District 15 budget vote set for Tuesday, May 11

District 15 residents will head to the polls next Tuesday to decide the fate of the proposed $94.1 million 2010-11 Lawrence Public Schools budget. After operating on austerity from 2003 to 2007, the district has passed its last three budgets, and officials hope to keep the winning streak going and avoid potentially drastic cuts.

The spending plan is 2.6 percent larger than the district's current budget of $91.7 million. The estimated increase in the tax levy, the total amount the district must raise in property taxes in order to meet expenses, is 4.9 percent. That projection is based on an expectation that Lawrence will lose $1.2 million in state aid.

Some district officials were hesitant to predict how homeowners' property tax bills would be impacted, since a state budget has not yet been passed, meaning that state aid numbers have yet to be finalized. However, Lawrence school board President Murray Forman estimated that school taxes could rise between 6 and 7 percent.

"It's nearly impossible to figure out how the rate is applied to different properties," said Lawrence Superintendent Dr. John Fitzsimons.

Should voters reject Lawrence's budget proposal, the district would be forced to operate on austerity, which this year would mandate no budget increase at all. The district would have to make $2.4 million in spending cuts and limit expenditures to the most essential items.

In recent years, Lawrence has offered fiscally conservative budgets in which the tax levy has grown less than 1 percent, thanks in large part to the $29.1 million the district received from the sale of the former Number One School property, according to Forman.

The proposed spending plan includes the elimination of 15 teaching positions, two administrative jobs and 17 hourly employees, which is being accomplished through "realignment and redeployment of personnel" as a result of declining enrollment, according to district officials. The budget proposal's largest expenditures are classroom instruction (31 percent), special education services (17 percent), employee benefits (16 percent) and transportation (10 percent).

"We recognize that people are strapped," said Fitzsimons. "We recognize that we operate primarily on taxes, and we try and be considerate of that."

Voting will take place from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Tuesday. The five designated voting sites are the Number Two School in Inwood, Lawrence Middle School, Lawrence High School in Cedarhurst, the Number Six School in Woodmere and Atlantic Beach Village Hall.

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