001[Music] Good evening. I'm Brian Pino. I'm the superintendent of schools of the Fulton City School District. I'm going to be joined this evening with Kate Hooper, our business administrator, and we will be sharing in the 202526 uh budget proposal, which you will have the opportunity to vote for on May the 20th, 2025. I'd like to first uh thank all of the members of our Fulton City School District learning community for their ongoing support and unwavering commitment to our students. And I'd like to express my gratitude to the Fulton City School District staff and the entire school community for just being there for our kids each and every day. A special thanks to our staff and our community members who make um our schools come to life each and every day and all of our classrooms.
002Truly appreciate all that you do and thank you to our board of education for all the work and the effort that you've put into developing this budget. And I think you'll see in one of the slides we've had quite a few opportunities for input and feedback back and forth. The purpose of this evening's meeting is to discuss the $94.2 million budget for the two uh 202526 year. We've spent a lot of d time with careful planning and really looking at the economic challenges which you'll hear about this evening. The focus is on a commitment to our students the Fulton City School District vision and mission being as transparent and provide opportunities as many opportunities as possible for input and community involvement. So if we could move into the slides please. So the first thing that
003we always take into consideration is the vision vision, mission and values that we have here in the Fulton City School District. And the vision is our vision is to create a learning organization is the centerpiece of the community where all are welcomed and held to standards of excellence that foster hope and resilience for the future. Our mission as the Fulton school uh community will empower students to develop the knowledge and skills to become respectful, responsible, productive citizens who are committed to lifelong learning. And then our Dragon Way, which has come to fruition over the last year or so with a focus in every one of our classrooms and for our kids on drive, wisdom, and resilience. And we take these into consideration with everything that we do and all the decision-m that we're doing. The
004next slide is more of a visual orientation of what what we're looking at. The center is our learning and wellness and life pathways for our students. You're going to hearing more about the portrait of a graduate in the coming months. Uh and that's the direction that New York State's taking. And we in the Fulton City School District had already been kind of at with our focus on that area already. So, we're a little bit ahead of other districts. So, I'm proud of that. But, it's learning wellness and life pathways. everything about our kids surrounded by the systems and structures and then ultimately a culture of support and high expectations for staff and students. Around the outside of our diagram there, you'll see it breaks into and aligns with the state. We've got uh six areas
005systems and organization and school leadership and is in that systems and structures. We've got tenants three and four around curriculum instruction. That's everything that's happening in the classrooms for our kids each and every day. And then tenants five and six are really focused on social emotional learning, behavioral supports, family and community engagement. All of those components together, they need to be symbiotic and working together so that great things can happen for kids. And this is something we've been working on and evolving. And this is where we've evolved too in our strategic uh coherence planning process. Next slide, please. I mentioned, you know, there had been many opportunities for feedback and there's been great uh a number of meetings and I thought it really captured the essence of the number of meetings uh that we've had.
