By Anne Marie Allocca
District 13 is proposing a $34.3 million budget for the 2005-06 school year. The proposal is a 9.33 percent, or $2.9 million, increase over the current budget. The proposed budget calls for a tax rate of $155.84 per $100 of assessed value. According to Brosnan, the average homeowner will see an increase on his or her tax bill of $186, or 7.27 percent.
Brosnan urges taxpayers to make sure they use the county's newest assessments when trying to determine what they would pay. Up until 2003, the county based assessed value on 1938 construction costs, with 1964 land values added in. For the past two years, the county has set assessed value at 1 percent of a home's market value - so a house worth $400,000 had an assessed value of $4,000. This year the county has again changed the way it will determine assessed value, making it .5 percent of a home's market value - so a house worth $400,000 has an assessed value of $2,000.
Other than an additional $527,000 earmarked for increases in teacher and employee retirement costs and health benefits, much of what is driving the budget-to-budget increase is educational initiatives.
There would be no cuts in any programs. "Last year's budget was shaved pretty well," Brosnan said. "There's not a whole lot we can cut without getting into instructional programs."
According to Lison, the budget calls for two media-center aides who will be shared among the four buildings, a part-time psychologist, an additional teacher because of increased enrollment, and the creation of an Applied Behavior Analysis class for autistic students.
The technique used in an ABA class is called discreet trials, and has been proved to work with autistic kids, Lison said. Students sit one on one with a teacher and learn to change their behavior through repetitive trials. Lison noted that the new program would save the district money in the long run, since it won't have to pay out-of-district tuition or transportation for the students who will benefit from it.
"There will be six children [in the ABA class] - five live in District 13 and one will be paying tuition from another district," Lison said. "It calls for two teaching assistants and one teacher. It will be a kindergarten class. Our special-education director knew we had a certain number of children that were due to go to private kindergarten. She observed them and realized it would be beneficial for these kids to be in their home school. The parents are absolutely thrilled."
The ABA class will be housed at the James A. Dever School because it has an available classroom. Since one of the self-contained classes at the Willow Road School is being disbanded, two teaching assistants would have been unemployed, but will now move to the new class.
The proposal also includes $90,000 for purchasing textbooks, up from $50,000 in the current budget. Lison said the district plans to expand its Science 21 program to include kindergarten and third grade in addition to first and second grades. "It's very hands-on and research-driven," she said. "It helps prepare children for the fourth-grade assessment in science."
The district also plans to expand its Read 180 program, which helps struggling learners make accelerated progress. "This helps them make a two-, three- or four-year gain in one year of school," Lison said. "We have it at Howell, Wheeler and Willow and we've seen such significant progress that we're going to start it at Dever next year. It will be in grades three to six for those children that qualify."
Class size would remain the same with this budget, and the art, music, phys. ed. and library programs would be untouched. "We believe this budget allows for a rich, diverse and comprehensive program for all the children," Lison said. "This budget allows us to preserve the good things we have, like our summer recreation program, Kids Connection. It's for students entering kindergarten through grade six. We also offer a summer ELA program to students in grades three to six."
Besides educational initiatives, money has been restored for capital improvements, to the tune of $500,000. The money would be used for ongoing roof replacements throughout the district, according to Brosnan. The district also plans to upgrade the electrical systems in two of the buildings, and finance phase one of parking lot renovations at Howell. "That's a very large item, so we're funding it over two years," Brosnan said.
Also, money has been proposed for a new phone system, which would ultimately save $60,000 a year, Lison said. "It's a voice-over-Internet protocol," she explained. "Now that we have a network, it will allow us to carry data, voice and we're going to put our voice over the network so people can check their voice mail from their computer or another telephone. Down the road it's a savings, because you don't have to pay for every call."
Lison said she is optimistic that this proposal will be met with voter approval on May 17. "I have a good feeling about this, because it's a good budget," she said. "We really listened to the community, and we're honoring how they feel about their children and the vision they espouse for our schools."
Comments about this story? NFalco@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 208.
