Dundee takes first look at new budget

DUNDEE—The Dundee school board began their first budget discussions for the 2014-15 school year during their regular meeting Thursday, Jan. 9. During the meeting, the board explored the health, safety and nutrition aspects of the budget along with their mandated costs.The items listed under the health, safety and nutrition section include the costs concerned with keeping the physical plant open along with maintaining the grounds, buildings and equipment of the district. It also includes insurance, health, psychological and social work, district transportation, school resource officer and food service fund subsidies.Some of the projected changes to the 2014-15 school year budget under the health, safety and nutrition section include:• A $6,185 increase in BOCES utility management services, up 67.1 percent from this year.• A $3,144 increase in heating gas, up 50 percent.A $27,000 decrease in buses, down 13.8 percent.• A $9,096 decrease in telephone costs, down 95 percent.The mandated costs section are the costs the school district is required to pay by the state. These costs include the board of education, annual meeting, central administration, finance, dues, BOCES administrative and capital charges, employee benefits and debt service.The projected increases to mandated costs for the 2014-15 school year include:• A $559,598 increase in employee medical and dental, up 27.9 percent.• A $46,842 increase in Employee Retirement System (ERS), up 12.2 percent.• A $2,636 increase in board of education contractual expense, up 100 percent.• An $800 increase in board of education supplies, up 100 percent.• A $10,000 decrease in central administration equipment, down 100 percent.This is the Dundee school board’s first look at the budget this year and will continue on in phases. The school board laid out their remaining schedule for budget review, which will continue during the board’s next regular meeting Feb. 13 where they will review the mandated core, non-mandated priorities and revenues. The board will conduct deliberations during their March 13 meeting and will continue until adoption by April 10.In other business:• Third-grade Integrated co-teachers Angie Cox and Jenn Maloney gave a presentation on the benefits of co-teaching to the board. Cox and Maloney described the different methods of co-teaching, including one teacher acting as assistant while the other teaches, both teaching separate groups, or both cooperating in teaching the lesson plan. They said co-teaching allows them to better address the needs of their students during class time.• The board voted to dissolve the SWATT Club, effective Dec. 31, 2013.• The board approved the combination of Dundee and Bradford for varsity baseball, with Dundee being the host school.