By:Jennifer Marino
Since the 2001-02 school year, New York State aid to the Rockville Centre school district has consistently gone down. It is projected that next year-s state aid will be $5,718,499, down from about $6,475,000 in 2001-02.
It-s a difference of about $750,000. Every year village taxpayers have to make up the difference. Even if the school budget stays the same, the money lost in state aid has to be made up somewhere, said Robert Bartels, assistant superintendent for business and personnel.
What it also means is that, realistically, new items won-t be part of the budget, according to Superintendent Dr. William Johnson. At the Jan. 20 Board of Education meeting, Johnson discussed the budget. Some new items the board and the administration would have liked to consider include more teams at South Side Middle School and an expansion of the foreign language program in the elementary schools.
The difference between next year-s aid and last year-s is about $500,000, the largest decrease since state aid to Rockville Centre began tumbling in 2002. It was a shocking number, said Board of Education Secretary Meg Koch.
In Nassau County, only Freeport, Hempstead, Roosevelt and Westbury are seeing bigger drops in state aid. Hewlett-Woodmere is getting an increase of more than $1 million, and Plainedge-s aid is increasing by more than $3.1 million.
During budget negotiations, it-s possible that the reduction could change, according to Koch. Johnson and Bartels are looking into the numbers to make sure the state-s calculations are correct. It is Koch-s hope that the decrease won-t remain as large once the final numbers are in, but the board will be working on the cautious side.
State aid comprises about 10 percent of Rockville Centre-s $66 million budget. In preparing the budget for 2004-05, the Board of Education will also have to contend with increases in the retirement systems for teachers and staff and double-digit increases in health insurance.
In addition, there is no money left from the bond issue that has funded capital projects since 1995. In the past, the bond allowed the board to cut money for capital projects out of the budget. Now that money has to be factored back in to cover any unexpected situations, such as repairing burst steam pipes or leaking roofs. Koch said the board not only looks at any immediate problems in the buildings, but also what-s coming down the road. None of the buildings are new, she said.
Johnson invited the public to be a part of the budget process, which will begin with a meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 3, at 8:30 p.m. in room 112 of South Side High School. Public input is important, said Koch, especially when the board is making difficult decisions. She encouraged everyone to come to the budget work sessions. There will be more meetings to discuss the budget on Feb. 10 and March 16.
