the community and sets policy for the district. You can find more information about the Board here. All meeting dates and agendas are posted online as well as minutes from the meetings. You can see video of all meetings here.

Why do we pay more than other school districts and get less?
This statement has been asserted on social media. There is a lot of data to the contrary. If you are interested in student achievement, please read these posts:
North Shore has highest learning growth rate in Nassau County
School Rankings and Niche
Test Scores and Rankings
If you're interested in relative cost, you can read:
Cost per Student
Admin Costs
Reserve Funds Pt 1
Reserve Funds Pt 2
And wrap things up with:
Why Our District is Special

Better yet -- Our District's Spending has an enormous Positive Effect on our Local Economy
Read the study and take a look at these numbers.

What about LIPA and our taxes?
Our district has used reserve funds strategically to lower costs, e.g. self insuring for workers' comp with a reserve fund and to protect the district from our significant long term liabilities such as through retirement reserves. The use of many reserves is restricted. The district also has a reserve due to the decommissioning of the GWL plant that was planned to help us through any resulting changes in the tax levy. While we do not yet know the exact impact of the negotiations between LIPA and Nassau County, we do know we have been planning for various scenarios and will continue to work and plan in the best interest of our students and tax payers. The Superintendent addressed these issues here. NYSED posts property tax report cards with reserve fund schedules here. The NYS Comptroller posts fiscal stress scores here.

Do we need air conditioning?
I think so but here's what we know.

Now, some questions to consider:

• Is the "information" I am seeing from an anonymous source?
• Does it contain data or assertions?
• If data, is the source provided? 

Reserves: Quantifying Solace For Your Eyes Only

Reposting District Superintendent's email regarding reserves:

Sat, Dec 7, 2019 6:15 pm
Dear North Shore Community,

As we enjoy our weekends, I have seen and have been hearing a lot of information and speculation about the Bond, the District’s financial resources, and various news reports. Normally, we would wait to send something like this on Monday, but I thought that it would be helpful for you to hear directly from me over the weekend to work through the information and formulate any questions that you may have for me.

I thought I had sent you my last Bond Question of the Week, but like 007 himself, we're back!

Q. Dr. G., can the District use the monies currently in reserves to pay for the scope of items within the bond?

Answer:

It’s actually an interesting question, and the truth is that it really depends on whether the reserve is considered Restricted or Unrestricted. In the interest of full and complete transparency, let me take you all through a full accounting of the District's reserves. Most of us have had to rebuild a bank account in our lives. Savings usually take a long time to build, can disappear very quickly, and are likely to take a long time to re-build. Reserves are no different. 

Restricted Funds

Restricted reserves can only be used for specific purposes and they can only be accessed with voter approval for their intended purpose.  They help us to plan against existing liabilities in all facets of our operations. We use these monies to protect ourselves against existing liabilities such as building repairs, workers’ compensation claims, unemployment claims, retirement system payments, and capital projects approved by the voters.

Here is a complete accounting of the District’s Reserves from our audited financial statements that were previously presented to the Audit Committee and will appear on the Board of Education’s agenda on December 12, 2019 for action.

Restricted Reserves:                                                              $16,328,322.49

These can only be used for a specific purpose as outlined in statute and with approval from either the voters or sometimes from the Board of Education in special circumstances.

Assigned Fund Balance from 2018-2019:                             $2,300,000.00

These are monies from additional interest income earned on investments last year and savings from the 18-19 budget that are being used to offset the 2019-2020 tax levy. It includes money from the special legislative grants, also used to offset the tax levy.  The total is comprised of the following:

• Fund Balance from the prior year                                      $1,200,000.00

• Designated Special Grant to offset razing of

Glenwood Landing Power Plant from Senator

Marcellino and Assemblyman Lavine:                               $1,100,000.00

Assigned Encumbrances:                                                                 $1,660,895.37

These are funds that are carried over from 2018-2019 purchase orders that were issued, but not fulfilled by the end of June 30, 2019.  They must be used to pay for our outstanding expenses.

Subtotal:         Total Restricted Reserves:                                                   $20,289,217.86

Unrestricted Funds

The District has much more flexibility when using our unrestricted reserves and we can use them at our discretion.  However, it is important to preserve the existence of these monies. This is essentially our savings account of accessible money that we would only use in the most serious of circumstance to fund a project that would not have been budgeted for or not covered by the District’s insurance carrier.

