Proposed School Budget Includes Transfer to Capital Line
Change is coming to the Huntington School District. The Board of Education has approved a reorganization of grades four, five and six, effective September 2010. All fourth and fifth graders will attend Woodhull Intermediate School while Jack Abrams Intermediate School will become a district sixth grade center. To provide for additional instructional space at Woodhull, the district is moving forward with plans to lease three modular classrooms for use there.
For the first time in many years, the district is including a budget line called “a transfer to capital.” This transfer will cover the capital expense related to the siting and installation of the three portable rooms. The funding for this budget line comes from unused monies in the 2003 capital reserve account. Because of tight fiscal management, economizing and very favorable project bids, monies that voters previously approved for use in funding various capital projects, were not expended. If residents approve the budget on May 18, the Board of Education will be able to use these surplus monies to lease and install the three modular classrooms.
Expenses for the installation of the modular rooms includes transportation of the units to Woodhull School from the vendor, construction of a concrete foundation slab, connections to all utilities and handicapped accessibility.
These units will be fully heated and air conditioned and include their own sanitary facilities. They have essentially the same square footage as a typical Woodhull School classroom. Under the state law governing a contingency budget, if Huntington’s budget is defeated on May 18, this “transfer to capital” will not take place.
If the budget is defeated and the transfer to capital does not occur, the grade level reorganization between Woodhull and Jack Abrams School will still take place. In such a case, space at Woodhull School will be much tighter and scheduling will be a little more complicated.
“We will use classrooms much more intensively if we do not have the modular rooms on site,” Superintendent John J. Finello. “For example, when a class goes to art, music, library or physical education, another teacher and other students might utilize the room for other instructional purposes, if necessary.”
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