The Farmingdale School District Board of Education held its first public input meeting earlier this month regarding the proposed budget for the 2004-2005 school year. At the meeting, residents were given the opportunity to discuss the components of the budget and its expenditures. This was the first of two public meetings to be held regarding the school budget.

Assistant Superintendent for Business John Lorentz provided a presentation on the budget, explaining just where all of the money goes and how the district plans to divide funds for the next school year. He explained that the three main components that make up the budget equation are program, expenditures and revenue.

"Every dollar in our budget does something," he said, adding that last year, the district provided an "onion" diagram for all district programs, with a center ring and several outer rings. The district, last year, placed core academics at the center of the core, such as math, English, social studies and science, indicating that these are the most important programs offered. This year, as Lorentz explained, the onion was left blank.

"In visiting with the different schools ... we found that parents had very different ideas as to what should be in the core," Lorentz said, noting that a parent whose child is very involved in sports felt that athletics should be near the core, while the parent of a music student felt that a music program was more important. Lorentz further stated that a parent's opinion was greatly reflected on what grade level their child was in, as parents of youngsters felt kindergarten should be at the core while parents of high schoolers felt otherwise.

The assistant superintendent discussed the issues faced by administrators in preparing the budget for the upcoming school year, including state aid, assessments, self-sustaining programs - such as driver's education, debt service, the Facility Advisory Committee - a group of local residents who have been assessing the facilities throughout the district and reporting back to the board, retirement systems, health insurance, campaign for fiscal equity and unfunded mandates.

It's those unfunded mandates that the district always runs into trouble with, and this year the impact of those 20 mandates totals nearly $4.4 million.

Lorentz continued, explaining the budget parameters, which include freezing appropriations at the 2003-2004 levels; maintaining current class size ratios and no elementary class size reduction. The parameters also include the increased cost of TRS/ERS (Employee Retirement System and the Teacher's Retirement System). Another parameter included making staff adjustments based upon enrollment, which Lorentz explained is not going to happen as the district is actually decreasing staff by approximately 12 educators to help keep the budget increase down.

Since the district cannot go forth with its plans to decrease class sizes in the elementary schools, proposed class sizes for the 2004-2005 school year are a little higher than they are this year. Districtwide, the average class size is about 22.2, while the proposed size for 2004-2005 is 23 students.

The budget for the upcoming school year totals $115,998,426, and the adopted budget for this year is $106,877,608, which reflects an increase of $9,120,818 or 8.53 percent. The $9,120,818 increase is due to contractual obligations in salaries, benefit increases, BOCES funds, student transportation, debt services, utilities, insurance, driver's education and other miscellaneous fees. If the district receives the governor's state aid proposal of $18,223,246, the tax levy increase would be 9.52 percent. If the adjusted proposal is granted to the district, $500,000 more, the tax levy increase would be 8.93 percent.

Although only a handful of residents spoke at the meeting, many issues were addressed, including the driver's education program (residents requested that the district keep the course as a self-sustaining program, where students would pay to take it), the administrative ratio in the district, the level of academic performance by Farmingdale students, the salaries of teachers in the district, the proposed bond issue and, most of all, the increase in the budget.

One resident addressed the board and said that the elderly in the community simply cannot pay the high taxes and another said that the increase in teachers' salaries needs to be looked at, as it makes up a very high portion of the budget. Most said that they believe the budget may not pass, especially when topped with the recommendation of a possible $50 million bond issue to do grounds maintenance.

Residents will have more opportunities to address the board at upcoming meetings, including the second public hearing to be held on Tuesday, May 11. The budget will be available to residents in schools and at the library on Tuesday, May 4. The board of education also has a regular board meeting scheduled for Wednesday, May 5.

The last day to register to vote is Thursday, May 13. A voter registration day will be held on Saturday, May 8 at the Howitt East Lobby from noon to 9 p.m. and residents can register anytime before May 13 in the district clerk's office at Howitt (normal business hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.).

Universal voting day for the school budget and trustee election is Tuesday, May 18. Residents can vote between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. in the gymnasium at Howitt Middle School.