School District Comparisons - The Latest Set

There are many ways to compare districts. 

The latest numbers being passed around include North Shore and these four neighbors. Here's a different perspective: The comparison districts are all wealthier, and yet we have the highest learning growth rate and best upward trend on scores. Moreover, we have by far the best student teacher ratio while staying in the middle of the pack on tax rates.

The budget isn't the tax levy and enrollment isn't all the students our district has expenses for. Dividing a district's total budget by the number of students that attend its own schools is problematic in a dozen ways. Read more about that over here.

The district provides clear information on taxes. There are currently multiple mischaracterizations on social media, so please be careful.

Sources:

Source on ratios:
https://www.niche.com/k12/search/best-schools/
Source on Sch. Tax Rate Per $1000 FV
http://orps1.orpts.ny.gov/cfapps/MuniPro/osc/county/oscSchooltaxlevy.cfm
Learning per Grade vs Natl Ave & Learning Trend
https://edopportunity.org/explorer/#/map/ny/districts/grd/ses/all/9.65/40.76/-73.32/36059,40.72,-73.57+3626370,40.84,-73.62

Who are the Trustees on the Board Education?

With the pandemic and all its implications, there are a lot of new questions about the budget and the budget process this year. The district has posted a wealth of information on their website.

One theme though has to do with the experience and background of the trustees on the Board of Education. The BOE is also on the website, and can be reached by email from there.

The seven trustees are elected by the community for three year terms. They are currently:
Sara Jones, President (3rd term)
David Ludmar, Vice-President (2nd term)
Marianne Russo (3rd term)
Joanna Commander (2nd term, retiring at end of school year)
Rich Galati (1st term)
Tim Madden (1st term)
Lisa Vizza (1st term)

The backgrounds and experience they bring to the board are varied. We currently have multiple CEOs, business owners, MBAs, educators, and a practicing attorney. Viewpoints are varied as well as some trustees are retirees, some working, some have children who graduated from our schools or currently attend the middle or high school or do not have children.

These are your neighbors who participate in the months long process of reviewing and proposing a budget to the community. Likewise, next year's BOE will be entrusted with decisions should spending need to shift from some budget lines to others to keep our students and staff safe and healthy.

All meetings of the BOE are held in public and recorded. You can see the minutes and video of their work on the district website.

The district has also posted information on this year's candidates for the BOE.

Board of Education Meeting 5/28/20

The Board of Education will meet tonight at 7:45pm. Instructions for joining remotely can be found here: http://www.northshoreschools.org/live/index.html

This meeting includes the Budget Hearing. You can find the full agenda here: http://www.northshoreschools.org/boe/Agendapage.html

Fun Facts!

Did you know.....

The school district does NOT always raise taxes? That's right - they lowered the tax levy for the 16-17 school year and kept taxes basically flat the following year.  But still, 408 people voted, "No".

Did you know we have the highest performing district in the county? Certainly by one measure: Stanford researchers concluded that no district in Nassau saw students learn more per year than North Shore.

Did you know our local economy benefits enormously from district spending? As the community's largest employer, our economic impact is significant to the point that it creates an additional 500 jobs beyond the over 800 people employed directly. We're putting millions in state and local tax coffers and sending customers into neighborhood shops. We are all connected.

Wait - the district WAS audited! The state DID look over our books!

Our schools protect our home values. The demographic study the board commissioned show enrollment holding steady after falling from a record high and our middle school in particular at capacity....and it noted that the majority of people buying homes here appeared to be doing so for the schools.

Board of Education Trustees are volunteers. They get nothing. They are your neighbors, elected, and pay taxes just like everyone else.

The district is transparent. Our website has budgets, expenditures, contracts, meeting calendars-agendas-minutes-video, audits, fiscal stress scores, treasurer's reports, reports on reserves, and voting information.

(Some districts have more in reserves. Much more.)

Did you know our community has supported and built our schools over generations? Yet, people that arrived here just 15 years or so ago have posted on FB that they feel entitled to the district's reserves that save us money in the short run and protect our schools in the long run.

Did you know it's illegal for the district to liquidate all their reserve funds and send checks to homeowners? It's by definition true and hence no source cited.

And we're voting by mail exclusively because that's the law and the district is following it to the letter.

What are We Voting on When We Vote on the Budget

What does it mean to vote Yes or No on the school district budget?

Here's what the ballot proposition says:

So you are voting on the total budget amount.

The district will then fund the budget through the tax levy, state aid, PILOTS,other smaller revenue sources and by using part of our reserve funds.