006We've had regular board meetings, we've had budget workshops, we've had uh community budget forums, uh we've had uh we did them both virtually and in person. Uh we've had uh we have tonight's budget hearing. We've had we have a regular board meeting next uh Tuesday. We've got another community budget forum for anybody to come and ask questions and we have a budget vote in the election on the 20th. We also have uh we've had the opportunity of a a email that was on our website and you could email in questions. We'd respond right back. You there's an FAQ on the website as well with responses to any of the questions that we received. So again, a lot of opportunity uh that uh to to attend meetings, hear what's going on, provide input. Um and I
007think that helps us design a budget that um hopefully reflects and can meet the needs of our kids next year. Next slide, please. So the 202526 proposed budget. So we'll continue to support and prioritize and as I mentioned, kids are at the center and student safety uh is at is a priority. staffing for supervision. School patrol officers at all the schools. Behavioral, emotional, and mental health supports for our students are maintained in this budget even though we had to make reductions. Academic programs are in the place with those support systems to provide students additional support as needed such as special education services, academic intervention services, opportunities for college level courses in person and online. Very proud of the fact that we have, I believe, 65 college courses available at Gay Bodley High School. that's driven
008a lot by our early college high schools of which we have two uh as well as the the wide range of uh opportunities that we provide um for our students and they're in person and online predominantly in-personbased extracurricular activities. We've got our community school programs, our sports, our music programs, our clubs and our organizations stay intact in this budget. Next slide please. Some of the factors that are impacting the 202526 and and they're heavy is escalating health care operating costs, the cost of doing business as as across the country you can see the cost of doing business is escalating and just contractual increases as well. The health care cost is one of those areas that it's um that's really hitting us. It's actually 56% over 3 years. So we're projecting if we were looking at
009that 23 24 increase that was an increase um approximately 17% 25% and 2425 from the previous year. So you can start to add these in and we're projecting 18.34. When you look at that three-year snapshot that's a 56% increase in healthcare uh costs for the city school district and I believe is it on the next slide? I we had a graph we've shown several times. It's not on the next slide, but when we've shown it, it's a 10-year study where you can see that um for the first, you know, seven years, our healthc care stayed relatively flat. If it did go up, it would stabilize or come back down. And then, you know, starting in 23 24, it's been a sharp increase and we're not seeing that same stabilization yet that we've that we had
010seen, you know, over time in the 10-year history that we had shown. Y on our graph, you know, and we talked from auditors that came in from outside, took a look. Really was something they said we couldn't even predict because we've been so nice and flat and and very predictable, but being self-insured, I think that's created um a bit of the challenge as well. And healthc care costs are uh increasing across the country. We're looking at a number of different strategies uh to address that and flatten that out. And I'm hoping uh as we continue to move forward, there'll be some solutions. uh hopefully before I leave the helm here. Uh if not, I'm sure it'll be in good hands. Next slide, please. Also, another area was gas and electric costs uh have gone up
011as well. You can see um from 23 24 23 24 25 26 which is projected. We're looking at an overall increase of over 55% and 60% on the electric side. Anything you'd add to that? Okay. And then contractual increases uh during the budget process. Contractual raises are one of the first factors to consider. The contractual increases are a negotiated obligation that must be a part of the annual budget. There are predictable costs. So uh that helps obviously in the design of the budget. This is a predictable factor that we calculate each year as part of the the budget as we roll over. Next slide please. The tax the proposed tax increase for 2526 is 1.9% or the equivalent of $431,000 and 390. Historically, the previous 10 years, a district has increased the tax levy by
0121.2% on average. Uh, and this represents a $2.5 million increase over 10 years as opposed to the allowable $5 million. So, the overall was really around 2.5% a year if you took that over 10 years and multiply that. I think we've been very fiscally responsible keeping that right around the on average 1 2.2% uh ongoing. So I think we we there's always been a commitment here at least from the time I was here and then before because I remember seeing those longitudinally uh this board is very focused on how do we make sure that we are fiscally responsible. So thank you to the board. Next uh slide please. The estimated impact and this was actually some feedback we received from the community. So thank you to those individuals uh who uh said can we see
013it more in a way what would the actual cost in a household be after basic star exemption these are predictions um you want to go over the slide or I can do that yeah um so these are estimates they're based on the information that we have you know the the tax rates for the upcoming year won't get to us until sometime over the summer so we use the information um that we had from last year to come up with an estimate just to give people an idea of what they could expect to see based on uh their assessment. And again, um the school district doesn't control the assessments or or set the tax rates or equalization rate, but we um we just thought this might help give a different level of understanding. So, for a
