By:KEITH GRANT
New teachers cause expected 4.8% hike
A slew of new teachers accounts for the majority of the Long Beach School District's proposed tax increase, an increase officials laud as one of the lowest in the area.
School officials estimate the tax rate increase to pay for the new $78.8 million budget to be about 4.8 percent. Roughly four percent of the increase is due to mandatory contract obligations, particularly teacher salaries. In addition to annual pay increases, the district will be hiring 13 additional teachers, who are being brought in due to the district's switch to a nine-period school day at the high school and middle school.
Another significant increase comes from the district's anticipated purchase of four new school buses.
School officials were pleased by what they feel is an unusually low budget increase. At the April 24 Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Ron Friedman cited 13 surrounding districts that are planning tax increases running as high as eight or ten percent. The lone nearby district planning an increase lower than Long Beach's is an elementary school district in Valley Stream.
At the board's previous meeting, Friedman commented, "I'm never happy when we have any kind of increase. But we're really getting something out of this."
Board president Steven Weitz noted, "I think this budget has a lot of educational value to it."
The actual impact on the tax rate will not be known until a state budget is adopted and schools know exactly what to expect in state aid.
sub: District seeks to protect the vote
Also at the April 24 meeting, Friedman outlined plans officials hope will allow for a fair election this coming May, in which Weitz is running for re-election.
Last year's election resulted in a grand jury investigation that blasted the handling of absentee absentee ballots in local nursing homes. Just this week, Friedman has sent a certified letter to the nursing home operators admonishing them to maintain integrity in the election.
"We told them we hope these ballots will be unfetteredd, untainted and the election will occur with integrity," Friedman said.
Absentee ballots, he said, must be returned to the district by 5 p.m. on Election Day. They will them be logged in as to how they were delivered and by whom, placed into a locked box and kept there until they are delieverd to Mineola to be counted, where signatures will then be verified.
"We're doing this to ensure as much integrity in the election process as possible," Friedman said.
Among other changes will be the doubling of election inspectors to 90. These inspectors will work in two 8-hour shifts, instead of having 45 people work for the entire day. In additon, they will arrive a half-hour before polling places open to make sure everything is being set-up properly, and remain there for an hour after polls close. At that time, the district clerk will go from polling place to polling place to record the vote count.
The district will also have new registration books, and incorporate a "chit system" in which voters will receive a ticket as they sign the registration book. They will then present that ticket at the voting booth
School officials are hoping new legislation will be enacted to requite the county Board of Elections to monitor the balloting in all elections, including those for school board.
No changes can be made in time for the upcoming May 15 election, though, which is why the district is taking steps of its own. Janine Laskas-Gillespie, whose bid for a board seat was thwarted by the tainted absentee vote last year, said the change has "been a long time coming."
Lynn Gergen, also a candidate in 2000, told the board they were "making it obvious to the community and our children that the voting process is important."
