Rockville Centre school board looking at 'preservation budget'

In remarks during the March 24 school board meeting, Superintendent Dr. William Johnson reiterated that the preliminary 2010-11 budget of $93.5 million is a "a preservation budget," meaning it keeps all programs in place this year that are operating efficiently. If adopted by the board, it will go to the public in a May 18 vote.

"We're trying very hard to preserve what we have going for us in Rockville Centre," said school board Vice President Stephen Kriss, "and that is the excellent education [we provide] for our children."

Johnson said the district's budget process started quite a while ago and the preliminary spending plan — a 3.89 percent increase over the voter-approved 2009-10 budget — is down from the mid-five percent range where it started this year. Johnson said he will try to restructure programs in an effort to realize additional savings, a thought echoed by Board of Education President Mark Masin who asked the administration to re-examine middle and high school electives to combine sections in an effort to save more money.

As it does every year, the school district will prepare a brochure that is mailed to residents detailing where the dollars go, but Johnson warned that without information on state aid, there is still no way to know what the tax levy will look like. He said he hopes to have that information by the preliminary budget hearing set for April 20. But he noted that the state budget, due April 1, will again be late this year as it frequently has in recent years. He also said there has been much recent discussion about school aid in Albany and a number of "one-house” bills that without support on both sides of the aisle, have little chance to pass. These include a contingent budget measure that would change that calculation to a 5-year average; a retirement bill that would enable employees to retire earlier with no penalty to the district and several tax cap bills.

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