014house assessed at $100,000, uh you can expect an estimated increase per year of $34.58. a house assessed at $200,000. An estimated increase could be $83.98. And a house assessed at $300,000. An estimated per year increase would be $133.38. And then we thought it might help to break it down a little bit further. That's the per year increase, but then you know many um bills are paid on a monthly basis. So this would be the per month increase for the same uh different assessments. So, a $100,000 or house a home assessed for $100,000 per month, you could expect an estimated increase of $288 per month. A home assessed for $200,000, you could expect a $7 increase per month. A home assessed for $300,000, you could expect an increase per month of $112. Do you want to
015do this part? Sure. And then uh the projected revenue for the 2526 budget. You can see on the left hand side the pie chart shows the the percentages of the types of revenue we expect to receive with state aid being the largest portion which is expected 69.2% of our uh revenue would be in the form of state aid. Um the tax levy proposed uh would make up 24.6% 6% of their revenue. And then the section of the pie chart that is 6.2% labeled other, that's other revenue um such as um any federal money we might receive, any leases, um sort of miscellaneous revenue. Plus, the district has made the decision to use some of its reserves to help close the gap between revenue and expenditures um to avoid further reductions or further tax increase in
016the form of 3.85 million in reserves. We uh waited a long time to receive the final state aid runs. We just received them last evening. Um there were some changes in foundation aid and in Bosey's aid. Um fortunately they canceled each other out. So our our projected revenue is intact and our our 94 uh 2 million number is good to go. So those are our revenue numbers. Then, um, when we talk about the extent side of the budget, we talk a lot about the three-part budget. And I wanted to take some time to really break down the three components, talk about what is in each one, and then show some numbers in each component just so everyone can try to get an understanding, you know, when we talk about the program component. So, what does
017that mean? So the program component is really made up of you, you know, if you think about a lot of the the required programs we we have um in the school. You know the regular school programs, special education programs, special schools, by that I mean summer programs or occupational education, student services, extracurricular programs, transportation, any employee benefits associated with the teachers in the program component or employees in the program component. Interfund transfers to special programs. What that means is we the district has a certain uh responsibility to the extended school year program for our students with disabilities. Um so that's our contribution to that program with the rest of it being state aided. That's so we we make an interfund transfer to that particular program. Then just some bullet points to even break that down
018a little further. So what you might see in that component is salaries for teachers, TAs and aids. In fact, that makes up uh over 36% of the overall budget. Also in that portion of the budget are supplies and materials related to um regular school, special education, um special schools, student services. Textbook money is located in that portion of the budget. technology materials, library materials, special education programs, as we said, school nurses, student support services such as counselors, social workers, school psychologists, I mentioned summer programs, extracurricular activities such as athletics, clubs, music programs, and student transportation. So hopefully knowing some of the the items that are in there, then when you see the numbers, it might make a little more sense because those are large categories. But so when you see regular school, it might help
019to know that it's not just salaries. Salaries are a large part of it, but there are salaries, there are supplies, there could be some contractual expenses in there. Same with special education, special schools, student services. Then of course as I said employee benefits associated with any employees that are paid out of this component of the budget the inter fund transfer that I spoke about as well then we'll do the same for the capital component so that includes the operation of the plant maintenance of the plant that service again any employee benefits associated with employees in this component of the budget and the interfund transfer to capital. We don't have an inter fund transfer to capital in this budget. What that would be for is if we were going to do a capital um capital outlay
020project, which is a $100,000 project. Uh we're not proposing one of those this year, so you will not see an inter fund transfer to capital, but that's what it would be if there if that was part of the budget. But some of the bullet points um that make up the capital portion of the budget. Uh there are salaries for our custodial and maintenance workers. Those salaries make up about 3.4% of the overall budget. Custodial and maintenance supplies. You know, all of the supplies needed to maintain the grounds and the facilities, cleaning supplies, um supplies to make repairs when things break or things go wrong. a lot of different contractual expenses in this category. Uh snow removal, sand and salt, uh the gas and electric that Mr. Pino spoke about is located in this portion of
