2018-2019 School Budget: What This Budget’s About

Rightsizing.

It’s a term that, until recently, most of us were not familiar with. We’d heard of downsizing (in terms of houses), resizing (in terms of photos) and super-sizing (in terms of French fries). But rightsizing? Sounds like something Goldilocks does when testing beds and bowls of porridge for the best fit.

Rightsizing, though, is an apt and timely term for our community to become acquainted with. It’s a word that means exactly what it sounds like it should, and it really is critical in understanding the primary goal of the 2018-2019 Proposed School Budget — making sure our District has the staff to support its education plan.

That’s an oversimplification, to be sure. There’s a ton that goes into a $139 million operating budget (you can find out all about it by visiting the Budget page on the District website). For this week’s email, we want to focus on what is both the headline and the key to the bottom line: in order to maintain the programming and the educational experience for our 5,600+ students, our District needs to rightsize its staff. Translation: this Budget calls for the addition of 20.9 faculty positions across our six schools.

Which brings us to the other word that’s been driving conversation in our community throughout this school year: enrollment. Since 2010, our student population has grown 13%. We’ve added 660 students to our District in eight years — the equivalent of an entire elementary school. Talk about supersizing.

It’s been a slow, steady growth, with the limits of each school’s capabilities being tested a little bit more every school year. It’s been likened to the adage about boiling a frog — they don’t feel the incremental temperature increases until it’s too late.

Let’s be clear . . . our frog is not fully cooked. But it’s definitely feeling it.

This Proposed Budget seeks to address the enrollment creep by adding faculty to meet the projected student population over the next few years. Perhaps the clearest illustration of how this Budget will affect day-to-day learning is at Hommocks — the fastest-growing school in our District and now the second-largest middle school in Westchester County.

In 2011, Hommocks had 1,108 students. This September, it is projected to house 1,278 students — a 15.3% increase in just seven years. The student population is expected to surpass 1,300 by September 2019.

This Budget funds the creation of a fifth academic team at Hommocks. A half-team will be introduced for the 2018-2019 school year, and a full fifth team will be in place by the time the current cohort of fourth graders (485 students) arrives at the middle school.

The impact this added team will have on class size is significant. Take a look at the projections, which are shown on Slide 37 of the Proposed Budget presented at the March 13th BOE meeting: