By Andrew Coen
The decision to adopt the contingency budget came after the district suffered a budget defeat on the first try for the fifth year in a row. After a revised budget passed in a revote by a mere 14 votes in June 2002, the following three years featured defeats by wide margins on the second try, leading to the decision not to seek another vote this time around, which would have cost the district an estimated $15,000.
The initial proposed budget of $93.1 million failed by 1,007 votes on May 16.
"Since it was such a wide margin, it would be a slap in the face to put it up again," said Lawrence school board President Frank Parise in a phone interview.
The four straight years of contingency now facing Lawrence is rare, but not unprecedented, according to David Ernst, a spokesman for the New York State School Board Association. Ernst said in a phone interview that Suffolk County school districts Brentwood and East Islip, along with Carmel in Putnam County, were all subjected to five consecutive years of austerity in the early 1990s.
Following a lengthy gathering of the Lawrence administrative council on May 23 to determine what to cut, the school board unanimously adopted the $91.9 million contingency budget at its meeting that night. The cuts include $70,000 originally budgeted for maintenance projects as well as some savings brought about by the pending retirement of Art Director Gary Bates.
District officials also discovered $400,000 in savings in the Personnel in Private and Parochial Schools (PIPPS) program, in which Lawrence Public Schools personnel offer special education services at private and parochial schools. And the art and music directors' jobs will be combined as a result of Bates's retirement, which upset Patrick Pizzarelli, president of the Association of Lawrence Administrators. Gary Schall is currently the director of music, and under the plan he would also handle the art director's duties. "The director of art cut was not discussed today!" yelled Pizzarelli in the public comments portion of the meeting. "I feel very upset about it!"
Lawrence superintendent Dr. John Fitzsimons said there were discussions about cutting the position last year, and Bates's retirement made the idea more feasible. "This is not a novel idea," said Fitzsimons. "[The retirement] made the position easier to swallow."
The administrative council had initially recommended the cutting of summer school for elementary and middle school students, but faced with board members' objections, decided to make cuts in maintenance projects instead. "I really don't want to cut anything from the children, and these are our neediest children," said Trustee Pam Greenbaum of the importance of keeping summer school.
District 15 resident Andrew Levy said during the meeting that he wished the district would explore cutting more maintenance costs so that cuts affecting the students could be held to a minimum. "Try to throw good money for good - whatever money we have left," said Levy.
Vote on No. 1 School future, capital reserve slated for summer
While there will be no budget revote, District 15 residents will head to the polls in the near future to decide on the fate of the Number One School property, and whether to set aside the proceeds from the sale of the facility to establish a capital reserve fund to address all six buildings in the district.
The school board unanimously approved selling the former elementary school - which was closed in June 2004 as part of a consolidation plan to save the district money - to Lawrence-based Neuberg Development LLC for $27.5 million, with the idea that luxury apartments would be built on the site. Under state law, the public is required to approve any sale of school property, and if the idea is supported by voters, district officials have said they would like to earmark the $27.5 million for a capital reserve fund to address more than $33 million in needed facility repairs. The public shot down a proposition to establish a capital reserve fund on May 16 by 947 votes, 4,316 to 3,369.
According to Parise, the contract singing for Neuberg Development LLC is scheduled for June 6, and the district would be required to give 45 days' notice before a vote to approve the sale. The vote on the sale of the property and the proposition to establish the reserve fund will likely take place sometime in late July, Parise said.