021the budget, trash and recycling, boiler maintenance, water and sewer. Also located in this component of the budget is safety and security expenses, and our debt service, which is where we pay back the money borrowed to complete capital improvement projects. And then you see the numbers associated with those different larger categories. And then finally the administrative portion of the budget that includes the board of education central administration which means superintendent school supervision and curriculum supervision makes up your principles directors executive directors. Finance means school business personnel means human resources. Bosey's administrative services that really is kind of one large cost that is we pay to Boseies each year um as part of their administrative budget uh for you know really um purchasing all the different services that we purchase at Boseies and employee benefits associated with
022the employees in this portion of the budget and again that there are several other smaller items that are part of those large categories again of Forcer salaries, administrative salaries make up about 2.85% of the entire budget. There are also clerical salaries in this portion. Supervision aid salaries, the business office and human resources office. Um salaries and operating expenses are located in this part of the budget. Expenses related to New York State required annual audits. are legal expenses, civil service charges, um certain positions were required to partner with civil service expenses related to tax collection as I mentioned the Bosey's administrative charges which are ba it's based on our enrollment um also central data processing fees and all of these things support the Bosey's programs that we contract for board of education so that's mainly uh
023the the bulk of that is the cost of the election and the numerous numerous required notices that we publish in the newspaper and then um a few board trainings each year. Also, insurance costs and postage are located in this portion of the budget and then you see the actual numbers that go with those broader categories we mentioned. Then when we break the three-part budget down, you can see the numbers that make up the [Music] 94,197,840 overall budget, as well as we like to break it down into percentages. You always want to see the program component as the largest percentage which it is at 97 or excuse me 95.7% capital at 14.7% and administ administrative at 9.6%. And then if you look at that um just to give us some context compared to 2425 it's in
024the same uh ballpark. However, you know, one thing to note is although we had to make reductions, we were able to push that program component to a bit higher of a percentage while reducing the capital and administrative components by a touch. So, which I think shows the commitment to trying to drive it as close to the kids as possible, resources and the supports. So, to see the program go up, I think that's the highest we've ever been here in Fulton since I've been here. Um, and I believe that's the the lower for the capital and the administrative. So it's the direction you want to see it if you have to make reductions and you have to target resources to see and the numbers show it that it's being driven to where it belongs and that's
025as close to the kids as possible. Just a pie chart showing uh again some different expense categories with um salaries and employee benefits being um large slices of the pie. also um OC services being a large expense or a larger expense contractual expenses um debt service is um about 4.3% and then smaller categories are things like materials and supplies and equipment and the benefit the benefits was which the uh the benefits is the lighter blue at 26.9% and the salaries is the darker blue. So you can see that between salaries and benefits, that's nearly 70% of the overall budget. Um this is another way to break down the budget. Um so this is the proposed budget by expense description. And again, just as a reminder, these lines don't represent single items, but groups of items
026that fall under the same category or function in the budget. just gives a little bit more detail than the numbers under the the three different parts of the budget did. So, you know, as I I said, um when we were looking at the admin portion, um you can see auditing and tax collecting and legal kind of have their own lines there. And then in a couple of slides, I'll show an example of how in this sort of description of the budget, you have one category that looks like a really large number and it's one line, but if you looked at it, 2110 is teaching. It has over a hundred budget codes. So, it's not just one large item. It's actually comprised of a hundred smaller items. Some, you know, being larger than others. you know,
027it's just a more detailed way of looking at the budget, but it's not, you know, every single line. And then this final slide is all of the benefits that when when we show the three-part budget, they get distributed among the three parts. In this representation, they're undistributed. So they're they're their own section kind of. So there's multiple categories in many of these categories. So you know, for example, the the chief financial officer, I do not make $33,000. What we have is you've got you got your clerical that's a part of that office and all the other components of doing business are in there as well. So it's it's there's there's subcomponents in each of those areas. So, I just want to draw that's a good example because that's um it it's that doesn't these numbers
028don't just depict that. There's multiple um codes within each one of these that break it out that you can see on a line by line. That's right. That's what I meant by the the 2110, the teaching code. You know, it's one very large line in this representation here, but there's over a hundred singular budget codes within that. Okay. Uh we did want to talk a little bit about just summarizing um how we got to our our final budget number. We did make some significant reductions. Um we reduced 5.1 million from our initial rollover budget. This included a careful analysis of needs and spending on supplies and materials, equipment, Bose services, other contractual services, employee benefits, salaries, and ultimately uh 59 positions. But you know, right from the beginning when we started the rollover budget, we
