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High school district adopts $111M budget proposal
The Central High School District Board of Education adopted a proposed $111 million budget for the 2016-17 school year on March 8.
“Tonight I am recommending that the Board of Education adopt a tax-cap-compliant budget that comes with a tax levy increase of 0.2 percent,” said Superintendent Bill Heidenreich. “That’s probably going to be among the lowest that you see on Long Island and in the state.”
Next year’s spending plan includes no cuts to academic or extracurricular programs and maintains class sizes, Heidenreich said. No new programs were added. According to Heidenreich, the district cannot calculate what the increase translates to per household until all of the elementary school districts adopt their budgets. The current school budget for the high school district is roughly $109.7 million.
The board also authorized a capital reserves proposition to be added to the ballot for the May 17 budget vote. Capital reserve funds are introduced for a finite period of time, and since the term for the current fund expires at the end of this school year, the district proposed that a new reserve fund be created for a 10-year period going forward. Some of the outlined projects included improving the computer labs at all four schools, steam piping renovations at North and South high schools and an air conditioning system in the Memorial Junior High School cafeteria.
District 30 proposes $11-per-household budget increase
After proposing its budget on Jan. 25, the District 30 Board of Education revised its spending plan to reflect a decrease in expenditures, but a slight increase in the tax levy for the 2016-17 school year.
“In terms of our tax levy limit, we’ve been chatting quite a bit back in January and in February,” said Assistant Superintendent for Business Lisa Rutkoske. “Based on the information we had at the time, we were looking at a .29 percent increase that we would’ve been allowed without piercing what they call the cap.”
