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Educating our Children

Educating our Children. Community Discussions. Community Demographics Population Enrollment Similar financia l challenges Existing collaborations and shared services. Brocton & Westfield. Our school buildings are 8 miles apart & our communities are similar. Brocton Central.

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Educating our Children

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  1. Educating our Children Community Discussions

  2. Community Demographics Population Enrollment Similar financial challenges Existing collaborations and shared services Brocton & Westfield Our school buildings are 8miles apart & our communities are similar

  3. Brocton Central Westfield Academy The District is 41.9 square miles and has a K-12 campus serving 301 students in K-5, 166 students in 6-8 and 256 students in 9-12. The District is 35.8 square miles and has a K-12 campus serving 248 students in K-5, 120 students in 6-8 and 166 students in 9-12. If centralized the new District would be 77.7 square miles and serve approximately 549 students in K-5, 286 students in 6-8 and 422 students in 9-12.

  4. Considering Centralization Brocton Central School District & Westfield Academy and Central School District

  5. Brocton Central K-12 Westfield Academy K-12 The projections above are from the Centralization Feasibility Study. For a historical perspective, it should be noted that in 2003-04 Brocton had 740 students enrolled K-12 and Westfield had 951 students enrolled K-12. If centralized, the new district would have an estimated enrollment of 1242 students in 2014-15 and 1190 students in 2027-28. Declining Enrollment

  6. Brocton Central Westfield Academy The study projects that WACS will expend its fund balance and reserves by the start of the 2017-18, starting the year with a deficit of -$171,570 The study projects that BCS will expend its fund balance and reserves by the start of the 2017-18, starting the year with a deficit of -$375,019. Declining Resources The Districts have already made program cuts and reductions over the past three years. If projections hold true, both Districts will exhaust fund balance within the next five yearsand no longer have resources to offset the tax levy with reserve funds.

  7. Brocton Central Westfield Academy 6.75 Teachers 2.5 Support Staff Elective Offerings Athletic Offerings Extra-Curricular Offerings Educational Field Trips Classroom Equipment and Supplies • 15.5 Teachers • 7 Support Staff • Athletic Offerings • Extra-Curricular Offerings • Educational Field Trips • Classroom Equipment and Supplies Declining Educational Opportunities

  8. Moving Forward The Boards of Education authorized a centralization feasibility study, appointed Advisory Committee Representatives and authorized the superintendents and District employees to provide data and information to the consultants to prepare a centralization feasibility study. The study was released in March.

  9. Study Question Will creating a new school district through centralization enhance or maintain educational opportunities and at the same time increase long-term efficiencies and lower costs for the taxpayers of both Brocton Central School District and Westfield Academy and Central School District?

  10. Merge to create a new district Do not level up, but create new contracts Consider a longer school day for staff and students Keep both bus garages during initial configuration Maintain 2 bus runs (elementary/secondary) Create a new transportation policy to deal with issues of walkers, railroad crossings, etc. Reduce administrative staff in the areas of superintendent, principals, business office staff and transition to Central Business Office through BOCES Recommendations

  11. Recommendations Add the position of K-12 assistant principal for atleast 5 years Add the position of part-time curriculum coordinator Create a Director of Pupil Services Make Technology Director a single full-time position and have 2 FTE technicians through BOCES Efficiencies in other areas: .5 Athletic Director 1 school psychologist 2 guidance counselors 1 social worker at elementary level 1 transportation director 1 cafeteria manager 1 head custodian

  12. Recommendations Reduce health service personnel by .5, district treasurer by 1, district clerk by 1 New superintendent’s priority to review staffing levels in clerical, custodial, mechanics, buildings and grounds, food service, transportation. All can be gradually decreased. Reassign a support staff person to provide door security in each building. Use Operating Incentive Aid as follows: 40% to reduce taxes, 35% to improve programming and cover personnel costs and 25% for the OIA reserve fund, including funds for the local share of capital improvement projects (2%)

  13. Recommendations New BOE to ask for voter approval of the reserve accounts. Review the secondary program to ensure that it meets SED expectations and 21st century learner needs, and consider the following: Reinstatement of lost electives, including the ag. program so long as there are 8 to 10 students to enroll in them. Provide AP classes and more programs linked to colleges. Maintain class sizes of 20 students in secondary (7 – 12) courses.

  14. Recommendations Assess building needs for future use. Project student enrollment annually and respond to the findings. Staff should organize into bargaining units as soon as possible and negotiations should begin at once. Create a 9 member board of education with members elected for 5 year periods

  15. A new Recommendation… Both Boards are committed to using existing facilities. The Study presented a housing option that was not acceptable to the Boards of Education. The Boards have adopted a recommendation that is outside of the study. The supported initial configuration would utilize both campuses for Primary and elementary education in both schools House a middle school on the Westfield Campus House a high school on the Brocton Campus

  16. Campus in Brocton Campus in Westfield Under the configuration adopted by the Boards of Education, this campus would house students in Pre-K- Grade 5 and 6-8 Students. Under the configuration adopted by the Boards of Education, this campus would house Pre K-Grade 5 and 9-12 Students. Using current enrollment data, the campus in Brocton would house approximately 670 students and the campus in Westfield would house approximately 587 students.

  17. Replacing a Recommendation Changing a recommendation may change the findings in the study. To provide an accurate snapshot of possible centralization, we have asked for guidance from the study team members that the impact of the configuration change be integrated throughout the study creating an addendum to the document.