029really looked at everything and any place where we could try to reduce a little bit or save some money, uh we did. right from the get-go. Uh most of the reductions of the 59 positions were accomplished through retirements, resignations, and fair dismissals. Uh we did want to put the slide up one more time to show the areas where uh the position reductions took place. And again, um, keeping in mind that these don't all represent layoffs, but total reductions. Again, as we said, most of these were accomplished through retirements, resignations, or fair dismissals. Anything to add, Mr. P? No, I think that accurately depicts it. We try to do, we really look at all every bargaining unit, every area, every line is looked at as we were making these reductions. We bring those to the board,
030having those conversations. Uh and what we tried to do was maintain high levels of supports and services for kids uh to the best of our ability and then also be able to we repurposed some positions. We did all sorts of different kinds of things. We tried to put um staff in and in in the best positions for success to provide supports for students. Uh and I believe that you know we spent and it'll continue as we go into the into the next school year. again if as new kids come in or new problems and we've anticipated a lot of different things. We've uh reformed some different types of configurations uh for special classes, things like that to better serve the needs um of the students as they're presenting at this current time. And we made
031adjustments throughout the course of this year to better serve kids needs because if we had to if we we didn't say just the way it was in September, it needs to look the same in June. We need to make adjustments and that's what we did. And we've received some questions throughout the process about um what what does a contingency budget mean? And I thought Mr. Pelino really explained it well in the budget newsletter. So I stole or borrowed an excerpt that I thought he could explain himself because this is it was his writing. Yeah. So you know we do receive a question from one of our constituents and that's why it's important that we do these forums because this was a great question. you know that what would happen if the budget didn't didn't pass.
032And so it would necess necessitate a second vote or a contingency budget leading to significant reductions in crucial areas such as equipment, community access to our facilities, extracurricular activities, field trips, athletics, classroom supplies. This isn't the path we want to take as it would severely impact the enriching experience that was what would provide our students. When you saw that previous slide, we reduced over 5 million, $5.1 million out of the budget already. What this would do, it would further have to go back in and reduce um supports, services, resources, opportunities for kids to be able to uh meet that need. The contingency contingency budget is published in the the budget newsletter which will be arriving in your homes in the coming days. All of that information is there. Uh so you can see that. Um
033but that's why that's important. It's it takes us further beyond where we're at. We went 59 positions is pretty significant coupled with all of the other reductions that we made around supplies, materials, equipment, so on and so forth. So it would just take us another, you know, another cut to be able to get there. The items reduced in a contingency bud budget are significantly reduced funds to pay for extracurricular opportunities such as our athletic programs, musicals, uh plays in the arts, clubs, organizations, uh limited funds for field trips, equipment purchases, additional reductions in supplies and materials, additional reductions of contractual expenses, extremely limited use of district facilities by community organizations. These are all part of the statutes. So these are things that we have to follow in many of those areas. Uh especially the access
034to the community organizations is actually a very large one uh that we would have to address. Some salaries and miscellaneous salary expenses, substitute clerical funds for meetings outside of school hours and so on. So that would be areas that would really be focused on in a contingency or would be looked at as areas. those areas would be brought back to the board whether it's if we move forward to a second vote or if we went to a contingency budget that information provided to the board and they would provide that direction uh to me uh as we move forward. Um then reviewing the propositions that uh the voters will see on May 20th. Uh the first proposition being the budget. Um, we'll vote on the sum of $94,197,840 as the general fund appropriation for the 2526
035school year. Proposition two is the purchase of student transportation vehicles um authorizing the purchase of two replacement seven passenger vans um to replace a couple of very old vans that are currently in our fleet. Proposition three is the sale of property at Eerie Street. Um the building and grounds at a price and upon such terms is deemed proper by the board of education. And finally, proposition four is the library tax proposition. Um that would be in the amount of $544,131. Just a quick updated on our update on our remaining timeline. Again, as Mr. Pino mentioned in the beginning, we do have a regular board of education meeting on Tuesday, May 13th. Um one remaining community budget forum on May 15th. And then the budget vote on May 20th and a meeting on May 21st to
