A Message from the Superintendent

Dear Valley Stream Resident,

I hope your holiday season was filled with joy, and I wish you a happy and healthy new year. As we move into this new calendar year, the Board of Education and I have already initiated discussions regarding the proposed school district budget for the 2012-13 school year. I have been working closely with my administrative team to develop a budget that is fiscally responsible for taxpayers and educationally sound for students.

The 2012-13 year will be one of many firsts for school districts throughout New York State. It will be the first year that we will be required to implement new Common Core Standards for education; the first in which we implement a new, mandated teacher evaluation system; and the first in which school districts must conform to the new 2% tax cap, signed into law by Governor Cuomo last year.

In addition to school districts, county, town and village governments, as well as other special districts, must adhere to this cap. There is no doubt that all forms of government need to be responsive to their constituencies by taking measures to control spending and seek out new efficiencies.

Our challenge as a school district will be to continue delivering a high-quality education program under this tax cap law. Districts can propose a budget with a tax levy increase exceeding 2%; however, this budget can only be adopted with a “supermajority” voter approval of 60% or better. The law does account for certain items in the proposed budget to be exempt from the 2% tax levy restriction, such as mandated contributions to employee and teacher retirements, court-ordered judgments, and voter-approved capital expenditures.

All proposed budgets carrying a tax levy increase of 2% or less will be subject to the traditional rules of school voting – budgets can be adopted with a simple majority of voter approval. However, unlike in the past, should the school budget be defeated twice, the budget moving forward must uphold the current tax levy, meaning there can be no tax levy increase making it tougher to improve or even sustain our existing program.

Your Board of Education and I are sensitive to the needs of Valley Stream’s taxpayers and agree that real property tax relief is needed. Given the realities of the new law and the absence of any relief from mandated costs handed down to us from the state, we will undoubtedly be faced with some very difficult decisions as we move further into the budget development process. I assure you that the Board and I will take every step to ensure that these decisions do not come at the expense of our children.

Public budget development workshops will begin in January. I encourage all residents to attend these meetings, ask questions and stay informed. We will keep you updated through The Observer, our website, the media and other forms of communication.

Dr. Bill Heidenreich

Superintendent of Schools