Superintendents on a mission: pass school budgets

After the State Senate’s vote on Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s budget in March, the Sewanhaka, Franklin Square and Elmont school districts were handed new numbers for budget consideration — numbers that were considerably more favorable to local districts but did not eliminate their budget woes.

Cuomo’s initial budget included a state aid cut of nearly $4 million for the Sewanhaka Central High School District, and that has been reduced to about $3 million in the final version of the spending plan. A proposal of $850,000 in state aid cuts for the Franklin Square Union Free School District has been reduced to $770,000, and an initial $2.56 million cut for the Elmont Union Free School District was reduced to $1.4 million. Since receiving the new numbers, all three districts have released new 2011-12 budget proposals and have been working over the past several weeks to inform residents about the changes.

Sewanhaka

Warren Meierdiercks, the Sewanhaka district’s superintendent, spoke at a budget workshop on March 31 and at the Elmont East End Civic Association’s meeting on April 5. The district, which has a 97 percent graduation rate, ranks 54th among Nassau County’s 57 school districts in spending per student, with an average of $17,287 in 2009-10.

The district’s proposed 2011-12 budget is $162.26 million, a $5.95 million increase over the current spending plan. Meierdiercks said that 73 percent, or $4.35 million, of the increase is due to the rising costs of three mandated components of the budget: the state’s teacher retirement system, its employee retirement system and health insurance.

Since the Senate vote, the district has reduced its budget proposal by nearly $2.5 million — $2.1 million of which was made possible by teacher salary concessions. The district’s proposed tax levy is $164.75 million for 2011-12.

No additional staff would be hired under the proposal, and three members of the staff would be laid off in 2011-12, Meierdiercks said.

Elmont