  18. Questions on New Recommendation Can the new configuration be cost effective? How does this affect: Administrative and faculty staffing Transportation Class size Building costs

  19. Administration & Faculty Adding a Dean of Students to the Westfield Campus incurs an additional cost of approximately $83,000 Reduction of 15 faculty members would be possible by maintaining new class size recommendations from ( Recommendation 18). This would provide a $278,000 savings over the original configuration.

  20. Transportation A shuttle bus approach is recommended for transporting students between campuses. Building • An increased cost of $126,000 for maintaining additional building space. Conclusion • If the revised recommendations were followed, the new district could see a net savings of $68,000 more than the original proposal.

  21. What would Centralization mean?

  22. Centralization directs approximately $25 Million dollars in new funding toward the Brocton and Westfield communities Paid over 14 years as Operating Incentive Aid.

  23. Operating Incentive Aid

  24. Projected Tax Rates from original configuration Projected Tax Rates from original configuration The combined tax rate for the newly formed district has 40% of operating aid applied to the tax levy.

  25. Use of Operating Incentive Aid

  26. In the numbers Roughly $900,000 for each of the first five years to fund educational programming Approximately $1,044,000 for each year of the first five years to offset the tax levy Approximately $653,000 for each year of the first five years for reserves for future use

  27. How our students benefit… Committed educational teaming Community elementary schools Greater instruction specialization Additional funds to implement Regents Reform Agenda Continue to offer enriched secondary curriculum Economy of scale in creating new district with approximately 1250 students will maintain educational and extracurricular opportunities.

  28. Why we are here… The Boards of Education have each accepted the study and adopted a housing configuration for students. The Boards of Education are now engaged in gathering comments and questions from the two communities, and sharing information about the possibility of an advisory referendum for a centralization of the Brocton and Westfield Central School Districts.

  29. Formation of a New District Ultimately, the decision is a yes or no for the formation of a new school district by centralization. The timeline has periods for informational public hearings before the advisory referendum is authorized and binding referendum ordered.

  30. A snapshot of the timeline Four Informational Public Hearings April 30 –May 16 Boards vote on Advisory Referendum—May 21 If authorized by both Boards, Advisory Referendum slated for June 18 in both districts. Passage of Advisory Referendum in both communities would lead to binding referendum vote in October 2013. If authorized by voters in October 2013 in both districts, a new district would be created July 1, 2014

  31. Essential Question Should the Brocton Central School District and Westfield Academy and Central School District be joined together as a single district by centralization?

  32. We would like to share information from our previous sessions with you at this time. We have also reserved time for your questions and thoughts. Previous Questions…

  33. Terminology? The term centralization, consolidation and merger are all the same. The official term that the New York State Department of Education is using is centralization. You will see all three words used in the final consolidation study.

  34. More Administration Now? With the increased Federal and State requirements such as Race To The Top, No Child Left Behind, 2 teacher observations a year on each teacher (APPR), student testing both State and local, regulations on attendance, discipline, bullying laws, safety requirements, graduation requirements, Common Core Curriculum requirements, faculty meetings, parent meetings, student meetings along with the extra-curriculum programs, school administrators have more duties than they did 20, 30 or 40 years ago.

  35. Reserve Funds? There are approximately 15 different reserve funds that school districts can use to keep money for future needs in specific areas. The new Board of Education, with advice from the Superintendent and Business Official, may put 25% of the (OIA) in accounts they feel will best fit the needs of the District at that time. The intent is that the District become fiscally responsible with the OIA monies and uses them for future needs as well as current needs.

  36. Capital Reserve Fund? The study recommends having the voter approve putting some of the 25% OIA into a capital reserve account to be used for future capital projects (Recommendation 17). The new District building aid will be at 98% with only a 2% local share necessary for such capital projects. This 98% is only available for the 1st 10 years of the new district. The State will then re-evaluate what percentage the District building aid should be set at. So it was recommended that the new district put some monies in a Capital Reserve Account but not all 25%.

  37. Binding Decisions? Besides the first recommendation of moving forward with the consolidation process, the new Board of Education is not legally bound by the remaining 22 recommendations.This study and these recommendations are a road map for the current Boards of Education and the new Board of Education to use as they try to design the best educational program for the students and at the same time increase long-term efficiencies and lower cost for all taxpayers.

  38. Board Configuration? If the Districts get to the point of voting for a referendum to consolidate the two districts, then an official vote will take place in early October 2013. Not only will the people be able to vote for the consolidation but they will also design the make-up of the new Board of Education. There will be 3 choices for the number of Board of Education members for the new District - that of 5 members, 7 members or 9 members. Also, how long will the terms of these members be - 3 years, 4 years or 5 years? The voters will determine this by a majority vote.

  39. Equal Representation? This will be a new school district and all new members will be voted as “at large candidates” coming from the entire 77 square mile new school district. There can be no wards or precincts where a certain number of Board of Education members must be selected from.

  40. New discussion format? The Superintendents, Board of Education Presidents and the District Superintendent are discussing this possibility. It is required by law that there are four public hearings (two in each District) to allow for information and public feedback. We will look into how we can meet this requirement and at the same time come up with a different way to ask and answer questions.

  41. We are here to gather any questions you may have. In order to provide full and accurate answers, we will record all questions. Questions and answers will be posted on school web sites. Copies of questions and answers will be made available in community locations and reviewed at the next three public information sessions. Please state your name and residence before asking questions or adding comments when you speak at the microphone. We ask that you limit your time to three minutes to allow all people an opportunity to be heard. Questions & Comments

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