The administration and Board of Education spent months compiling this budget. The details were discussed at public meetings multiple times and a wealth of detail is posted on their website.

That planning and the State's required timeline on budgets occurred before we knew the full impact of the pandemic on our schools. Some voters are worried educating our children will become more expensive now, some are worried we can't support our schools in this economy, some are worried we need a different plan for how that money is spent. However, there was no option to change the total budget amount before our vote.

So what happens?

If the budget passes, the district has options.  If spending needs to be re-allocated to keep our students and staff safe, for example, districts have a mechanism for that. The administration can propose to the board that funds be transferred from one budget line to another. The law is very specific here as to what can be done and how. The trustees can then discuss and vote on the proposed transfer at a public meeting. Every year there are some budget transfers as unexpected expenses occur or a contract comes in lower than expected. You can see these in the minutes on the website and those meetings are recorded as well.

But did we save money this year?

These past two months have been unprecedented and we don't have the final figures. The board and administration has had to review revised cash flow statements on a weekly basis. Some utilities and supplies were down but the bulk of the budget is personnel and our teachers are still teaching. We also had unanticipated expenses of delivering food to students in need and making sure everyone had what they needed to join their classmates online. If we unexpectedly save money, that year end fund balance can be allocated to help reduce the following year's taxes. This year's taxes were held down in part because of that appropriated fund balance. However, creating safe schools with social distancing may well turn out to be costly.

What if the budget fails?

Generally, if a school budget fails, the board education meets and votes on whether to hold a second vote. If they do it can be the same budget or lower or higher. Obviously, a second vote costs money to conduct. If ultimately the budget fails, the board will have to make cuts because the budget cannot increase. When this last happened at North Shore in the wake of the Roslyn scandal, the impact was significant - extracurriculars have to go, athletics and the arts are impacted, and more.

School budgets are the amazing result of a community working together. Here's the math: If we take $1,000,000 out of the budget, the tax impact to an average homeowner would be less than $10 a month. But by supporting our schools collectively, that $1,000,000 get us seven teaching positions AND money in other parts of the budget as well.

And there's more-
School spending also benefits the whole community including our local businesses.An analysis of our budget two years ago found,

The district's purchase of goods and services as well as employee personal spending is responsible for about 500 additional spillover jobs in the Long Island region... These jobs generate $89.1 million in income. $58.6 million is directly connected to North Shore employees. Another $30.5 million is generated by spillover spending that generate additional jobs.

Our community is a wonderful place to live.

Does North Shore have $34,000,000 ....

Does North Shore have $34,000,000 in cash or reserves that could be returned to taxpayers?

The short answer is No.

More importantly, the reserves we do have exist not just to manage the long-term obligations of the district but to protect the taxpayer in multiple ways.

But the long answer is long because school finances are complicated, heavily regulated and very long-term.

You may have seen the $34m figure on social media. It's not what we have in reserves.

The district posts a tremendous amount of financial information on its website. That figure is from pg 10 of our most recent external audit report found here entitled "Financial Analysis of the District's Funds". (The district has multiple layers of audits annually.)  It's a list of all funds as of 6/30/19. This list includes debt service fund, food inventory in our cafeterias, appropriated (spent) funds, restricted reserves - everything - and it's not even a third of our annual operating budget which educates 2600 students across five buildings. 

It also includes reserves used to offset the budget and decrease the tax levy. The district routinely uses fund balance to hold down taxes. The auditors note that these funds decreased from the previous year because of this practice. The percent of our budget paid by taxes has been around 82%  - the lowest in decades.

We do have restricted reserves which are actively used, save the district money and are lower than many of our neighboring districts.

North Shore's restricted reserves are around $15 million. Jericho's has $42 million and Roslyn and Syosset are also higher, as examples. See more examples and sources here. Manhasset's are lower which is why the NYS Comptroller gives their district a higher fiscal stress score than North Shore's (which is 0).

Reserves save us money. For example, one restricted reserve is Workers' Comp. The district self-insures because it saves money. To self-insure, you need a reserve to cover any spikes in claims. If it were theoretically legal to liquidate the reserve and hand it out to taxpayers, a homeowner could get on average around $280 - once - and all future taxpayers would have to spend more on workers' comp and presumably less on education. 

We actively use these reserves - they are not a 'stash of cash' without purpose - they are a tool districts have to use. One example is the Capital Reserve fund. To be able to renovate a nurse's office and our middle school locker rooms, with the permission of the voters, we saved funds here until we could afford the repairs and now want to spend them on our buildings. Reserves just are the legal mechanism districts use.

