ENDORSEMENT

Vote ‘yes’ on Rockville Centre School District's 2018-19 spending plan

Posted

On Tuesday, residents should vote to approve the Rockville Centre Board of Education’s $117 million 2018-19 budget, which is nearly 4 percent larger than the current spending plan. The tax levy, or amount that the district will collect from the district’s taxpayers, would increase by 2.98 percent, just under the state-mandated cap.

District administrators and the Board of Education worked together to close a budget gap of about $800,000 before unanimously adopting the budget last month. It was trimmed to an allowable increase the day before adoption without cutting staff members or programs.

Though the district discussed the option of cutting the frequency of the Foreign Language in the Elementary Schools, or FLES, program, and reducing hours for aides in the district’s five elementary schools by 10 percent, those actions were rejected by board members.

We believe that the district did a good job of remaining fiscally responsible without directly impacting students. For example, the $100,000 cut in aide hours will affect staff members who deal with administrative duties, school officials said, not children.

Staying under the tax cap, which this year was 3.03 percent, was especially difficult, as the district saw a $700,000 increase in health insurance premiums as well as a $300,000 total increase in the Employee Retirement System and Teacher Retirement System budget lines.

Nevertheless, administrators decided to add a security guard to each of the district’s five elementary schools and build anterooms, or buffer zones, in all seven schools, in response to the February school shooting in Parkland, Fla.

While some districts must cut staff members to balance budgets, Rockville Centre is not doing that, as more than $600,000 is slated for new staffing.

We encourage residents to vote to approve the 2018-19 budget. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, at South Side High School.