Navigating the Fiscal Landscape: Jenny Bilotta on Olean City School District's $56 Million Educational Investment

Unlock the mystery behind a school district's budget and discover the pivotal role you play in shaping the future of education! We sit down with Jenny Bilotta, our formidable business administrator, to scrutinize the proposed $56 million budget of the Olean City School District for the 24-25 academic year. This eye-opening discussion peels back the layers of fiscal decisions, revealing how they align with our district's mission and the impact on our cherished student programs. Jenny meticulously outlines strategic initiatives, including the exciting launch of a computer science curriculum and the expansion of our MTSS initiatives, underscoring our dedication to student achievement and success.

Amidst the numbers and statistics, Jenny addresses the heart of our community—our students and educators. She discusses the reintroduction of special education programs within our own schools, highlighting the personal and academic benefits of familiar environments. The conversation also tackles the ongoing challenges of staffing, the importance of professional development, and our commitment to maintaining safe learning spaces. All this, while ensuring fiscal responsibility with a modest tax levy increase of 1%. Tune in to discover how this budget blueprint stands as a testament to our unwavering commitment to educational excellence and the prosperity of our students.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to our most recent episode of the Husky
Huddle.
I am joined with our esteemedbusiness administrator, Jenny
Malata.
He's gonna answer all yourquestions, concerns and
wonderings about our upcomingbudget and tell you just how you

(00:21):
can participate in our upcomingbudget vote.
And we can't wait to see all ofyou here for our budget vote
next week, where you can showyour support for Olean City
School Districts and theprograms that we offer to our

(00:42):
kids.
So, without further ado, theprograms that we offer to our
kids.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
So without further ado, jenny, you're up.
Thank you, I appreciate youhaving me again.
The last time that we spoke, Ifocused more on the budget
development process.
Today, I want to speak moreabout the actual specifics of
the budget.
I will briefly go through thecontent of the budget in an
attempt to further explain howand why we included what we did

(01:08):
in the budget for the 24-25school year.
So I ask you know, I indicatedduring our last podcast that we
started our budget developmentback in the fall.
Our entire budget developmenthas really revolved around our
goals and our new mission andvision statement that we have

(01:30):
for the district.
We updated that mission andvision statement last year and
that has really been the roadmapfor everything that we do here
at the district this year andmoving forward From the mission
and vision statement, the boardand the administration develop
goals from that, and the budgetthat I'm going to share with you
today provides the, providesthe administration with the

(01:53):
resources going forward toensure that those goals really
become a reality for ourstudents and our staff.
So there are five main goalsthat we developed our budget
around, and the first one beingstudent achievement and some of
the items that we've included inour budget for next year ensure
that the student success is the.

(02:14):
You know that we ensure studentsuccess in implementing our new
computer science curriculum.
We're looking to hire somecomputer science curriculum.
We're looking to hire somecomputer science teachers.
We're also expanding our MTSSinitiatives and implementing
recommendations from our specialed task force.
That was another big initiativethis year that we really took a

(02:37):
look at and we discussed thatduring our last podcast as well.
The most significant portion ofour budget modifications are in
the area of special education.
We'll be bringing back severalspecial ed programs to our
district as opposed to sendingthem out to placements outside
our district or within the BOCESprograms.

(03:00):
This initiative really istwofold.
We believe that the best placeto educate our students is in
our own buildings, so thestudents spend less time on the
buses and have an opportunity tointeract with their own peers
in the district that they residein.
Additionally, we've seen a lotof success in the programs we've

(03:21):
run in our buildings lately,particularly at the high school,
so we want to carry thatthrough to the other buildings
as well.
We are also focusing on theneeds of our personnel as a goal
this year as well.
We want to make sure that wehave professional development
that they need for each andevery one and that we're

(03:41):
adequately staffed in all areas,and obviously staffing has been
a huge challenge for alldistricts, regardless of your
location.
We're also carrying throughwith the goal of having a safe
and supportive learningenvironment for all of our
students, while maintainingstrong communications and
transparency throughout,particularly around the area of

(04:05):
public relations and socialmedia.
Obviously, many of ourlisteners, I'm sure, can attest
to the fact that we've reallyboosted up our social media
presence in the last year and wewant to make sure that that's,
you know, carried out into nextyear as well.
And all of these goals reallyare carried out while keeping
the fiscal responsibility in theforefront of our minds.

