Farmingdale School District administrators on March 18 presented a preliminary draft of the school budget for 1998-99, noting that an increase of 6.92% over last year's final budget is primarily due to a proposed increase in the hiring of teachers.

This year's draft budget is $75,395,250 while the one approved by voters last year was $70,517,705.

The March 18 meeting marked the beginning of months-long budget review process whereby the preliminary figure may be changed substantially before it will be considered for adoption by the board of education. The process will include workshops and public hearings. The board will adopt the budget for voter approval on April 28, while the budget vote will take place on May 19.

The draft budget was developed on the basis of input and requests from 47 program budget administrators throughout the district. The input was made at approximately 60 budget hearings throughout November '97 and February '98.

The budget was presented by both Farmingdale Schools Superintendent Gerard W. Dempsey, Jr. and Assistant Superintendent for Business Dr. William Fanning.

Dr. Fanning noted that staffing requests for approximately 27 new positions have been incorporated into the draft budget, while approximately 25 of these are instructional.

Dempsey noted that the increase in the instructional staff is directly tied to increased enrollment, as well as efforts to meet new state-mandated academic standards and graduation requirements. He added that increases in the budget in recent years have been driven by increases in instructional staff.

Fanning has also calculated a possible tax levy stemming from the draft budget based on a projection of state aid. Based on a projection of $14 million in state aid, a chart he presented noted that the tax levy would be $57,939,250 - an increase of 7.97% over last year.

However, the chart cautioned, "This state aid estimate presumes that a substantial part of the New York State budget surplus will be applied to Education. As of March 14, 1998, there is no state budget. This state aid estimate could be higher or lower. This is an early 'guestimate.'" Just as the state aid projection is an early estimate, the tax levy is an early estimate which is subject to much possible change during the budget review process.

Dr. Fanning noted that in accordance with state law, districts that fail to pass the budget both a first and second time will be forced to do away with contingent budget items and hold the spending increase to no more than 2.76%. After the meeting, Farmingdale PTA (Parent Teacher Association) member Kathy Dowling expressed a concern that such a cap would cause a drastic cut in programs for the district - programs that she said students need in order to meet the new state-mandated academic standards, including Regents graduation requirements. "The taxpayers have to realize that these are resources that are going to get their kids to meet the higher standards," she said of additional programs slated in the draft budget.