District slashes another $1.5 million from budget

“We’ve had a horrendous task,” said Dr. James Hunderfund, superintendent of the Malverne school district, in the opening sentences of his presentation of next year’s budget to the Board of Education at its April 12 meeting.

Hunderfund was referring to the administration’s attempt to further reduce the proposed 2011-12 budget in the face of state aid cuts, increased expenses, unfunded mandates and dropping revenues. Despite repeated grumblings about the difficulty of the undertaking, the district’s administration reduced the proposed budget increase to 3.26 percent for a total of $47,512,111.

In order to achieve the reduction, Hunderfund worked with Deputy Superintendent Richard Banyon, Assistant Superintendent Spiro Colaitis and Business Administrator Tom McDaid to locate areas from which to make cuts. Nearly 70 percent of lines in the budget were reduced or at zero: overall, the administrators cut some $291,000 out of the budget between April 5 and April 12.

There was a $30,000 reduction in the athletic code and a 15 percent cut across the board for clubs, secondary summer school was eliminated and funding for Saturday and a.m./p.m. detention was reduced.

“Almost everything in that budget is rock bottom,” Hunderfund said, adding that the administrators resorted to personnel reductions after cuts were made to every other area of the budget.

“We’re not totally thrilled with this, obviously,” Board President Dr. Patrick Coonan said about the layoffs, which include 21 teachers, two teaching assistants and two administrators. “It’s a tough job, especially right now. It requires a lot of intestinal fortitude to make it happen.”

The district proposed the use of about $1.8 million to defray taxes, bringing the tax levy increase to 4.9 percent. Of that total, about $1.2 million will come from unrestricted reserves, $300,000 will come out of the employee benefits reserve and an additional $303,000 will come from the Education Jobs Fund — a one-time federal grant.

According to Coonan, the 4.9 percent increase translates into $114 a year per average household — less than the tax levy for the current budget year. A contingency budget, Coonan explained, would reduce the tax levy increase by $1.25 per month per average household and force the district to cut about $147,600 from the budget.

A number of district residents who attended the meeting, where the board adopted the budget, expressed dismay — and in some cases outright anger — at the budget and the budgeting process.

Malverne resident Don Pupke, whose children attend private schools, called the budget process unfair. He complained that the district failed to post enough material on its website prior to budget workshops and did not annotate any lines in the budget. Pupke asked the board and administrators why they are willing to cut special education teachers, but spend $250,000 on attorneys and legal fees. He questioned the need for a publicity firm, for which the district budgeted $57,000.

“The budget is all about choices,” Pupke said, adding, by way of example, “You chose to fire a teacher and hire a publicity firm.”

Coonan said the publicity firm provides a number of services for the district, including publishing the district calendars. According to McDaid, many districts hire publicity firms, which he said are more like “publishing” firms.

Pupke took to Facebook — namely a Facebook group he created earlier this month called “I Love Malverne But Want More From Our Schools!” — on April 13 to reiterate his complaints and share concerns with other district taxpayers.

“The board’s budget presentation assumes that we’re all idiots,” Pupke wrote in his posting. “Dr. Hunderfund stands up there and spoon feeds happy horse crap as if we know nothing. At every opportunity he blames the state and state administrators for the district’s failings and shortcomings. … This convenient excuse is really an attempt to the mask the truth — that he and his fellow administrators are failing in their jobs to educate the kids.”

Another taxpayer and Lakeview resident suggested the board consider cutting one of the districts four central administrators, who make a total of $677,763, instead of cutting assistant principals. “Cutting from there could save us a lot of money,” she said.

McDaid told the Herald that these particular administrators do save the district money: Hunderfund, Banyon and McDaid do not get health benefits, and the district does not pay into the Teachers’ Retirement System for either Hunderfund or Banyon.

Pupke echoed the woman’s suggestion, telling the board to layoff some of their high-earning administrators. “Ask your principals how to do it,” he said. “They get by with fewer teachers — you can get by with fewer administrators.”

Denise Douglas, president of Malverne SEPTA, asked the district to reconsider laying off a special education teacher she described as “gold.” The teacher was able to connect with Douglas’s autistic son, who can now do math and has even made a friend — accomplishments that have changed his life and the lives of his family members, according to Douglas.

She told the board that “losing that gold” teacher would end up costing the district more because special education students like her son would have to go outside the district for services. Another Malverne woman who spoke before the board supported Douglas’s comments, saying she had gone out of district to obtain services for her son, who has Down Syndrome, but ended up returning to Malverne after hearing about how great it’s special education program is.

The board will hold a budget hearing and public discussion on Tuesday, May 10, at 8 p.m. in the Malverne High School library.