By Angela Marshall
The Rockville Centre School District is proposing a $66,466,671 budget, with a 7.59 percent increase in operating expenditures over the 2002-03 budget of $61,776,748. The amount to be raised by taxes is $54,144,755, an 8.85 percent increase over the 2002-03 tax levy of $49,743,936.
The largest increase is in salaries, at roughly $3 million. There is an 80 percent jump in retirement funding, which is going up $702,000. Health insurance costs are estimated to see a 13 percent increase, up $650,000. Social Security is also seeing a big increase. School officials believe it will go up $300,000, 10 percent over the current budget.
Homeowners will pay approximately $135 in taxes for every $100 of a home's assessed value. Under the new system, created because of Nassau County's reassessment, assessed values will be computed differently. They will be based on 1 percent of a home's true market value. This means a home worth $500,000 will have an assessed value of $5,000, and that homeowner would pay about $6,750 in school taxes.
All homeowners should have received letters from the county last year stating their homes' new assessed values.
If the proposed budget fails to pass twice, a contingency budget will automatically go into effect. The contingency budget allows for only a 1.92 percent increase. Within a contingency budget, the district would have to come up with about $3.2 million in reductions, which would probably include eliminating 40 to 50 teachers, according to Dr. William Johnson, superintendent of schools.
Lorrie Brady, who has been on the school board since 1988, is running unopposed. The board will also be joined by Mark Masin, who is running unopposed for Bill Burke's seat. Burke has decided not to seek re-election.
Brady is proud of her tenure on the board, saying she thinks the district is on track with the new Regents diploma requirements. She also praised the district's inclusion program, saying it is even more successful than the board anticipated. Instead of putting children with special needs in separate classrooms, the district's inclusion program keeps them in their home schools in regular classrooms with support. Brady said it has helped invigorate the district's academic programs and fostered the attitude that every child should be looked upon as a unique learner. "The results that we've gotten are remarkable," she said.
Brady and her husband, Dennis, have four children.
Brady is happy to welcome Masin to the board, saying that he has been an involved parent for years. "He's a great guy," she said. "He'll be an asset."
Masin's own daughters have already graduated from South Side High School, but he wants to make sure other children get the same quality education he believes his children received. Samara just graduated from Indiana University, and Elissa is a sophomore at Miami University in Ohio.
Masin said he wants to "maintain the excellence" of the school district so that the students are given every opportunity to achieve. He also feels that his business background will be useful in meeting the ever-increasing fiscal demands facing the district. Masin is the president of the American Trans-Coil Corp. in Oyster Bay, which manufactures military communication equipment. Masin's wife, Meri, is a reading specialist with the Freeport School District.
