Amid Covid, Lawrence school budget the same

In circumstances completely different from last March’s in-person budget presentation in the high school auditorium, Lawrence School District officials unveiled the proposed 2021-22 operating budget during Monday’s virtual Board of Education.

With the coronavirus pandemic beginning to wane as more people receive one of the three available vaccinations, school officials spoke about plans for the next school year that hopefully will be closer to normal.

The proposed budget for next school year is identical to the current fiscal plan – $102,490,053 with 0 percent tax-cap increase. Lawrence will lose nearly $60,000 in state aid, according to Jeremy Feder, the assistant superintendent for business and operations who made the presentation at the meeting. State aid is anticipated to be $12,821,306.

Feder noted that the budget includes money for the health, safety and security of the district’s students staff with continued upgrades to building security, including a security booth on the main floor of the Broadway Campus that houses the elementary school and the middle school, along with improvements to inside and outside doors and locks.

“We will continue upgrades to building security, including the main floor of the Broadway Campus security booth to go along with the second floor security booth,” Feder said.

Capital projects entail renovation and enhancements of the Broadway Campus’s corridor and sports complex, including the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system.

Renovations and upgrades of the building’s cafeteria, along with HVAC and the same for classrooms. There will also be roof repair, Federal Emergency Management Agency projects and network infrastructure upgrades.

Looking ahead to next school year, Superintendent Dr. Ann Pedersen said that the picture for September “remains uncertain.” Pedersen said that “there is some evidence” that the 2020-21 school year has a “potential to return to normal.” She said looking at vaccination approval secondary students “may have vaccines by fall of 2021,” and the “younger learners may not be vaccinated until spring of 2022.”

“We’ll always guide our educational excellence based on the commissioner’s regulations,” Pedersen said, noting that the district will continue its current grade level configuration implemented for the current school year in the wake of the pandemic.

The configuration has pre-kindergarten and kindergarten at the Early Childhood Center at the Number Four School; first-second and third-graders at the Lawrence Primary School at the Number Two School; grades fourth-fifth and sixth-graders at Lawrence Elementary School; seventh- and eighth-graders at Lawrence Middle School; and ninth through 12th grades at Lawrence High School.

“As we plan for educational programs we will address the needs of the whole child and when we talk about educating the whole child we speak about children’s mental health, physical health and academic health, and that is the focus of our instructional plan,” Pedersen said, announcing that Lawrence was one of nine districts that was awarded the Advanced Course Access Grant from national BOCES.

It offers high school students the opportunity to earn college credits through online learning at SUNY Empire College and provides additional advanced placement classes.

Longtime Trustee David Sussman who has lived in the district for 57 years said: “I’ve never been more proud of the job that we’re doing,” as he singled out Feder and Pedersen for “helping us through this year,” and Board President Murray Forman’s acumen overseeing the construction projects.

Voting on the budget and for trustees is May 11. Comments or questions on the proposed can be forwarded to faq@lawrence.k12.ny.us.