62.0°,
Overcast A pivotal year for schools?
District faces challenges in 2010
While 2009 proved to be a difficult year for school districts across Nassau County, East Meadow finds itself facing a challenging 2010.
Like other districts around Long Island and the state, East Meadow is adjusting to reductions in state education aid. On top of that, union contract negotiations loom on the horizon.
Louis DeAngelo, who is in his first year as the district's superintendent of schools, is working with top staff to assemble a budget proposal to be presented to the Board of Education by March. "This is going to be a very difficult year," said DeAngelo, who has been an East Meadow administrator for more than 25 years.
"We are currently in the early stages of crafting a budget which will maintain our school programs, yet which will minimize an additional burden to our taxpayers. We need New York state to be cognizant of our burden and to provide us with what should rightly be ours."
In December, East Meadow was hit with a 10 percent reduction — nearly $142,000 — in its allocation of state aid. Gov. David Paterson ordered $750 million in reductions in scheduled December payments to help address what he described as a "cash-flow crunch." A total of about $16.4 million in state aid was withheld from Long Island schools.
According to DeAngelo, the unexpected reduction presents the district with cash-flow problems of its own, which could lead to delayed payments to vendors. The payment schedule will not become an issue, however, if Paterson makes good on the promised aid this month, DeAngelo said.
"We hope that this will not end up being a cut, but rather a delay," he said. "If it is permanent, then we will need to look hard at our upcoming expenses and make a determination at that time."
As for the Board of Education, six of whose seven seats are currently filled, tension between trustees has eased, for now. In the May election, however, an unprecedented five seats will be up for grabs. Two of them are now held by Vice President Abby Rothschild-Kaplan and Steven Jacobs, whose three-year terms expire on June 30.
