At this school year's first informal public budget hearing on March 10, the Great Neck Public Schools Board of Education proposed a 5.35 percent budget increase, the lowest such increase in six years, according to Trustee Lawrence Gross, chair of the board's finance committee. The preliminary working budget for the upcoming July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009 school year is $181,130,094.

Mr. Gross stated that it is the intent of the board "to provide the optimal education for each student ... to develop their skills ..." He assured that the board "looks closely at each item" to be certain that the school district "gets the maximum from each dollar." Additionally, Mr. Gross stated that the district is always seeking ways to save, such as finding new ways to finance debt.

"We always work in a prudent manner ... to maintain our educational programs," Mr. Gross added. However, he noted the difficulties associated with the fact that state aid "goes down and down."

And the budget went up, Mr. Gross, said due to facts such as a large number of staff changes, an increasing population, and special programs such as the new SEAL (Supportive Environment for All Learners) Program, which actually keeps students in the district and on a graduation track. Along the lines of the increasing population, Mr. Gross pointed out that the budget states that the projected enrollment growth is 110 additional students for nex year; a 1.8 percent increase.

Additional security, too, has added to necessary and/or required expenses, Mr. Gross said.

"Health insurance and Social Security have gone up too," Mr. Gross also said, noting that this cost has risen even though staff contributes.

For this proposed $181,130,094 budget, $169,457,690 will have to be raised by real property tax, a 6.44 percent increase over the current budget. This translates to 93.56 percent of the budget. Only $6,950,021 is expected from state aid, a total of only 3.8 percent of the budget. The rest of the budget revenue, 2.60 percent, is listed as "miscellaneous."

Once again, for the 2008-2009 school year, the major portion of funding goes to teaching --- 73.34 percent for instruction. Capital projects account for 1.11 percent of the budget; buildings and grounds receives 11.28 percent; adult education and recreation receives a 1.99 percent of the allocation of funds; 4.12 percent would go for general support; 6. 56 percent of the budget would be for transportation; and 1.60 percent would go towards debt service.

The next informal budget hearing is Monday, March 31, at Great Neck South High School. The budget meeting where the board reviews the budget, line-by-line, is Saturday, April 5, at the South High general purpose room.