 We do have "unassigned fund balance" of around $4 million. State law allows up to 4% of your budget in this kind of fund balance because budgeting cannot anticipate everything that may happen to a district over the course of a year. One LI district had to suddenly close a building mid-year, for example. We return part of these funds every year by using them for next year's budget, reducing the tax levy. The district also uses part to save for upcoming capital repairs and other needs.

But let's say there was still another $4,000,000 and a way to just write checks.

Here's what you'd get: About $500 per household once -- except the district won't have that money to offset the tax levy next year. Utilities pay taxes, too, so a good chunk of that money will go to them.

Here's what you would lose: The community loses $4,000,000 it collectively invested in our schools and was being put to good use. A budget cut of this size is about 27 teaching positions and another $800,000 cut elsewhere.

But I think this point is lost on a lot of people: Our schools have been built over generations. The reserves are more recent than our buildings but they were not all paid for by the current taxpayers of the district. Why would it be ok for a group of people to suddenly decide it was time to just take that money for themselves?

Jericho

To be clear, there are many ways to evaluate schools in terms of spending and learning and a tremendous number of variables, but I think these should be part of the discussion as well:

Per EmpireCenter.org -- North Shore's tax levy is $33,606 per student and Jericho's is higher at 34,481.

This data from Stanford shows that North Shore students learn 20% more in each grade than the national average. Jericho students learn 0% more than the national average.

Jericho's restricted reserves are also much higher. All the data is here.

What IS the Average Cost per Student?

Many sites purport to compare the cost per student among various school districts. Many, even most, simply take the district's entire budget and divide it by the number of students in its schools. It's one measure that's easy to get - but it's not as informative as it sounds and not as relevant to taxpayers as you would think.

When you use the entire budget and not just the tax levy, it will look like the 'cost' has gone up under scenarios including districts which receive significant aid, grant money, other funds that pass through the district with no impact, etc. - anything that isn't the tax levy. These budget items impact every school district differently.* North Shore has been holding the percent of its budget covered by the tax levy to about 82% - lower than it's been in decades. (See proposed budget narratives on district website.)

When you use the entire budget, you also include the expense for buses, textbooks, health care, and special education services for students who live in our district but attend private schools. However, you are only dividing that budget by the number of students in our schools - not all the students covered by the budget. Again, every district is impacted differently by these figures.

So, what's the tax levy per student? (It still doesn't account for private school students but....) The EmpireCenter.org does post that data. The most recent data shows nearby districts including Jericho, Locust Valley and Cold Spring Harbor having higher tax levies per student.

Separately, we can also ask what we get for our budget. To see a comparison with a district that spends less, click here.

*For example, our district is home to St. Christopher's. The cost in the budget for those students is around $400,000 but it is entirely covered by other sources. If you divide the entire budget by our students, you would think there's roughly $150 per student added by that line. But no. That number is on both sides of the budget - costs and revenue. However, it is not in the tax levy.

How School Districts are Audited

All school districts in NYS are required to contract for three separate, specific kinds of audits.

In addition, our audit committee includes not only the trustees but two community members as well. All meetings are held in public.

As a result, North Shore has a claims audit performed monthly at the transaction level. The claims auditor reports anything outside the normal process - say, an invoice over 30 days old or a copy of a receipt versus an original -  to the Board.

We also hire a firm for an annual external audit to review our finances overall. Those audits are posted here for public review.

The third required audit is internal audit. The internal auditors annual review all internal processes of the business office so that strong internal controls are in place to protect taxpayer and governmental funds. Each year, they can pick several areas to review more intensively. For example, they could review all of our processes around producing the payroll. Those audits are posted here for public review.

Additionally, the state can audit any aspect of our finances at any time and periodically does so. When the state last visited, after reviewing our finances, they decided to look at our processes around managing our fuel inventory. The comptroller posts all school district audits here.

TOB School Tax Rates - An Update

North Shore's tax rates per $1000 of full market value are the 4th lowest in the Town of Oyster Bay according to the most recently available data from NYS's Office of Real Property Tax Services.

Reserve Funds and You, Pt 111

North Shore has always worked hard to have careful, well-thought out reserve funds that our district actively uses to protect our schools and our taxpayers. Here are our restricted reserves and a few examples of how neighboring districts have chosen to use these important financial tools.

Why Are We Voting by Mail for the School District Vote?

Why are we voting by mail?

One answer is the ongoing pandemic, but the other answer is that it's the law for this vote.

