Budget issues loom in Bellmore district

Budget issues continue to plague the Bellmore School District. At the Board of Education meeting Tuesday night, the upcoming budget season was high on the list of concerns.

Vice President Jay Breakstone noted that New York state's consumer price index, a measure of the average household's combined goods and services purchased, is currently in the negative numbers. The state relies on the CPI to plan the budget.

"Everybody agreed that there isn't enough money –– that Long Island gives a lot of money to New York state and does not get as nearly as much back," Breakstone said.

In addition, as the Herald previously reported, school districts will be receiving less federal aid.

In December, the cash-strapped state used part of its 2010-11 federal stimulus money to prevent midyear reductions in state aid for education in the current school year, said Matt Anderson, a state Budget Office spokesman said in a previous interview. On top of state cuts, districts stand to only receive about 65 percent of the original stimulus money in 2010-2011.

Breakstone said that if the district's budget is cut, as feared, programs will likely have to be cut.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Joseph Famularo thanked staff, students, and their families for all of their efforts toward aiding those affected by the earthquake in Haiti. Reinhard Elementary School will send money to the Jewish World Service's Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund. Winthrop Avenue students have been donating their spare change at lunch and will donate all funds collected to the Red Cross. Shore Road's sixth-grade classes tie-dyed T-shirts to raise just over $2,200 for Doctor's without Borders; the superintendent even purchased a shirt.