036ratify the budget and election results. And the regular board meeting and the community budget form are both right in this room here at the education center which is the board of education meeting room. It's hard to describe this one. Uh, but this is really the slide that really just talks about the vote when it's May 20th, 2025, 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Also on here, it talks about the election districts. Uh, it's got the photograph when it's really on either sides of the river. If you have questions about your voting location, there's two locations. One's at the municipal uh building uh on this side of the river on and then on on the other side the war memorial on the other side of the river. So, we've got the two election districts. Um, and if
037you have any questions, please contact my office, reach out. We can tell you which side of the river or where you where your voting place is, so there's no confusion. Um, I guess that's what I would say about that. There should also, I believe, uh, is uh we've made no changes in that. We'll have the posters rolling at 9:00 a.m. and they'll roll till 9:00 p.m. that evening. So, uh, finally, um, this is probably difficult to see, but we will post this presentation on the website. Uh, this is just a quick screenshot of what to expect, um, when you see the ballot, what it's going to look like. Um, you see the propositions you'll vote for, as well as voting for um, our Fulton Board of Education seats, as well as the library um, board
038seats. And then we would like to close with a short video. Before we play that, can we wait one second? Just one other thing. I would just like before we go on to the video, which is just a great way to capture the impacts on kids with resources. Just a reminder that please reach out to us if you have any questions whatsoever. telephone calls, emails. We have a um on the website under the budget, we have a specific email for the budget goes right to Miss Hooper. She answers those questions on the same day. We then post those answers right on the FAQ. If you have any question whatsoever, no matter what, it's a good question because chances are other people may have the same question. And so, please reach out. We want we want
039you to be informed. We want you to have all of the information you need uh to make uh a decision, an informed decision. And you know, this budget represents the next great opportunity to lead our kids and prepare them uh for when they leave. And and it's so interesting. I've been talking to some juniors and seniors and as they talk about what they want to do when they graduate and what they're going to be doing, I believe some of those things, the goals that they're they're starting to that they're talking about, their ambitions and and the things that they want to accomplish in their lives, it's very clear that they draw it back to a lot of the experiences they're having in the preK12 experience and they talk about it and they glow about it
040and that's what our budget does. That's what those dollars do and that's how we do it. I know that our kids are the best barometer and we've got a lot of work to do. We've got a range of our kids, but this budget I best supports our kids at this point in time. And I believe even though I may will be at the helm, I believe this will lead us into that next stage uh uh for this um for this school district to be successful for every child every day. So, I wanted to say that before we show this great video that highlights everything. And if you can watch till the end of the video, I'll put that email address up on the last slide. All right. Thank [Applause] you. At Fulton City School District,
041our mission is to empower students to develop the knowledge and skills to become respectful, responsible, productive citizens committed to lifelong learning. The proposed 202526 budget reflects that commitment. Over 75% of the budget is dedicated to programs that directly benefit students from strong academic instruction to crucial support services. The budget means that safety is a top priority. It continues funding school resource officers in every building and ensures our facilities, including our athletic complex, remain safe and well-maintained. The budget means that students at GRB can choose from 65 college level courses, plus hands-on career and technical education options that prepare them for the future. The budget means continued investment in academic intervention, special education, and emotional support services so every student has the tools they need to succeed. The budget means the community schools model thrives, offering
042after-school programs, summer learning, and events that bring families together in partnership with local organizations. The budget means that extracurricular opportunities remain strong because learning doesn't stop when the school day ends. From sports and musicals to clubs and art shows, there's something for everyone. The budget means supporting our educators, providing professional development that helps them grow so they can continue inspiring our students. The 202526 proposed budget is more than numbers. It's a reflection of our community's values. Together, we're building a brighter future for every student in Fulton. All right. And there is the SCSD budget at fullton.cny.org email address. And any questions from anyone here? All righty. Well, thank you again. If there's any question, thank you, Miss Hooper, for um all of your work on this budget. Once again, thank you to my board of
043education uh who has been uh super supportive over my last nine years, but also uh lock step when we're going through the budget budget process. So, thank you. And I'm looking forward to any questions or anything you have to ask. Please send uh Miss Hooperai any questions that you may have. And with that, thank you for participating and I look forward to an outstanding end of the 2425 school year and looking forward to watching the 2526. Thank you. Have a great evening.