Adding all around

The Wantagh School District will upgrade programs at all levels next year, from improved science and technology labs at all three elementary schools to expanded high school course offerings. 

The Board of Education is in the initial stages of creating a budget for the 2016-17 school year, which will be presented to the public for a vote on May 17. The board held its first public forum on March 14, to discuss the preliminary budget, which now stands at $76.4 million.

The spending plan would have a tax levy increase of 1.17 percent, to $56.7 million, keeping it below the tax cap while featuring several new initiatives.

“When we were developing our budget, as much as we wanted to present a richer budget, we hesitated to do that,” Superintendent Maureen Goldberg said. “To build a budget based on an additional $745,000, and then have to come to you later on and cross everything out, would not be as transparent as we’d like to be.”

Goldberg was referring to state aid that the district may or may not receive because of the gap elimination adjustment. Although the Wantagh school board has mapped out most aspects of the budget, there are still uncertainties, and that is the biggest one.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has released his proposed budget, but the New York State Legislature has not yet adopted a final plan. Wantagh is expected to receive $15.4 million in state aid, with the GEA loss included. But many legislators have said that money will be restored.

“If there is restoration of the gap elimination adjustment, the numbers may shift and we might be able to sharpen our pencils a bit,” Goldberg said. “But we would really like to restore some of the items that we have pulled out, in order to keep this budget under the tax levy limit.”

Enrollment, staffing needs, retirements and special education placements are other minor uncertainties that can also affect next year’s spending plan.

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