PENN YAN — Penn Yan School District administrators will have to eliminate 20.5 positions in the school district in order to reach a 2010-11 budget of $31.8 million calling for a 4.36 percent increase in the tax levy.
Penn Yan Superintendent Ann Orman would not name specific positions that will be affected by the reductions at last week’s school board meeting, but she did say the move will impact both teaching and non-teaching staff.
The school district’s payroll will be reduced through the retirement of seven individuals and laying off 13.5 said Assistant Superintendent for Business Doug Tomandl during his budget presentation.
The version of the spending plan that was presented to the school board March 3 includes other cuts and adjustments, including restructuring debt service, and reducing supplies and materials district-wide, but Tomandl told the board the budget maintains all current programs including music, sports, extracurricular activities, staff development ,and more.
Orman said declining enrollment numbers support administrative decisions to reduce staffing. “We have been looking at our staff and at our enrollment, and we feel we can carry on our programs,” she said.
She told the board she expects administrators will be able to return to the next school board meeting with additional reductions to cut the tax levy increase further, and said even if the district receives more state aid than anticipated, the positions will not be brought back.
Administrators are still waiting for the final word on retirement incentives.
Getting to this point has not been easy, she said, calling the past week “tough.”
“We’ve spent hours and hours and hours and tears and frustration on this,” she said, later noting that the lay-offs do not have anything to do with the performance of the individuals who have been told their jobs are being cut.
Tomandl presented the budget figures to the board, pointing out:
• BOCES expenses will be reduced by $142,275. About $50,000 in the reduction is in the occupational education area, where the school district will cap Penn Yan’s slots in occupational education programs at 60, because in the past, not all the slots had been filled. He said the 35 students who are attending as juniors this year will be able to continue next year, and another 25 new students will be able to enroll.
• Bus purchases will increase by nearly 85 percent to get the bus purchasing program back on a 10 year rotation. This portion of the budget was cut from $500,000 to $200,000 last year to decrease spending. Tomandl says this year’s bus maintenance spending has increased $60,000.
