Pioneer School District's proposed 2023-24 general fund budget totals just under $66 million, with a spending increase of 5.29 percent and a tax levy increase of 1.5 percent.
Superintendent Nicholas Silvaroli gave a budget overview at the May 2 regular meeting of the Pioneer Board of Education. Voters will go to the polls Tuesday, May 16, at the high school, to decide on the budget and select two of five candidates for five-year terms on the board.
Mr. Silvaroli said over the last 10-12 years, annual tax levy increases have been in the area of 1.5 percent. The current tax rate per $1000 of assessed value is $11.12. He said the tax rate is a function of the tax levy but also the taxable value of property in the district, which are established each August.
"More likely than not the property values increase at a greater rate than our tax levy increase, which will likely result in a in a decrease in our tax rate." he said.
Mr. Silvaroli said he feels good about the 2023-24 spending plan. "That's because it maintains all of our current programming and services that are are valued and and that are needed in this district, and that's really where we start the budget process off. We typically look at programs and services in the current year and also from a cost perspective. We look at what that will be for the following year of continuing those services. And that's where we began with this budget here as well. We're preserving all of our programs and services. But in addition to that, we do have some strategic adds."
The budget calls for the addition of a full-time School Resource Officer, to go along with the three current full-time and one part-time officer. "[This means] every building will have a an armed Law Enforcement official at each building," Mr. Silvaroli said. "We will still maintain the part-time officer, which will be good, because if an officer is out sick, so we can have a little bit of coverage and overlap there within our buildings."
Another staff addition is a full-time orchestra teacher. "Right now we have an orchestra teacher that splits time between the middle school and the high school," Mr. Silvaroli said. "Our orchestra participation has grown dramatically over the past three or four years, and projected to even increase further. So there's a need just given the class sizes and and the student participation. So we'll have a a dedicated orchestra teacher for both Middle School and High School, beginning next year."
Mr. Silvaroli said the district is pulling away from certain services that have traditionally been provided through BOCES, including counseling. "We're going to discontinue that service from BOCES. We're going to hire a Pioneer counselor, so we'll actually it'll be more cost-effective for us to do that.
"But we'll also have some additional counseling coverage because we're going from a part-time staff member up to a a full-time staff member. We also added a couple of counselors at the elementary buildings to address the growing social and emotional needs of students," Mr. Silvaroli said.
Likewise, Pioneer will look to continue hiring Special Education teacher to cover classrooms traditionally staffed by BOCES, in instances when it makes fiscal and educational sense, Mr. Silvaroli said.
Twenty-six percent of Pioneer's 2500 students are identified as having special needs.
In addition, Mr. Silvaroli said the cost of everything is increasing, such as fuel, labor, supplies and materials.
Although the state's property tax cap for Pioneer was set at 3.73 percent, the district was able to limit the 2023-24 tax levy increase to 1.5 percent, Mr. Silvaroli said.
One big factor in recent school district budget planning has been the phase-in of Foundation Aid, an aid category that for decades was not fully funded. A lawsuit forced the state to change its policy, and while Foundation Aid is now fully funded, it remains to be seen how long New York can continue to do so.
"Right now they're receiving a lot of federal funding, and so are we, but that is running out at the end of the year," Mr. Silvaroli said.