Dr. Wilson introduced the draft of the proposed budget for 1999-2000 at the March 17 Board of Education Work Session held in the high school cafeteria to the School Board members and only 12 residents, who were willing to skip St. Patrick's Day festivities to hear about the non-instructional components of the budget. The total proposed amount of the budget is $49,968,693, which is up $1,588,766 or 3.28 percent from the current budget in operation now. Wilson began by stating that in light of the fact that there is an anticpated growth rate of the student population of 4 percent and inflation will be somewhere between 1 and 2 percent, that an increase of only 3.28 percent in the budget "is frankly" the result of an "admirable effort" on the part of the administration.

There are 13 and 1/2 new classroom teachers proposed for next year, as well as teachers in other areas, including a teacher for the deaf. In order to provide support for the school principals, the budget includes a proposal to create a dean position at the two elementary schools and a chairperson position at the high school for the Special Education Program. This would be less expensive than budgeting for assistant principals to help with the work load, according to Wilson. Capital Improvements not included in the bond are also included, amounting to approximately a $1.5 million increase.

"Other expenses" under the Board of Education expenses are drastically reduced by $24,000 this year as consultants hired in the current budget to help with the bond issue and the hiring of a new superintendent will not be needed next year. A reduction in staffing in the superintendent's office has also contributed to savings for the proposed budget. Other reductions include savings from the realization of savings from having new teachers replace retired teachers at a reduced salary than that of the retired teachers. Overtime of employees has also helped hold the line in the budget, but it was stated that because of demands from increases predicted in the student population this may be the last year where current staff numbers can meet the demands without considerable overtime or new staff hirings.

The usage of water continues to rise, thus the bills continue to rise. Travel teams at all of the schools require overtime pay for bus drivers transporting teams on Saturdays and for night games. Salary increases for staff members like the bus drivers, for example, are also reflected in this budget. The copier in the central office and the electronic postal scale need updating as well. Staff to maintain the district's technology also appears in this proposed budget. A wall at the bus garage for a total of $15,000 needs to be replaced or the wall could collapse, according to Wilson.

School Board President Linda Leone explained that the portables for the elementary schools will remain on site, but no new portables are planned for the schools. The cost of the portables is $2,700 a month or $32,000 a year and will "go down" next year as per the contract with the supplier, according to Leone and Assistant Superintendent for Business Bryan. Concerns were raised by parents regarding space issues in light of future construction for the bond project. Wilson stated that the biggest problem facing the district is in fact space, particularly at the primaries, and that they are looking at ways to accommodate classes when areas of the building will be rendered unusable because of construction.

Wilson said that they are looking for solutions that work within the constraints of the building space, and added that "this may put pressure on some programs." The hope is that space for programs such as art will not lose their studio space to house other classes, but Wilson did site the example of the past relocation of the HAVE Center during other construction work about five years ago.

State aid is expected at $2,839,939; local revenue is expected at $1,179,643; money from the fund balance allocation is expected at $1,250,000. State aid's expected increase is $94,824 or 3.45 percent and local revenue's expected increase is $63,089 or 5.65 percent. Money from the fund balance allocation will actually decrease by $1,000,000 or 44.44 percent this year, according to the district. This leaves $44,699,111 of the total budget to come from property taxes. The total increase expected in this area is $2,430,853 from last year or 5.75 percent.

Also discussed at the work session was the issue of class rank, raised by Trustee Rudy, who argued that the Board has already taken eight months to look at the issue and still has not drafted a policy. Vice-President Dr. Fredericks responded that the policy committee, of which she is the chair, has been examining the issue and "in the absence of policy, we're going to say that there is no rank, but afford students the opportunity to choose to report it if they decide to."

Rudy argued that without a clear policy parents and students are left in a difficult situation in terms of class selection and college application preparation and require a definitive policy as soon as possible. He stated that he feels that the Board could "go ahead with policy on class rank and deal with the other issues related to it later." Leone stated, "We promised the public that we'd deal with this issue by the end of the year and we will do that." Rudy argued that this still left parents, school administrators, and students with the issue "up in the air" and urged the Board to come to an agreement and draft an official policy as soon as the next regular meeting.

The school calendar is another issue that posed problems for the Board, who wished to accommodate parents' desire to see school start after Labor Day, unlike most schools in the area within the last couple of years, and still maintain holidays like the first day of Passover. Spring break scheduling has proven difficult with regard to coordinating it with other districts and parent teacher conferences need to be planned as well.

A schedule of upcoming Board of Education meetings appears in the Dates to Remember box in this issue.