By: Jason Scheer
Though only a dozen people attended the meeting, the questions asked are those that may be on the minds of many.
One audience member asked about how the district is handling oft-truant students.
"If you're spending $12,000 per year on a student, and you have 200 long term absences, that's a lot of money," he said.
Superintendent of School's Dr. Kathy Weiss assured the community that instances of truancy are at a minimum and that attendance within the district is strong.
"The attendance rate is 95 percent here, so our students are here in the classrooms," she said.
Participants also took issue with the increase in the amount the district will pay in the areas of health insurance, social security and retirement.
The 2005-2006 proposed budget calls for roughly $16 million in benefits, an increase of nearly $1.5 million over last year. These increases are due to higher state-approved medical insurance premiums as well as mandated payments to the teachers' retirement system of New York.
An audience member asked about the contribution teachers make to their health insurance.
School Board President Joe Scannell, responding to the question, said that teachers are responsible for 15 percent of their health care coverage.
"Within Nassau County that is a reasonable percentage when compared to other districts," he said.
Another concern raised at the meeting was the apparent influx
of students from outside the Baldwin area. One audience member specifically asked why students from Roosevelt were attending Baldwin schools.
"There is a very small percentage of Roosevelt that is within the Baldwin School District," responded Scannell. "These residents pay taxes and contribute money to the Baldwin School District."
"We have never bussed students in from Roosevelt," Weiss said.
Weiss added that the district is actively seeking out students who are not residents of the district and are attending Baldwin schools illegally.
"Last year, we had 156 investigations involving 200 students ... and 46 students were excluded," she said. "We re-register all third and eight graders."
Time to vote
Voters will have the opportunity to approve the $94 million budget by voting on Tuesday, May 17. According to the district, the new tax levy will be an increase of 6.51 percent if this budget is approved.
If the budget is defeated, however, the budget will again be put up to vote.
Upon a second defeat, the Board of Education will be required to adopt a contingency budget.
Under a contingency budget, the board would be required to eliminate roughly $1.8 million from the budget. Thus, there will be significant reductions to program, staff and services.
In addition, any non-school groups would be required to pay 100 percent of the custodial and facility costs if they wanted to make use of school district buildings and grounds. Furthermore, no new equipment, such as the new school bus currently being budgeted for, could be acquired.
Comments about this story? JScheer@liherald.com or (516)569-4000 ext. 282.
