By Howard Goldstein
Officials from both the Bellmore and North Bellmore school districts are concerned over Gov. George Pataki's announcements of state spending cuts, and they fear a local tax increase may prove the only way to keep schools adequately funded.
"We don't want residents to pay higher taxes," said Bellmore School District Superintendent Sheldon Dumain, "but the only revenue for the district comes from state aid, interest and taxes. We have lost a tremendous amount of money from interest, and with state aid almost certainly being cut, we have only one venue left."
North Bellmore Assistant Superintendent of Business Howard Pollitt said his district's aid picture was the same, citing a likely decrease in excess of $1 million based on government proposals.
Last year, North Bellmore schools received just over $8 million in state aid.
But as state aid decreases, school board costs continue to rise, particularly in the areas of teacher retirement funds, Social Security, liability insurance and health insurance.
"The [stock] market is hardening," Pollitt said, "and the teachers' retirement plan is having mammoth increases...We're talking up to 11 percent."
The same is true in Bellmore, where the retirement plan is jumping from 1 percent of the payroll to 11 percent.
Health insurance is up in both districts by 20 percent, and Social Security is expected to go up as well.
This fiscal year, the Bellmore School District received a little more than $2.8 million in state aid. Next year's proposed aid package is down to just over $2.45 million.
"The board is having a difficult time," Dumain said, "cutting line by line through the budget."
Despite the dire fiscal situation, Dumain has said that the school district plans to fight any possible reductions in instruction.
"We are looking to save our instructional program in its entirety," he said.
"We will not tamper with our children's education. We don't want to touch any of the instructional programs, including recent additions such as our successful foreign-language program. But if the budget goes down, we're in real trouble," he said.
The public will vote on the budget Tuesday, May 20.
