Trustees Begin Consideration of Draft Budget
Faced with difficult economic conditions here and around the world, Huntington School Board members took up public consideration of a draft budget for the 2009/10 school year during Monday night’s meeting. Trustees will examine every area of the budget over the next month, going line-by-line before adopting a plan and sending it to residents for a vote on May 19.
In developing the plan, district officials sought to put a tight clamp on expenditures while at the same time making more than $1.7 million in reductions. The draft plan contains a 1.87 percent increase in spending to $105,558,003 and carries a projected tax increase of 3.95 percent, before any federal stimulus funds are applied.
The draft plan makes several assumptions, including a $59,890 decline in the district’s assessed valuation to $46,300,000, effectively applying additional pressure on the tax rate.
“These are very challenging times for all Americans, including those here in Huntington,” Superintendent John J. Finello said. “We are faced with having to provide the young people of this community with a solid education while at the same time being sensitive to the economic realities in the world today.”
Mr. Finello and David H. Grackin, assistant superintendent for finance and management services, provided an overview of the draft proposal and discussed a range of financial factors surrounding the plan, which are impacting districts across Long Island and the state.
The draft budget seeks to protect the core educational program and provide for strategic improvements, such as new math and reading books. Building and department budgets are being reduced and there are cuts to the extracurricular club and athletics programs. Changes in scheduling practices will also provide more savings.
The budget draft does protect current elementary class size guidelines, the full-day kindergarten program, present bus transportation practices, the high school science research program, drama club productions, more than five dozen athletic teams, an extensive selection of clubs, the college and career counseling center, the alternative high school, honors and advanced placement courses, reading, speech and special education services, academic competitions and science fairs and monies to purchase maintenance tools, equipment and supplies to keep the district’s eight buildings in fine shape.
The plan reduces positions, eliminates elementary summer school, cuts software expenses to state minimum levels and provides for Worker’s Compensation expenses to be funded from a reserve account. It also provides for a possible large increase in the district’s transportation contracts, which are expiring.
Trustees will spend two more meetings reviewing the plan, listening to public comments and evaluating updated financial projections. School Board members are scheduled to adopt the budget on Monday, April 20. The fate of the plan will then be in the hands of residents, who will cast ballots on Tues. May 19 from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Huntington High School.
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