By:Doug Miller
A public hearing on the completed school budget is scheduled for May 11, and one for the library's budget will take place March 31.
The Board of Education approved the education calendar at its Feb. 10 meeting.
The Board of Education seat to be filled is currently held by incumbent trustee Steven Weitz, the board president.
The school budget, which must be approved by the public each year or face cuts, has not yet been completed. The board offered a presentation on its administrative section on Feb. 10. The proposed expenditures for 2004-05 in that category are $9,076,454, up from this year's $8,349,318, an 8 percent increase.
School officials estimated the administrative component would make up approximately 9.6 percent of the total budget, meaning this year's total proposed budget could top $90 million.
The current school budget, which was approved by the public last June, totals $86.8 million. That budget passed in a referendum, 1,720 votes to 1,290.
The school budget covers all school expenditures needed to educate the district's 4,600 students, from salaries and textbooks to football uniforms and debt relief.
Next year's proposed library budget is $2,602,618, up 3.8 percent from the current $2,507,599. But the proposed number is tentative, and is likely to change between now and when the board of trustees accepts the formal budget proposal March 31. The Library board will next discuss the budget on Feb. 25.
Library trustees typically serve five-year terms, but because of retirements, there is a full term up for grabs and an unexpired term of two years also in play.
Peggy Whelan and Bruce Snyder resigned from the board last fall, and Eugene Colon and Siegfried Adler were appointed to fill their seats until May. If more than two candidates run for the Board of Trustees, the top vote-getter will take the full five-year term and the first runner-up will serve the two years remaining on the unexpired term.
Anyone who wishes to run for the school or library boards should contact the school district's clerk, Eileen Lilly, after the winter recess.
