The Riverhead Central School District’s 2022-23 budget proposal includes a more than 5% increase in expenditures for general classroom teaching, instruction and support, to cover new staff and anticipated enrollment increases at the Riverhead Charter School.
The budget calls for a more than $2.5 million increase in the “regular day school” line, Interim Superintendent for Finance and Operations Faith Caglianone said during a budget presentation at last week’s Board of Education meeting.
Expenditures for classroom personnel will increase by $839,800 to cover the cost of 15 new full-time employees at the high school and four new full-time employees at the middle school. The additional personnel are required to staff new elective courses and return to a nine-period day in both buildings.
[See prior coverage: District outlines proposals for nine-period day, expanded electives]
The “regular day school” increase also includes a projected 14.1% increase in tuition payable to the Riverhead Charter School. The tuition tab is based on how many students that live in the school district attend the charter school. The district is projecting that 553 resident students will attend the charter school — 53 more than this year — increasing the charter school tuition by $1.27 million over the current year’s tuition expense.
The budget lines for textbooks and supplies will also each increase by 24%, and there is a 120% increase in the budget for equipment.
Caglianone also outlined projected expenditures for facilities, security, transportation, curriculum and instruction administration and employee benefits.
The facilities budget will remain roughly the same as last year’s adopted budget of about $8.5 million under the proposal. Contractual expenses are expected to cost $3.4 million — a 4.14% increase over this year’s budget — to cover costs for a proposed relocation of district offices and more classroom spaces, Caglianone said. Proposed equipment expenditures for facilities are reduced by 26.32% in order to cover other expenditures, Caglianone said.
The district’s security budget expense will increase 17.28%, driven by a 20% increase in security personnel over the current year. Security materials and supplies expenditure would also increase to $59,500 — a 158.7% increase from this year’s budget.
The transportation budget line will increase by 5.99% under the proposal. This increase is driven by a $5.36 million budget for transportation personnel — a 5.24% increase from this year — and a $991,100 budget for BOCES transportation expenses — a 15.81% increase. The BOCES transportation expenses are based on an estimated increase of use for BOCES transportation services for special education, Caglianone said.
The budget for curriculum and instruction administration will increase by 5.98% under the proposal, which is due to a $291,101 increase in personnel expenses.
The budget for employee benefits will increase by 5.33% under the proposal, which largely reflects an increase in the district’s health insurance rates.
Caglianone will discuss the district’s budgeting for special education, pupil personnel services, other instructional items, revenue and tax levy at next Tuesday’s meeting.
The Board of Education is scheduled to vote on the budget April 12, with a budget hearing scheduled for May 10 and a district-wide budget vote to be held for May 17.
Caglianone discussed the tax levy cap and expected expenditures for general support and debt service during a meeting last month. Superintendent Augustine Tornatore said the goal for this year’s budget is to propose “as low of a tax levy increase as possible” to district residents. The district is expecting an 18% increase in state aid — $8.4 million over the current year — as proposed in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s executive budget.
Read more about Caglianone’s previous presentation here.
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