By Andrew Coen
Two days after the proposed $87.3 million Lawrence Public Schools budget was shot down by nearly 1,000 votes, the school board has decided to put the same budget before District 15 residents at a planned re-vote on Tuesday, June 22.
If the budget fails again, the district will be forced into an austerity budget for the second straight year, potentially crippling several student programs and activities, district officials said.
The budget failed on May 18 by a vote of 3,921 to 2,927 a whopping 57 percent of voters casting ballots against it.
The resolution to put the budget up with the same 4.68 percent increase was approved by the board 6-0 at a work session last Thursday, with Trustee Pamela Greenbaum abstaining. I think that the majority of the board felt it was a responsible budget, school board President Frank Parise said the day after the work session. We have to reach out to the community, and they have to understand that we feel [the budget] is responsible. I-m hoping that the people who supported the budget the last time will be in support of it again, and [we will] reach out to the people who did not support it.
At one point during the work session, the board considered cutting $100,000 in legal fees, which would have reduced the budget increase from 4.7 percent to 4.4 percent, but Trustee Rose Harris argued that the small decrease would not do any good in terms of gaining the necessary support. If people don-t support a 4.7 percent increase, they will not support a 4.4 percent increase, said Harris.
Trustee Anthony Licatesi also argued that there was no need to reduce an already tight budget. We already cut this budget to bare bones, he said. I think putting out the same budget will show people that we really meant it when we said we trimmed it as much as we could.
The proposed budget of $87,326,933 is an increase of nearly $4 million over the current austerity budget of $83,419,384, and is the fourth-lowest budget increase among Nassau County-s 56 school districts. The tax levy increase of 9.35 percent is due in large part to the district-s operating with a contingency budget for 2003-04, after the proposed budget failed in a vote and re-vote last June.
Operating under a second consecutive contingency budget, if the proposition were to fail again, would force the district to immediately reduce its budget by $1.9 million in order to fall within the state-maximum 2.4 percent increase. This would necessitate the elimination of another 30 staff positions, on top of the loss of some 35 staffers already in the proposed budget.
The Lawrence Administrative Council, a group of school district administrators, directors and principals, met earlier last Thursday to consider items that could be cut if the budget were to be trimmed. Some reductions recommended by the council but not implemented included $80,000 in building use, $30,000 in the continuing-education program, $50,000 in the Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) outdoor program, $45,000 in field trips, $50,000 in athletics and $95,000 in extracurricular clubs. According to Parise, the board has not discussed whether any of these items would be considered for cuts if the budget is defeated again.
In an effort to swing the vote the district-s way, Lawrence Superintendent Dr. John Fitzsimons said he plans to meet with religious leaders, village officials, senior citizens and civic groups to emphasize the importance of getting the budget passed on the second try.
We have a challenge ahead of us, but I think we can do it, said Fitzsimons.
He sounded perplexed, however, about why the budget failed by such a large margin during his report at the May 19 board meeting, less than 24 hours after the vote. Maybe we didn-t get the message out to the public at large that we really did work hard to tighten our belt buckle and take a look at all levels of expenditures, said Fitzsimons. If we fail to get a positive vote on this next budget, it-s going to have some serious consequences for the children.
The widest no-to-yes voting margin was seen at the Number One School in Lawrence, where 1,230 no votes were cast, compared with only 382 yes votes. The Number Six School in Woodmere and Lawrence Middle School also saw large numbers voting against the budget 1,231 to 756 at Number Six and 509-196 at the middle school.
The polling places with the greatest support for the budget were in Atlantic Beach and Inwood. The Number Two School had 560 yes votes to 152 no votes, while Atlantic Beach Village Hall counted 539 votes in favor of the budget to 186 against.
Lawrence High School, which in recent school board elections has been a key battleground, registered 613 no votes and 494 yes votes.
Last year-s proposed budget failed by 1,228 votes, 3,068 to 1,770, on the first try on June 3, and by 850 votes, 3,039 to 2,189, on the second try on June 30.
H-W budget
and two propositions pass
Unlike neighboring District 15, the Hewlett-Woodmere School District will not need a re-vote, after its budget passed by 263 votes, 1,488 to 1,225.
The approved budget totals $74.7 million, an 8.25 percent budget increase over the current spending plan of $69,009,150. According to district officials, more than half of the increase is driven by state-mandated costs in the state retirement system and health insurance.
In a year when more than a third of Nassau County-s 56 school districts saw budgets fail, Hewlett-Woodmere officials were very pleased with their plan-s passage. I was absolutely delighted that our community supports our schools so fervently, because that is what makes our community a great place to live, said Hewlett-Woodmere school board President Richard Braverman, who is retiring at the end of the school year after 21 years on the board.
Last year-s school budget passed 1,807 to 1,223.
Hewlett-Woodmere voters also approved two additional propositions. Proposition 2, which authorizes the funding of additional science labs at Hewlett High School and the replacement of a boiler at the Woodmere Education Center, passed 1,757 to 863. Proposition 3, which allows the district to spend grant money for the high school geothermal heating and cooling project, passed 1,883 to 723. Neither proposition has any impact on the tax rate.
Library budget passes easily
The Peninsula Public Library budget passed easily, by 1,353 votes, 3,898 to 2,545. It represents a 4.5 percent increase over the 2003-04 budget. We-re very happy that the community came out and showed their support in such an overwhelming fashion, said Peninsula Public Library Board President Mike Fried.
Incumbent Library Board Trustee Joseph Fuller ran unopposed for another five-year term, and received 3,817 votes.
