‘We cannot continue to ask the public for more and more money’

On Wednesday, July 15, the South Country School District Board of Education held a meeting to discuss the reasons cited for the significant debt the district accrued that led to budget proposals with severe cuts to student activities.

Interim superintendent John Dolan made a presentation about the “Comprehensive Multi-Year Financial Recovery Plan,” that elaborated on the oversights that contributed heavily to the dire financial situation the district faced this year.

Prior to the start of the presentation, Dolan took time to credit the diligent work of John Belmonte, acting assistant superintendent for finance and management services, in offering a budget with solutions that minimized the impact to the availability of student activities.

When first installed into the position in late October, Belmonte’s initial analyses determined that for the 2024-25 school year, the expenditures exceeded the revenue by a total of $16.2 million, but the district did not go bankrupt because of the fund balance.

“We owe Mr. Belmonte and the team over there, Ms. O’Hagan [assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction and accountability] and Mr. Huntsman [assistant superintendent for human resources], a debt of gratitude because they were thrown into something and were forced to make decisions under terrible circumstances and Mr. Belmonte in particular, without that Special Act legislation there would be no reason to be here, because we wouldn’t have much to work with,” said Dolan.

Dolan also commended the board for “stepping up at a very difficult time.”

Dolan started the presentation saying, “Fundamental systems are the foundation of every successful organization. They are especially critical when the organization operates on the trust and support of the public… fundamentals are not optional; they are essential.”

Characterizing the budget crisis as “catastrophic,” Dolan cautioned that the “worst thing to do is to try to have an even bigger solution.”

In an example of the significant underbudgeting that contributed heavily to the budget crisis Dolan discussed the cost of not having a central system to monitor building usage by sports or other extracurricular activities during off-hours. In one instance given, Dolan gave the example of a coach scheduling an extra Sunday practice for the team but because of the lack of central awareness, the prohibitive costs for custodial and maintenance workers (e.g., opening the school building, mandated hours of presence) were never discussed and therefore accrued.

In a reformed system, the request for the Sunday practice would be received by school staff who would be better informed to ask the coach for an alternative day or plan for the extra practice.

The estimate for instances of building usage contributing to overbudgeting is $18 million.

South Country School District was determined to be in the 25th percentile for administrative efficiency. South Country now has 13 administrators, down from 23. With 3,798 students, that means the ratio of administrator to student was originally 1:165 and is now 1:292.

Dolan compared William Floyd and Longwood school districts as one entity with over 19,000 to compare to Brentwood’s administrator/teacher ratio with their student body of 17,842.

The William Floyd/Longwood ratio was 1:211 while Brentwood was 1:262.

“There are people that are not going to be happy with me; some are friends and colleagues, but that’s one of the problems across Long Island. Look at Bridgehampton: why do they even have a school district with those kinds of costs? And we cannot continue to go to the public asking for more and more money. Now having said that, at the bottom [of the chart] we went from 23 to 13; we are now by far and away the most efficient, least staffed administrative team,” said Dolan.

“…What we are showing here is if there’s a possibility of finding some grant money, one-shot funding, we may be able to build a whole new system.”

Dolan began to address the district’s lack of adaptation to the dwindling enrollment seen across Long Island (from 246,777 in 2012, to 237,943 in 2026). In a comparison with East Islip (where Dolan was a celebrated superintendent for changing the direction of the district), Dolan pointed out on a chart how repeatedly, South Country schools employed more teachers even as enrollment declined.

In the 2017-2018 school year, East Islip had a student population of 3,740 (after a decline of 45 students) and shrunk professional staff from 321 to 314 and South Country had 4,226 students (after a decline of 99 students) and increased professional staff from 395 to 414 staff members.

“It pains me to say this, but we can stop right now. And it is stopping right now… we know where it went.” Dolan urged meeting attendees, in person and online, to email him with any questions they might have about the financial history and planned financial approach for the district.