Rockville Centre school officials hope to avert cuts

Class size and staff levels will remain unchanged and the Rockville Centre school district’s proposed 2012-13 budget will stay within the state’s mandated 2 percent tax levy cap under a plan outlined by Schools Superintendent Dr. William Johnson.

In a dramatic development that took place just as a sparsely attended, all-day budget work session got under way in South Side High School’s music room on March 2, Johnson announced that he had news: so-called “handshake” agreements with each of the district’s seven bargaining units — teachers and teacher assistants; administrators; teacher aides; nurses; custodial and maintenance staff; office staff, and security staff — would achieve the savings that school officials had said they would need to avert potential layoffs and larger classes.

Using complicated guidelines that have not yet been finalized by the State Education Department and the state comptroller, Assistant Superintendent Robert Bartels calculated that under the tax-cap legislation enacted last spring, the district’s proposed budget can increase by just $1.5 million over the current spending plan of $95.7 million, to $97.2 million — about half the increase school officials would have preferred. They managed to cut $100,000 by “nickel-and-diming” the preliminary budget with line-item reductions, Bartels said, but they warned that to stay within the allowable increase, administrators would either need to find additional revenue or reduce spending by $1.4 million, which otherwise would result from across-the-board cuts.

“I was blown away by the willingness [of the bargaining units’ leadership] to cooperatively solve problems and deal with the budget gap of $1.4 million,” said Johnson, adding that he hoped the agreements reflect how the rank-and-file members feel. Describing an extraordinary atmosphere of good will and collaboration, Johnson said he has “tremendous admiration” for the staff of the school district, which volunteered to put together a plan “to keep this place whole” and put the needs of the district above their personal interests.

Though Johnson said that “details are still in flux, and the ink is not yet dry on the paper,” he explained that in an unprecedented move in recent weeks, he and other administrators met with representatives from every one of the bargaining units to either reopen or extend their contracts. During the talks there were three priorities: to maintain the integrity of the school system, keeping the same level of service, programs and structure; to find a way to maintain the district’s instructional quality; and to see if the bargaining units were willing to consider their compensation.

Johnson emphasized that whatever plans are devised would reach beyond this school year, and would likely extend as far as three to four years.

The biggest unit in the district is the teachers and teacher assistants, who have two years left on a contract that the district is looking to extend for an additional two years, through 2016. A “memorandum of agreement” has been drafted, and after it is signed, details of the proposed contract will be distributed to members and they will vote on it. Johnson said he is hopeful that balloting can take place before the end of this month.

The upcoming Board of Education meetings, to which all district residents are invited, includes a regular meeting on March 20, at 7:30 p.m., in Room 112 at South Side High School; a public work session on April 3, at 7:30 p.m., in the board room of the administration building; a regular meeting and preliminary budget hearing at 7:30 p.m. on April 17, in Room 112 at SSHS (the last day changes may be made to the budget); a budget hearing and public work session on May 1, at 7:30 p.m., in Room 112, and the election and budget vote on May 15, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., in SSHS’s main gym.

“In my 33 years in the district, 26 of which have been as superintendent,” Johnson said of the agreements he hopes will be ratified, “I’ve never seen anything like it. I’m proud to work with them and have never felt prouder than now to be part of the staff.”