Schools

Glen Cove BOE to Hold Special Meeting

Administrators plan to adopt proposed 2010-11 budget on Wednesday.

Residents in the Glen Cove School District will soon learn what budget figure will be up for a vote on May 18 as the Glen Cove Board of Education is slated to hold a special budget adoption meeting on Wednesday. 

The meeting, administrators said, will mark the end of the preliminary 2010-11 budget process, which has brought more than 100 residents to school board meetings since February. The budget is the district's annual spending plan. 

The latest draft of the budget, which was presented at a school board meeting on April 12, calls for $70.4 million in expenditures next year. The figure is a roughly $1.1 million — or 1.66 percent — increase in spending over the current budget. 

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The spending plan for next year has been revised three times, with the latest draft proposing a $59.1 million tax levy for next year. The levy, which is the amount of money that needs to be raised locally, is a $2.1 million, or 3.84 percent, increase from the current year. 

Administrators said they are doing the best they can to keep the proposed budget total as low as possible, while continuing programs and services in the district.

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"We have been wiggling this budget down to the bone," Superintendent Dr. Laurence Aronstein said. "We are at the bone." 

Aronstein added that the district is currently negotiating a salary increase freeze for next year with the teachers and administrators unions as a way to reduce expenditures in the budget. The latest draft, school officials said, is also expected to be revised again before it is adopted.

"We're still not quite done and there are still some things that the board needs to talk about," said Ida McQuair, the board's president. "There's still some things that the board needs to talk about and we're still trying to come down a little bit." 

The budget, however, still calls for the elimination of 11 teaching positions, one teaching assistant and three administrator/supervisors, among other cuts, as a way to save $2.7 million next year. Administrators said the staff reductions were inevitable, because they needed to get the budget total as low as possible as well as propose a tax levy under 4 percent. 

Loss of state aid and other revenues, school officials said, were also considered in the preliminary budget. Under Gov. David Paterson's proposed executive budget, the district will lose a little more than $880,000 in state aid next year, bringing the district's projected assistance from the state to roughly $6.9 million. 

Dozens of residents, however, urged the board at its April 12 meeting not to move forward with eliminating guidance counselors at Glen Cove High School, contending that the school's Guidance Department is too important academically to be involved with budget cuts. 

Along with two guidance counselors, an English chairman, a secondary principal and fine arts coordinator are some of the positions included in the proposed layoffs for next year.

Wednesday's meeting will be held at Robert M. Finley Middle School at 8 p.m.


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