The school budget proposed for 2008-09 will enable the Garden City School District to continue to strive for ever higher levels of academic achievement, as well as increased efficiency. The figure proposed, $94,505,801, reflects a budget-to-budget increase of 4.49 percent and a tax levy-to-levy increase of 4.88 percent.

This year's budget includes $10,224,082 (10.82 percent) in total administration expenses, $69,948,321 (74.01 percent) in total program expenses and $14,333,398 (15.17 percent) in total capital expenses.

The budget funds the addition of six full-time equivalent faculty positions, including a full-time fifth grade teacher for the Foreign Language in Elementary School (FLES) program. Filling this position will bring Spanish to all elementary school classrooms, a goal established back in 2005 when the FLES program was first introduced.

Also included are 2.5 additional special education teachers and 2.5 additional general education teachers district wide. These positions are included based on anticipated need and will be distributed based on finalized 2008-09 enrollment and programming needs. The budget also provides for replacing three buses, as recommended by consultants in a study of district transportation operations completed in 2007, and a facilities vehicle for use by the maintenance crew.

According to outgoing board president Ken Monaghan, the board tried to balance residents' concerns about the tax burden against its goal of continually upgrading the quality of the district's academic program.

Such a balance is critical, he said, because as fellow residents, members of the board recognize that the quality of Garden City's schools is one of the major underpinnings of the value of residents' homes particularly in an environment where home prices are under pressure nationally.

Residents can vote in the Garden City High School cafeteria between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. Tuesday, May 20.