High school cuts possible

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The district will receive the federal funding through the stimulus package, which includes special education and No Child Left Behind Act mandates. Superintendent Dr. Marc Bernstein said that he does not know the yearly breakdown of the federal aid, but $500,000 per year is how he assumes it will be distributed.
The district has a federal fund and a general fund, and Bernstein said he would like to transfer the incoming federal aid into the general fund to allow spending flexibility. That would lower the tax levy increase, he said, but he is not sure whether such a transfer is legal. Board of Education Trustee William Stris said the state will be asking the federal government for an answer.
"If the revenue is in the federal fund, you have to expend from the fund," Bernstein said. "The question is whether we can transfer expenditure items ..."
At the board's budget meeting on March 3, trustees discussed Bernstein's budget scenarios and the cuts he recommended to help keep taxes down. Bernstein initially proposed cuts when it looked like the district would lose $2.3 million in state aid next year. However, Gov. David Paterson recently announced that federal stimulus money will make it possible for him to forgo $150 million in proposed state aid cuts to Long Island school districts. The federal stimulus package includes a state Fiscal Stabilization Fund that provides $48.6 billion to schools nationwide, which will be used to restore state aid for 2009-10 to current levels.
Bernstein said he thinks the promise of reinstated state funding will come by March 30. "I recommend that the restored state aid be used toward the tax levy, and not to offset the recommended cuts," he said.
Bernstein's recommendations include cutting back on supply and equipment purchases for next year, and dropping both the daytime SAT preparation program and the summer driver's education program. He also recommended eliminating junior varsity "B" teams for basketball, softball and baseball, as well as certain ninth- and 10th-grade electives such as home economics, and the ESL/Special Education "Push-In" program. "These were the reductions that would be least damaging to our core mission," Bernstein said.
Another budget scenario includes those cuts as well as reductions in the summer recreation program, and the elimination of 10 staff positions.
Some parents in the audience at the budget meeting, like Anne Marie Allocca, said they were upset that the board would consider eliminating the daytime SAT program, since it is used by so many juniors. There are 700 juniors in the district, and 500 take part in the program, which is free to students. If it is eliminated, they would have to attend a prep program at night, which costs about $400.
"This district prides itself each year on the success rate of seniors attending colleges," Allocca said. "There's no doubt that most of that success is due to this prep course. ... Most students work in the evening, and especially with this erratic economic climate, they probably wouldn't shell out the necessary funds for a nighttime class."
The board also considered closing the rifle range at Memorial Junior High School and moving the team to the Nassau County range in Uniondale, where it now travels to compete.
Some board members, like President Jeanne Greco-Jacobs and Dr. Frank Chiachiere, said they would support this option. Greco-Jacobs said that the money used to clean the range, in addition to concerns about lead vapor making its way into the school, factored into her decision. "Many districts have teams but have closed their ranges," she said. "Our teams have been there for meets. We are continuing to put lead into our building."
The range is cleaned regularly throughout the school year, but must undergo a major cleaning every 10 years, which costs the district $80,000. The range is due for the cleanup this summer.
Bernstein said that even if the district decided to move the team this year, it would still have to shell out the $80,000 to clean the range. In addition, if the school were to move the team to the county facility, he said, it would not incur the regular cleaning costs, but would have to pay for transportation and other related expenses. "I do not believe that having the range in-house is an unsafe environment," he said.
The board was polled and voted 6-3 to keep the rifle range at Memorial. It will vote on the 2009-10 budget on April 1.
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