By Nicole Falco
An 8.55 percent - or $1.9 million - budget-to-budget increase is being proposed in District 30 for the 2005-06 school year.
The $24.5 million proposal translates into a tax increase of $194 for the average homeowner. The estimated tax rate is $125.90 per $100 of assessed value, according to the district.
Driving the increase are the rising cost of health insurance, contractual salary obligations and increases in the district's mandatory contributions to teacher and employee retirement benefits. About a quarter of the increase would be devoted to repaying the district's two bonds - the 1998 bond approved by voters to expand the Clear Stream Avenue School and the 2001 bond for improvements at the Forest Road and Shaw Avenue schools.
"I make that point because people have said yes to those bond issues," said Lawrence McGoldrick, superintendent of schools. "If you say yes to those bond issues, you must also realize they are going to be incorporated into the future budgets."
New educational initiatives being proposed by the district include an additional teacher at the Shaw Avenue School, which continues to see enrollment increases, McGoldrick said. The district also hopes to be able to purchase new literacy materials to be used by fifth- and sixth-grade students in their language arts classes, to supplement its Chicago Math Program in order to keep aligned with state standards, and to increase its focus on students' penmanship. Approximately $50,000 has been allocated for the purchase of new materials, McGoldrick said.
Because state tests are now mandated in grades three, five and six (in addition to fourth grade), the district has allocated $30,000 to pay for testing materials and the substitute teachers it will have to hire while classroom teachers are scoring students' exams.
Besides mandated testing, the district must also comply with a mandated building-condition survey. It has budgeted $50,000 to pay for the costs associated with the survey.
"The budget is prudently put together," McGoldrick said. "As always, there must be a balance between the needs of the children and the community's ability to pay taxes."
Though the district is currently participating in talks to purchase the administrative office space it currently leases at 175 N. Central Ave., it has included $112,000 in next year's budget for rent. The district hopes to purchase the space at a cost of $550,000 using money it was recently awarded through a lawsuit settlement.
The budget vote is set for May 17. A joint hearing to present the District 30 and high school district budgets will take place in early May.
Comments about this story? NFalco@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 208.