(04:28):
Speaking of fiscalresponsibility, let's talk about
the actual numbers now.
Our proposed budget for the24-25 school year is $56,169,525
.
This does represent a 9.06%increase in our budget, but the

(04:48):
most important thing is that thetax levy increase is only 1%.
There are two significant areasreally responsible for that 9%
increase and they includeincrease in our debt service
budget and an increase in ouremployee benefits.
The debt service budget is justbelow $2.5 million and our

(05:13):
employee benefits are increasingabout $1.6 million.
The debt service budget.
We anticipated that increasing.
We knew that was going tohappen when we planned our last
capital project.
The good thing about that is wealso have the offsetting
building aid to balance out thatincrease, so there's no impact

(05:34):
on our tax levy because of that.
That expense is offset by thatincoming additional revenue.
The employee benefits,unfortunately, we can't say the
same about we are seeing adrastic increase in our health
insurance rates.
Our premiums are going upalmost 25%.
You know that was not predicted, so you know that's something

(06:01):
that we have to adjust ourbudget for.
We also saw some smallerincreases in the cost of
transportation and ourinstructional budgets as well.
When we look at our budget, thelargest portion of it is our
instructional budget, which wewould anticipate that it's about
61 percent of our budget comesfrom the instructional side of

(06:22):
it.
21% of our budget goes towardsemployee benefits and the rest
of the budget is a much smallerportion.
So that really shouldn't besurprising to anybody, because
the main focus of our entirebudget should be instructional
opportunities.
So how are we paying for thebudget?

(06:42):
You know that's the questionthat I'm sure a lot of our
listeners are interested in howare we paying for this and what
impact does it have on thetaxpayers?
As I indicated earlier, youknow we are seeking a 1%
increase in that levy, as youheard me say previously.
You know we're very heavilydependent on our state aid.
In the Olean City SchoolDistrict, 70% of our revenues

(07:05):
actually come from state aid.
So when the state aid, you know, increases or decreases, that
has a huge impact on us.
25% of our revenues come fromtaxes and pilot revenues here
within the city, taxes and pilotrevenues here within the city,
and another 5% of our budget ismade up of fund balance reserves

(07:26):
and other miscellaneousrevenues.
This year we are looking forthat 1% increase in the tax levy
.
The Board of Education hasincreased taxes only 1% in one
of the previous 10 years, soover 10 years it's only
increased 1% In order for us tomaintain that same level of
programming for our students andnot reduce the opportunities

(07:48):
that we offer them.
We are seeking this assistancefrom the taxpayers in order to
maintain the same opportunitiesthat we offer our students.
So how does the 1% tax levyimpact impact individual
taxpayers?
Using some assumptionsobviously, such as assuming that
a home is located in the cityof Olean and assuming assessed

(08:11):
values and equalization ratesand all that stuff don't change.
A $50,000 home in the city ofOlean will see their tax bill
increased by about $4 next year.
As a result of this 1% tax levyincrease, a $100,000 home in
the city will increase about $13.
About $13.

(08:35):
We truly believe that this is anominal price to pay to ensure
that the students get the besteducation possible here in the
Olean City School District.
If anyone has any questionsabout this, I encourage them to
reach out to me.
Let me know.
I'm happy to answer anyquestions.
Budget and tax information ingeneral can be very confusing,
so we recognize that.
So that's really the summary ofour budget.

(08:58):
I would like everybody toremember to vote on Tuesday May
21st.
If you don't take anything elsefrom this, just remember to
vote Tuesday May 21st.
Please vote All day, yes, from7 to 9.
So 7 am to 9 pm you can vote atthe only and intermediate
middle school right in the musicsuite.
The only portion or the onlyproposition that you will

(09:21):
actually see on the ballot thisyear is our budget.
In years past we've haddifferent things.
This year it's just oneproposition for the budget
itself.
We do have three candidatesrunning for two at-large
positions on the school board.
We have Alan Peters, reneeHauser and Elizabeth Burroughs
all running for two seats, sothe individuals obviously with

(09:46):
the top two votes will beappointed to the school board.
So just in closing, you know,if you have questions, I
encourage you to reach out to me.
You can call my office.
You can gather moredocumentation on our website.
You can email me whatever wayis most convenient.
The best vote is an educatedvote, so I encourage people to

(10:08):
ask any questions that they haveand I'm happy to answer them.

Speaker 1 (10:11):
Awesome.
So if you're listening and youdon't quite know how to reach
our business official, please goto our website at
wwwoleanschoolsorg.
All of that information isthere, as well as documents that
she was referring to as she wasdescribing our proposed budget

(10:33):
this year.
So you know we want everybodyto be as informed about the
budget before they go to voteand we hope to get your support
next week on Tuesday as you votefor the upcoming school year
budget.
Is there anything else you wantto say in closing?

Speaker 2 (10:55):
No, just get out and vote.
You know, get out and vote.
It's very important and it hasa huge impact on our students.

Speaker 1 (11:01):
Wonderful.
Thank you so much and I hopeyou tune in to future Husky
Huddle episodes, where we'llcontinue to talk about things
that impact our wonderfulschools and students here in
Olean.
Thank you.