Politics & Government

School Board Approves $76.7 Million Budget

Tax levy under proposal will increase by 2.42 percent.

The Glen Cove Board of Education voted 6-1 to approve Superintendent Joseph Laria's recommended $76,670,632 budget Monday, with one member diverging over a 2.42 tax levy increase and proposed allocation of the dollars.

"I'm very concerned with how the money's being spent," said trustee Gail Nedbor-Gross, who questioned the need for a $180,000 assistant principal position added to the middle school, among other items. She said she believed the budget should have been drawn to stick closer to a 2 percent tax levy increase.

State law allows school districts higher limits on tax levies according to formulas specific to each district. Board President Joel Sunshine noted the 2.42 percent figure is well under the district's permitted 3.6 cap.

Other Board members defended the proposal's allocations, including a $400,000 boiler to replace the 80-year-old one at Landing Elementary School.

"We can't keep putting Band-Aids on stab wounds," said trustee David Huggins. He warned of the impact on students should the current boiler fail next winter, which he said would disperse the school's children among the district's other elementary schools.

President Joel Sunshine pointed to a $1.6 million increase this year in pension costs as a financial burden the district could not avoid. He also noted a $791,754 tax certiorari payout the district owes the City of Glen Cove for covering a court's judgment that the district received too much property tax from Photocircuits between 2003-2004 and 2010-2011.

Other points of contention included the re-purposing of the high school's woodworking room as an orchestra room and the swapping of a social worker at Finley Middle School for a guidance counselor position, which the Superintendent said could cover the present position's duties as well as administrative tasks like scheduling.

Teachers Association President Karen Ferguson criticized the decision.

"You talked about not wanting to drop the ball on orchestra kids. I want you to think how hard it is for children - and I mean, we have needy children - some kids are really, really hurting, and you're going to take away the person they've been telling all their dark stories to," she said.

The issue heated up when Ferguson pointed out that the position is held by an African-American woman, one of the district's few employees of color who can relate to students with minority backgrounds, she said.

Huggins was incredulous at the mention of an employee's race, which he said was not known to the Board. Trustee Ida McQuair called the comment offensive.

"I'm not going to sit here and be called a racist," Huggins said as he abruptly walked out of the meeting.

Ferguson said she meant to make the Board aware of the social worker's value to the staff's diversity and was not accusing anyone of racism.

A parent spoke against the social worker decision, saying she was worried about the impact on a student population reeling from the suicide of one of its own.

PTA co-president Suzanne Anderson criticized the district's budget handout, which was circulated at the meeting on a single sheet of paper. She asked whether a more detailed budget would be posted on the schools' website. Laria responded that he didn't see why not.

The budget will go to the community for a vote on May 21. If it is voted down twice, Laria said, a contingency budget would take effect that would require $3.4 million in cuts.


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