By Scott Brinton
The aid reduction proposed in Gov. George Pataki's 2003 state budget -- roughly $4 million of a $20.5 million aid package -- has Central officials wondering about the fate of the district's 2003-04 budget.
They say they're lobbying local Senate and Assembly representatives hard, seeking additional aid. Without it, Central's only two options are to raise taxes or reduce student services or other district expenditures.
Lowering expenses, however, is difficult in the face of increasing state-mandated programs to raise education standards and a steadily increasing student population, Central officials say. That means a heavier-than-expected tax increase could be on the horizon for Central District homeowners.
Dr. Thomas Caramore, the Central superintendent, said last Wednesday, during the district's first public hearing to review the 2003-04 budget, "In my years at Bellmore-Merrick, this is clearly the most difficult budget I've seen."
Caramore later said, "Clearly, the governor's proposal shifts costs from the state to the local level. A $4 million cut I find unconscionable for this community."
The Central District is looking at a possible 7 percent increase in the budget, up from $82 million to $88 million, said George Littman, Central's assistant superintendent for business.
Officials said it's too early to tell how any of this might pan out in residents' property-tax bills. Officials are waiting to see whether Central's state-aid picture will improve, and how precisely the district's overall budget will add up over the coming weeks and months, before announcing a projected tax rate.
The budget will be put to a public vote on Tuesday, May 20.
Last Wednesday, Caramore proposed a handful of new programs for the district as part of next year's budget. The biggest of the programs is the possible addition of a ninth period. Currently, Central runs on an eight-period day, which is increasingly seen in education circles as a disadvantage for students.
Several Nassau County middle and high schools have gone to a nine-period day to give students the chance to take more elective courses, as well as provide them with extra classroom time to prepare for the more rigorous course load now required by the state. The Hewlett School District has extended its day to 11 periods.
If Bellmore-Merrick is to maintain its ranking among Nassau's 10 best school systems, it must move to a nine-period day, according to Caramore.
A ninth period, if approved by the board of education and voters as part of the 2003-04 budget proposal, would mean the addition of 40 new teachers to Central's personnel ranks and carry with it a $3 million to $3.5 million annual price tag when the program is fully implemented.
Caramore proposed phasing in a ninth period over the next three years. Next year the program would cost the district nothing. Central officials would use the year to study the logistics of executing the program. In year two, Calhoun, Kennedy and Mepham high schools would go to a nine-period day and, in year three, Merrick Avenue and Grand Avenue middle schools.
District officials also proposed doubling the length of Central's summer workshop for incoming ninth-graders from three to six weeks. Students who fail math will have to enroll in the workshop. Additionally, English and Spanish I will be offered as part of the program, which is intended not only for students who fail classes but also those who want to get ahead in their course work. Lengthening the workshop would cost the district an extra $20,000 annually.
Central officials said they would have liked to include more new student programs in the budget, but fiscal constraints held them back.
Compounding Central's budget woes this year is the rising cost of classroom supplies, from computers to paper. Arnold Goldstein, Central's assistant superintendent for instruction, raised the example of textbooks. The district needs new books to comply with recently reworked state curricula in several subjects. Each new textbook costs, on average, $60 plus shipping and handling. The district will inevitably have to purchase more than one book per pupil. The state, however, offers only $57 per student in textbook aid. The result, said Goldstein, is that the Central district will have to raise its textbook expenditures by some $52,000 next school year.
The district also plans to spend $270,000 to purchase a classroom set of wireless computers, which is to be wheeled around school on a special cart. And it needs $120,000 to upgrade its computer network, which, Littman noted, is almost 10 years old.
Littman said that four of the district's biggest increases in expenditures will come in the budget lines that it cannot control: health insurance, retirement and Social Security for employees, and liability insurance. Health-insurance premiums are skyrocketing, rising 15 to 20 percent annually of late, according to Littman. A family insurance plan now costs the district $9,000 per employee per year. The district's health insurance costs are expected to rise $1.7 million next year.
The teachers' retirement system, like most pension plans, is heavily invested in the stock market. With the steady decline in common stock prices, school districts have had to contribute more to the system to make up for the losses. Littman said Central's contribution to the system is projected to rise by $926,000 next year.
Social Security and Medicare costs are to leap $670,000. And liability insurance is to jump by $121,000 next year.
Community residents who attended last week's budget hearing expressed anger over Central's projected state-aid cut. Bill Pezzulo, who serves on the North Merrick and Central High school districts' Lay Budget Advisory committees, said in an interview that the governor's education budget is a "stab in the back." Pataki "doesn't care," Pezzulo said. "He's turned his back on all his voters."
Matthew Kuschner, a North Merrick School Board trustee, said, "We have to educate our own kids. We can't rely on the state. I just wish the state wouldn't give us the unfunded mandates. The state doesn't give us our fair share" of state aid.
6 schools, nearly $3M in repairs
In the school election this May, the Central High School District will include part of its annual capital expenditures to refurbish school buildings as part of Proposition I, the school budget, which for 2003-04 is projected at roughly $88 million. These are the district's most necessary repairs.
Less urgent upgrades will be included in Proposition II, which residents will vote on separately from the main budget.
The $2 million in repairs in Proposition I are:
oScience classroom renovations, mostly to chemistry laboratories, at Grand Avenue Middle School and Kennedy and Mepham high schools.
oRoof upgrades at Kennedy.
The $959,000 in repairs in Proposition II are:
oAn ongoing project to replace ceilings and lights at Grand Avenue and Merrick Avenue middle schools to increase energy efficiency.
oNew lockers at Calhoun, Kennedy and Mepham high schools.
oA new clock system at Calhoun.
oA new oil tank at Kennedy.
oUpgrade of the fire-alarm system at the Jerusalem Avenue School, which the Central District leases to the Board of Cooperative Educational Services.