On March 7, the Governor issued Executive Order 202.26. You can use the link below to read it in its entirety, but here are several relevant parts (emphasis added):

• Sections 1804, 1906, 2002, 2022, 2601-a of the Education Law, to the extent necessary, to provide that the annual district meeting and election of every common, union free, central and central high school district and the annual meeting of every city school district in a city having a population of less than one hundred twenty-five thousand inhabitants was scheduled to be held on the third Tuesday of May, two thousand twenty is hereby adjourned and rescheduled until June 9, 2020, which shall be deemed the  statewide uniform voting day;
• Sections 2003, 2004, 2022 2601-a of the Education Law, to the extent necessary to provide that trustees or boards of education of each such school district shall provide notice of such adjourned meeting to the qualified voters in the manner prescribed for notice of the annual meeting except that the number of required publications shall be two and the first publication must be no later than 28 days before the election, and such notice shall provide for an adjourned budget hearing. Such adjourned meeting shall take place remotely, and qualified voters shall vote in such adjourned election only by absentee ballot, to be provided to all qualified voters by each school district. Each district shall send out postcard notice which details the date of the election, date of budget hearing, definition of qualified voter, and an absentee ballot, The adjourned district meeting or district meeting and election shall be deemed the annual meeting or annual meeting and election of the district for all purposes;
• Sections 2018-a and 2018-b of the Education Law are hereby modified, only for the purpose of any election held on or before June 30, 2020, to require every eligible voter be sent an absentee ballot with a postage paid return envelope;

The order in its entirety can be found here:
https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/no-20226-continuing-temporary-suspension-and-modification-laws-relating-disaster-emergency

Virtual Budget "Coffees" Start Today!

Please join the Superintendent for first hand information and answers to your questions.

From the District:
Virtual Community Budget Meeting

Tuesday, May 20, at 2 p.m. 

with Superintendent Giarrizzo. Everyone in the North Shore School District is invited to join us either by teleconference or phone. Please visit the school homepage
for the virtual meeting link or call in phone number at http://www.northshoreschools.org/20may/community-budget-meeting-superintendent.html

If you are unavailable on May 20, please mark your calendars for Thursday, May 21, at 7 pm and Tuesday, May 26, at 9:30 am. These virtual Budget Meetings will be open to all community members. I hope you can join me. Please help us spread the word!

For budget information, please visit the Budget/Financial section at http://www.northshoreschools.org/boe/Budget.html

In addition, remember to check your mailboxes for important budget materials.

What COVID-19 Means for School District Costs

Education Week just published:

How COVID-19 Will Balloon District Costs This Coming School Year

"The coronavirus is driving a steep and unprecedented increase in classroom costs that’s going to sweep through the nation’s school system as early as this fall."

You can read it here.

Don't Miss the Budget Postcard in Your Mailbox

If you did, here's a copy. It is also posted on the district's website. Your ballot will be mailed to registered voters. You can return it to the district office yourself or use the pre-paid envelope enclosed but it must be received by 5pm on June 9. (Please note the ballots have not yet been mailed given the recency of the executive order.)

Superintendent's Update - May 13, 2020

Don't miss these items in the Superintendent's update: YOUR INPUT NEEDED ON HS PRINCIPAL SEARCH: -If you haven’t done so, please take our survey about building the leadership profile of our next principal of North Shore High School. We will keep the link open through the weekend. The community is welcome to join me for a focus group for parents tonight at 7 PM. A link to the Google Meet will be posted to the District Website by 6:45 PM this evening. A second session is scheduled for tomorrow morning at 10 AM, and a link will be posted to the District website by 9:45 AM tomorrow. Applications for the position close this weekend and our screening process will begin towards the end of next week. BUDGET VOTE: --The 2020-2021 Budget Vote is scheduled for Tuesday, June 9, 2020 and will be held exclusively by Absentee Ballot. We are very busy preparing to launch the vote and all registered voters will be able to vote by mail or by dropping their ballots off in a secure dropbox. More details will follow on this in the upcoming days and I will be scheduling virtual information sessions throughout the community over the next couple of weeks. --In addition to the Proposed 2020-2021 Operating Budget, voters will be asked to vote on authorizing the use of funds from our Capital Reserve to fund renovations for the North Shore Middle School Locker Rooms and the Nurse’s Suite at Glen Head Elementary School. These are funds that we have set aside with previous voter approval, but need authorization from the community to utilize them in concert with the approved Capital Projects included in our December Bond Referendum. Voters will also choose two candidates to sit on the Board of Education. All updates can be found here: http://www.northshoreschools.org/district/health-safety.html