§ 1716 — Estimated expenses for ensuing year

§ 1716. Estimated expenses for ensuing year. 1. It shall be the duty\nof the board of education of each district to present at the annual\nbudget hearing a detailed statement in writing of the amount of money\nwhich will be required for the ensuing year for school purposes,\nspecifying the several purposes and the amount for each. The amount for\neach purpose estimated necessary for payments to boards of cooperative\neducational services shall be shown in full, with no deduction of\nestimated state aid. The amount of state aid provided and its percentage\nrelationship to the total expenditures shall also be shown. This section\nshall not be construed to prevent the board from presenting such\nstatement at a budget hearing held not less than seven nor more than\nfourteen days prior to a special meeting called for the purpose, nor\nfrom presenting a supplementary and amended statement or estimate at any\ntime.\n 2. Such statement shall be completed at least seven days before the\nbudget hearing at which it is to be presented and copies thereof shall\nbe prepared and made available, upon request and at the school district\noffices, at any public library or free association library within the\ndistrict and on the school district's internet website, if one exists,\nto residents within the district during the period of fourteen days\nimmediately preceding the annual meeting and election or special\ndistrict meeting at which the budget vote will occur and at such meeting\nor hearing. The board shall also as a part of the notice required by\nsection two thousand four of this chapter give notice of the date, time\nand place of the budget hearing and that a copy of such statement may be\nobtained by any resident in the district at each schoolhouse in the\ndistrict in which school is maintained during certain designated hours\non each day other than a Saturday, Sunday or holiday during the fourteen\ndays immediately preceding such meeting. The board shall include notice\nof the availability of such statement at least once during the school\nyear in any district-wide mailing distributed.\n 3. Commencing with the proposed budget for the nineteen hundred\nninety-seven--ninety-eight school year, such proposed budget shall be in\nplain language and shall be consistent with regulations promulgated by\nthe commissioner pursuant to subdivision twenty-six of section three\nhundred five of this chapter. Categorization of and format for revenue,\nincluding payments in lieu of taxes, property tax refunds from\ncertiorari proceedings, expenditure, transfer, and fund balance\ninformation and changes in such data from the prior year and, in the\ncase of a resubmitted or amended budget, changes in such information\nfrom the prior year submitted budget, shall be complete and accurate and\nset forth in such a manner as to best promote public comprehension and\nreadability.\n 4. Commencing with the proposed budget for the nineteen hundred\nninety-eight--ninety-nine school year, such proposed budget shall be\npresented in three components: a program component, a capital component\nand an administrative component which shall be separately delineated in\naccordance with regulations of the commissioner after consultation with\nlocal school district officials. The administrative component shall\ninclude, but need not be limited to, office and central administrative\nexpenses, traveling expenses and all compensation, salaries and benefits\nof all school administrators and supervisors, including business\nadministrators, superintendents of schools and deputy, assistant,\nassociate or other superintendents under all existing employment\ncontracts or collective bargaining agreements, any and all expenditures\nassociated with the operation of the board of education, the office of\nthe superintendent of schools, general administration, the school\nbusiness office, consulting costs not directly related to direct student\nservices and programs, planning and all other administrative activities.\nThe program component shall include, but need not be limited to, all\nprogram expenditures of the school district, including the salaries and\nbenefits of teachers and any school administrators or supervisors who\nspend a majority of their time performing teaching duties, and all\ntransportation operating expenses. The capital component shall include,\nbut need not be limited to, all transportation capital, debt service,\nand lease expenditures; costs resulting from judgments in tax certiorari\nproceedings or the payment of awards from court judgments,\nadministrative orders or settled or compromised claims; and all\nfacilities costs of the school district, including facilities lease\nexpenditures, the annual debt service and total debt for all facilities\nfinanced by bonds and notes of the school district, and the costs of\nconstruction, acquisition, reconstruction, rehabilitation or improvement\nof school buildings, provided that such budget shall include a rental,\noperations and maintenance section that includes base rent costs, total\nrent costs, operation and maintenance charges, cost per square foot for\neach facility leased by the school district, and any and all\nexpenditures associated with custodial salaries and benefits, service\ncontracts, supplies, utilities, and maintenance and repairs of school\nfacilities. For the purposes of the development of a budget for the\nnineteen hundred ninety-eight--ninety-nine school year, the board of\neducation shall separate the district's program, capital and\nadministrative costs for the nineteen hundred ninety-seven--ninety-eight\nschool year in the manner as if the budget for such year had been\npresented in three components.