By JEFF LIPTON
Frank Ruggiero, the district's assistant superintendent for business, has decided to leave his post, according to sources in the district. Ruggiero, they said, does not want to make his decision public until after Tuesday's budget vote.
The resignation will probably appear on the agenda of the school board meeting on May 27, when the board will likely vote to accept it, sources said. But Ruggiero is not scheduled to leave the district until October, they added.
Reached by phone on Tuesday afternoon, both Ruggiero and Superintendent Dr. Robert Greenberg said they could not comment. School board President Frank Alvarado did not return a call for comment.
Ruggiero worked for the Lawrence school district for a short time before he was hired in Long Beach. Under his leadership, the Long Beach district has helped steer the annual budget increase under 5 percent in the past two years.
In 2005-06, the budget increase was 6.2 percent, compared with 4.6 percent in the proposed 2008-09 spending plan, which residents will vote on next week.
Sources said that Ruggiero does not yet want to go public with his decision because he does not want it to have any impact on the budget vote. He helped craft this year's $112.6 million spending plan, which is $4.9 million more than the current budget. The proposed tax levy increase is 4.9 percent.
In a phone interview a few weeks ago, Ruggiero said he was proud that the district has kept the budget hikes under 5 percent in recent years without touching student programs and services, or athletics.
"Our budget increases have been going down when many other districts' increases have been going up," he said, adding that all Advanced Placement and college preparatory programs have been kept intact. "We've been able to keep the budget as low as we can."
In explaining the district's strategy, Ruggiero said, "We've maintained a very conservative approach to our expenditures. The district has been fine-lining every appropriation. There's been no reduction in programs."
He added that through a reallocation of resources, the district was able to expand the foreign language program to the second grade. In addition, the budget provides for the expansion of health education programs in the elementary schools, he said.
Comments about this story? JLipton@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 210.
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