Confronted with shrinking student enrollment and the looming threat of a 50% reduction in state Foundation Aid — a significant source of its funding — the Pine Plains School Board held the first of six budget workshops at its bimonthly meeting on Wednesday in an attempt to grapple with difficult financial decisions that could shape the district’s future.
The workshop follows discussions led by Superintendent Brian Timm in early November, when he raised the possibility of closing one of the Pine Plains Central School District’s three school buildings due to declining student enrollment, which has dropped by 44% over the past 20 years.
“That’s why I ordered a facilities utilization study,” Timm said on Wednesday, referring to a consultant hired through Western Suffolk Board of Cooperative Educational Services. “They look at the square footage of each building, our student [demographics] and then recommend scenarios that could work with our population.”
Study results are expected in mid-January, and Timm will share them to the board in February. “My goal is to present the report on what our capabilities are with all three of our buildings,” he told the Herald two days before the meeting. “I don’t know if how we utilize our facilities will change by September 2025; there are just too many variables.”
Laura Rafferty, a business official for the district who led the workshop, outlined its fiscal timeline, which includes an April 27 deadline to finalize the 2025-26 budget, a public hearing on May 7 and a vote on May 20.
Timm and Rafferty reviewed the district’s revenue sources — property taxes, interest income, federal support and state Foundation Aid, which accounts for 73% of the school’s state funding.
“We’ve talked about Foundation Aid for quite some time leading up to this budget cycle,” Timm said. “Last year [Gov. Kathy Hochul] indicated that she wanted to take away Hold Harmless, and this district would have lost $4 million. We all took that as a warning shot across the bow that Foundation Aid is in jeopardy.”
Hold Harmless is a state policy that ensures New York public schools receive at least as much funding as they had in previous years. But now, the future of that policy is uncertain, leaving district administrators to prepare for the worst.
“Gov. Hochul recently said that she wants to fully support the schools and save Hold Harmless,” Timm said. “We’re getting mixed messages.” A preliminary 2025-26 state budget should be made available by the Governor’s office on Jan. 15, according to Timm. “Once we get that first one, it will give us an idea of where we stand,” he said.
Timm explained that the district has limited control over the revenues beyond setting the tax levy, which must be submitted to the state comptroller by March 1 — well before the school budget has been finalized.
While it has little control over revenues, the district can control its expenses. The 2024-25 budget is $37.6 million. Payroll and employee benefits account for 77% of expenses, which includes health insurance and district contributions to the teacher and employee retirement systems. Other costs include instructional programs, transportation, athletics and inflation (influenced by the Consumer Price Index).
“We can adjust programs, staffing needs and things of that nature,” Timm said while noting that the board has no say in retirement benefit expenses and medical costs, both of which are expected to increase.
“We will have to grapple with what we get from the state on the revenue side and balance it with what we can do on the expense side,” Timm said.
In other business, Timm told the board that the Extreme Heat regulation signed into law last year by Hochul takes effect Sept. 1, 2025. The law, Bill A9011A, states that classroom temperatures must stay below 82 degrees; spaces must be evacuated if temperatures reach 88 degrees. Timm said that a study is planned to “see where our problems are.”
The board voted not to participate in the optional Regionalization Initiative, a New York Department of Education proposal for schools to share resources. “Our attorney, David Shaw, counseled against it, citing a possible impact on state aid,” Timm said. “Most Dutchess County schools already help each other anyway.”
After board members approved two new bus drivers and a list of substitute teachers, they voted to go into executive session, ending the public portion of the meeting.