\n 5. The board of education shall append to the statement of estimated\nexpenditures a detailed statement of the total compensation to be paid\nto the superintendent of schools, and any assistant or associate\nsuperintendents of schools in the ensuing school year, including a\ndelineation of the salary, annualized cost of benefits and any in-kind\nor other form of remuneration. The board shall also append a list of all\nother school administrators and supervisors, if any, whose annual salary\nwill be eighty-five thousand dollars or more in the ensuing school year,\nwith the title of their positions and annual salary identified; provided\nhowever, that the commissioner may adjust such salary level to reflect\nincreases in administrative salaries after June thirtieth, nineteen\nhundred ninety-eight. The board of education shall submit a copy of such\nlist and statement, in a form prescribed by the commissioner, of\ncompensation to the commissioner within five days after their\npreparation. The commissioner shall compile such data, together with the\ndata submitted pursuant to subdivision four of section sixteen hundred\neight of this chapter, into a single statewide compilation, which shall\nbe made available to the governor, the legislature, and other interested\nparties upon request.\n 6. Each year, the board of education shall prepare a school district\nreport card, pursuant to regulations of the commissioner, and shall make\nit publicly available by transmitting it to local newspapers of general\ncirculation, appending it to copies of the proposed budget made publicly\navailable as required by law, making it available for distribution at\nthe annual meeting, and otherwise disseminating it as required by the\ncommissioner. Such report card shall include measures of the academic\nperformance of the school district, on a school by school basis, and\nmeasures of the fiscal performance of the district, as prescribed by the\ncommissioner. Pursuant to regulations of the commissioner, the report\ncard shall also compare these measures to statewide averages for all\npublic schools, and statewide averages for public schools of comparable\nwealth and need, developed by the commissioner. Such report card shall\ninclude, at a minimum, any information of the school district regarding\npupil performance and expenditure per pupil required to be included in\nthe annual report by the regents to the governor and the legislature\npursuant to section two hundred fifteen-a of this chapter; and any other\ninformation required by the commissioner. School districts (i)\nidentified as having fifteen percent or more of their students in\nspecial education, or (ii) which have fifty percent or more of their\nstudents with disabilities in special education programs or services\nsixty percent or more of the school day in a general education building,\nor (iii) which have eight percent or more of their students with\ndisabilities in special education programs in public or private separate\neducational settings shall indicate on their school district report card\ntheir respective percentages as defined in this paragraph and paragraphs\n(i) and (ii) of this subdivision as compared to the statewide average.\n 7. a. Each year, commencing with the proposed budget for the two\nthousand--two thousand one school year, the board of education shall\nprepare a property tax report card, pursuant to regulations of the\ncommissioner, and shall make it publicly available by transmitting it to\nlocal newspapers of general circulation, appending it to copies of the\nproposed budget made publicly available as required by law, making it\navailable for distribution at the annual meeting, and otherwise\ndisseminating it as required by the commissioner. Such report card shall\ninclude: (i) the amount of total spending and total estimated school tax\nlevy that would result from adoption of the proposed budget and the\npercentage increase or decrease in total spending and total school tax\nlevy from the school district budget for the preceding school year; and\n(ii) the district's tax levy limit determined pursuant to section two\nthousand twenty-three-a of this title, and the estimated school tax\nlevy, excluding any levy necessary to support the expenditures pursuant\nto subparagraphs (i) through (iv) of paragraph i of subdivision two of\nsection two thousand twenty-three-a of this title, that would result\nfrom adoption of the proposed budget; and (iii) the projected enrollment\ngrowth for the school year for which the budget is prepared, and the\npercentage change in enrollment from the previous year; and (iv) the\npercentage increase in the consumer price index, as defined in paragraph\nc of this subdivision; and (v) the projected amount of the\nunappropriated unreserved fund balance that will be retained if the\nproposed budget is adopted, the projected amount of the reserved fund\nbalance, the projected amount of the appropriated fund balance, the\npercentage of the proposed budget that the unappropriated unreserved\nfund balance represents, the actual unappropriated unreserved fund\nbalance retained in the school district budget for the preceding school\nyear, a schedule of reserve funds, setting forth the name of each\nreserve fund, a description of its purpose, the balance as of the close\nof the third quarter of the current school district fiscal year and a\nbrief statement explaining any plans for the use of each such reserve\nfund for the ensuing fiscal year and the percentage of the school\ndistrict budget for the preceding school year that the actual\nunappropriated unreserved fund balance represents.\n b. A copy of the property tax report card prepared for the annual\ndistrict meeting shall be submitted to the department in the manner\nprescribed by the department by the end of the business day next\nfollowing approval of the report card by the board of education, but no\nlater than twenty-four days prior to the statewide uniform voting day.\nThe department shall compile such data for all school districts whose\nbudgets are subject to a vote of the qualified voters and shall make\nsuch compilation available electronically at least ten days prior to the\nstatewide uniform voting day.\n c. For purposes of this subdivision, "percentage increase in the\nconsumer price index" shall mean the percentage that represents the\nproduct of one hundred and the quotient of: (i) the average of the\nnational consumer price indexes determined by the United States\ndepartment of labor for the twelve-month period preceding January first\nof the current year minus the average of the national consumer price\nindexes determined by the United States department of labor for the\ntwelve-month period preceding January first of the prior year, divided\nby (ii) the average of the national consumer price indexes determined by\nthe United States department of labor for the twelve-month period\npreceding January first of the prior year, with the result expressed as\na decimal to two places.\n