Unrestricted Reserves:                                                                     $4,311,997.44

                                                                                               

Special Designation- LIPA:

Balance of unused Special Grant to offset razing

of Glenwood Landing Power Plant from Senator

Marcellino and Assemblyman Lavine                                            $2,884,879.53

These unrestricted reserve funds can be used at the Board’s discretion. However, a portion of the special grants are being used each year to offset the tax levy.  We've already been using a portion of these, judiciously and openly each year, to deal with previous tax effects related to the demolition of the Glenwood Landing Power Plant. Since we are simultaneously studying the financial impact analysis of the tentative LIPA settlement with Nassau County, some of these reserves are specifically intended to help with a LIPA settlement - and we will use them in that manner since they are intended/ restricted to be used for that specific reason.

Subtotal:         Total Unrestricted Reserves:                                               $7,196,876.97

Grand Total:                                                                                                  $27,486,094.83

It would be impractical at this time to use the monies in our reserves to fund projects identified within the bond.  There are essentially three reasons:

1. New York State Statute would prohibit the District from using any of the Restricted Reserves for anything other than their intended purposes.
2. In addition to there being no statutory mechanism to do so, it would be both improper and an irresponsible use of our taxpayers’ money to simply save the $40M over time and then embark upon the planned work within the scope of a bond. 
3. The long-term financial health of the District is dependent upon our ability to hold available and unrestricted funds to meet the complex needs of a complex organization.

I am always available to the community and I welcome anyone with any general or specific questions to contact me directly. While some of this can be confusing I wanted to be sure to address the community with steadfast fortitude through the lens of providing our students with the world class education they deserve. The greatest value of a democracy is having the ability to vote and express opinions. Regardless of where you stand on the proposed bond, I hope that on Tuesday, December 10, 2019 our North Shore community members take the time to vote and have their voices heard and that we continue to work in the spirit of collaboration on behalf of the children we share.

Very truly yours,

Dr. Peter Giarrizzo

Is a $39.89 million Tax Neutral Bond the "Right" Number?

Stronger Together:

The seven trustees on the Board of Education voted to put a $39.89 million bond on the ballot for the community to vote on this Tuesday. One factor that went into that decision was choosing projects our schools need in a way that let us replace debt that is retiring with new debt so that this expense remained level and would not impact the tax levy.

The district could have proposed a bond at a significantly higher level. We have millions more in repairs and upgrades on our building surveys. We have half a million square feet in our buildings to maintain plus more than 50 acres we maintain for our students and community.

Likewise, we could have tried to defer more work. However, since so much work is needed, it doesn't disappear. It stays on the list of things we need.  The costs can then escalate. We could face expensive emergency repairs. If too much work is deferred, then down the road, we face the situation of choosing between raising taxes or living with dilapidated buildings - a reality for many districts.

Most importantly, there is power in our numbers - something our community has long realized in their support for our schools. Collectively, at this moment due to the debt schedules, we can invest $39.89 million in our students without creating a new expense.  If we don't? Do we all enjoy a tax cut if this debt drops out of our budget?

In that instance, the impact on the budget would translate to a typical house getting a tax cut of about $150 for the year.

We are stronger together.

Most people see projects in the bond that they feel are more important than other parts. The hard part with a community decision is that everyone has a different opinion about which parts should stay or go. Here we are stronger together as well. Many people played a part in structuring the bond so that we could face specific capacity issues, infrastructure issues, security concerns, and learning needs. The projects here were also designed so that they could be grouped, bid and completed in a way that would be cost-effective and efficient in and of themselves but also in conjunction with projects in the capital reserve funds and those in the budget. The bond has to take into account wide-ranging state regulations and processes as well.

The complexity is significant -- yet another reason why the district offered so many bond forums and tours.

The bond will be a living, developing project, if passed, for the next several years. The estimates have to take into account a number of contingencies that can impact our cost. No one wants to vote for a bond and then discover the cost can't possible cover the projects. Likewise, because so many people will be working throughout the process on managing costs, we may find we can do more than we hoped and there are 'supplemental' projects we can hope to accomplish. "Supplemental" makes these projects sound like something we don't need. That is not the case. They just did not rise to the level of the first $39.89 million.

Many things may change over the next few years. The bond can only fund those projects specifically listed. Nonetheless, it gives the district more flexibility in getting this work done, and we will also be able to adjust the timing of elements as needed. The only goal is the education of our students and the value of our schools to this community.

I'll throw in some interesting research as well. This article on school infrastructure investments notes both the billions in deferred investments needed for our country's schools to reach "good" conditions AND the positive effects on student achievement from these investments.