by Mike Schnitzel
The district unveiled its proposed $86.78 million budget at a Feb. 7 Board of Education committee meeting. It is an increase of $4.88 million.
The average Valley Stream homeowner would see an increase in taxes of 4.5 percent on the high school portion of their tax bills. The new tax rate has not yet been calculated, because new assessment data will not be available from the county until April 1.
According to Superintendent Dr. Marc Bernstein, the three main factors contributing to the increase are the mandated expenses of teacher retirement programs and health insurance premiums, increased fuel oil costs, and the contractual obligation of salaries for all bargaining units, such as the teachers' and custodial unions. The budget proposal also includes a few educational initiatives that would carry a price tag of about $1.1 million.
The district is proposing the creation of five new teaching positions, which would be used to balance class size (board policy sets a goal of 25 students) and increase the district's science research program, and for chairperson supervision in Languages Other than English (LOTE), according to William Heidenreich, assistant superintendent for personnel and administration. Heidenreich said the five new positions would cost $312,000 based on the average salary and benefits of a first-year teacher with a bachelor's degree.
According to Dr. Thomas Troisi, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, the district will phase in a new Science Research Program over the course of the next two years to "introduce students to a laboratory science and the formality of doing labs and research." This would continue the progress of students in seventh grade science research, building a bridge between them and science research students in 10th through 12th grades. To that end, a new science research strand has been proposed for students in eighth grade accelerated life sciences, and a new introduction to science research course would be available to interested ninth-graders, said Troisi. In addition, he said that $250,000 would be required to purchase updated textbooks for the school year.
The district has $600,000 worth of capital projects that will impact the proposed budget. Among them are the driveway re-asphalting at North, the roofing over the gymnasium at Central, masonry work at South, and upgrades to audio systems at schools district-wide, according to Deputy Superintendent Al Chase.
This year the administration recommended the appropriation of $2.6 million of funds from the 2005-06 budget to be used to offset the tax levy. The amount was based on the projection of the amount of money that will be left when the district's accounts close on June 30, said Bernstein.
Chase said that all details of the budget must be examined in order to arrive at the correct amount for an appropriation "so there is not a sharp dip or spike in taxes." Last year the board appropriated $1.8 million to help offset the tax levy.
Bernstein said that if Gov. George Pataki's current budget proposal is approved, it would provide an additional $460,000 in state aid to the school district for 2006-07, a 3.6 percent increase over the current year. The total state aid that is being proposed for 2006-07 is $13.1 million, compared with $12.7 million this year.
The school district is considering asking the voters to approve, through a referendum, the creation of a capital reserve fund in order to carry out major capital projects in the district. The amount being considered is $7 million over seven years. This means that the district could not appropriate more than $7 million, plus interest, into the fund over those years, according to Education Law 3651. The capital reserve fund would appear as a separate proposition when the school budget is considered by voters.
Bernstein said that the creation of the fund would cost taxpayers no additional money, and that any money left over after each school year could be appropriated into the fund. For a school district to spend money from a capital reserve fund, any expenditures must be approved by voters, according to School Law, a book published by the New York State School Boards and New York State Bar associations. This means that any time the board wanted to spend money from the fund for a project, it would have to bring a proposition to the public for a vote.
The last bond issue for the district was in 1998, when voters approved $38 million for the district to use for capital projects. Bernstein said that a capital reserve fund was a more viable alternative for the district, and would have less financial impact.
The next budget review session will be held on March 7 in the board room of the district administrative building, at 1 Kent Road in Valley Stream. The budget will be adopted at the next business meeting of the board on March 14 in the cafeteria of Memorial Junior High School.
Comments about this story? MSchnitzel@liherald.com or (516)569-4000 ext. 265.
