Herricks school started its series of budget meetings by outlining a projected budget-to-budget 5.72 percent increase.

Assistant Superintendent for Business Helen Costigan explained line-by-line what the increased expenses would be for the coming year.

The most expense, she said, would be the increase in fuel oil and gasoline, but some of these costs will be lessened by the Energy Performance Contract. The breakdown of the increased expenses as presented by Costigan is as follows:

2008-09 $	2008-09 % of
	Increase	Total Budget
Fuel Oil/Gasoline	$80,971	0.09
Private/Parochial	$232,000	0.27
School Special Ed.	$435,124	0.50
Medical/Health	$668,277	0.77
Energy Performance*	$352,713	0.40
Contractual Salary Obligations**	$2,942,752	3.37
All Other	$286,370	0.32
Grand Total	$4,998,207	5.72

*Savings are offset in the expense portion of the budget.

**Includes two contingent teacher positions.

***All other includes, but is not limited to: textbooks, technology, facilities maintenance, professional development, equipment and transportation contracts.

Costigan went on to explain that Herricks does not receive much, if any relief from school taxes due to the fact that there is very little commercial property located in the Herricks district, therefore homeowners pay 95 percent of the property tax.

She pointed out the discrepancies in the properties themselves by listing the market value of homes on Moore Street in the 50s. The market value of one home is $627,600 and the assessed valuation is $1,569; the next value is $485,500 and the assessed valuation of that home is $1,213; yet another home is valued at $835,910 with an assessed valuation of $2,089. She based her figures by going to the website: mynassauproperty.com,

The following is the estimated revenue side of the budget as presented by Costigan. Prior to explaining this section she explained that both the revenue and the expense for Adult Education has been removed from the budget. It was also explained that Governor Eliot Spitzer's budget is granting less aid to Herricks than last year. Last year the amount was $8,865,205. This year the amount is $8,787,589 a difference of $77,616. It is hoped that somehow, some of that revenue will be made up for Herricks once the legislators go over the budget, since most Long Island school districts are receiving less than last year.

The rest of the estimated revenue for Herricks, as outlined by Costigan, is as follows:

	Budget	Proposed	Change
	'07-'08	'08-'09
State Aid (Gov. Spitzer's proposal)	$8, 865, 205	$8,787, 589	-$77,616
Adult Education Tuition*	120, 000	0	-120,000
Interest on Investments	420, 000	350, 000	-70,000
From all other revenue**	158, 500	179,000	20,500
Saturday Summer Rec.	425, 000	435, 000	10,000
Special Education District Location	0	232, 000	232,000
Tuition-Individual And School	459, 000	294, 962	-164,038
Nassau County Substance Abuse***	80,000	85,000	5,000
Rental Property (Last year Adelphi	439, 121	422, 544	-16,577
Rented Herricks Community Theater-
Not this year)
BOCES Rental	100,000	100,000	0
Pilot Payment-Bristol Property	86, 763	118, 131	31, 368
Medicare Part D Reimbursement	125, 000	130,000	5,000
Total Anticipated Revenue	$11, 278, 589	$11, 134, 226	-$144, 363
Appropriated Fund Balance	1,200,000	1,200,000	$0
Net Tax Levy	74,829,979	79,972,549	51,142,570
Totals	$87, 308, 568	$92, 306,775	$4,998, 207

*Both revenue and expense for Adult Education have been removed from the budget.

**Includes estimated E-rate funds of $50,000

***Offsets cost of social worker.

Anyone wanting to look at actual paperwork issued by Costigan may do so by contacting the superintendent's office at the Herricks Community Center, 999 Herricks Road, on the second floor or by calling Dr. John Bierwirth at 248-3105.

Principal of the Center Street School, Edward Bellomo, then went through the highlights of all three elementary school budgets.

He started the presentation by pointing out that the key to the entire budget was that everything was for the children. The enrollment, he said, was the key in all of the schools.

Bellomo explained that as of now enrollment in each school is as follows: Center Street: 548; Denton Avenue: 522 and Searingtown: 612. This shows a slight decrease in all the schools, but only a slight decrease.

The per capita amount is up 3 percent to $194.85 for each school. Health supplies are as follows: Center Street: $986.40; Denton Avenue: $939.60 and Searingtown $1,101.60. ESL costs are as follows: Center: $1,096; Denton: $1,044 and Searingtown: $1,224.00; Copy Machine Costs are: Center Street: $27, 034; Denton: $22,248 and Searingtown: $24, 105. Building Allocation is as follows: Center: $135, 895; Denton: 125,943 and Searingtown: $145,679.

The breakdown for the per capita costs of $195.85 was shown on a graph as Copiers: $40; Library $19; Texts: $30; Supplies $70 and other $30.

The instructional supplies to support the curriculum were listed as: art, paper, general classroom, math manipulatives, reading, science, maps, gloves and consumables.

Textbooks to support the curriculum such as:

Core books, classroom leveled libraries, content area literature, classroom periodicals (Time for Kids, Scholastic News), teacher resource books and teachers' guides, dictionaries, content area textbooks such as: mathematics, science, social studies and music books.

Library support such as: books, reference material, laminating film, periodicals. Transparencies.

Technology supplies such as: printers, scanners, SMARTBoard Bulbs at $300 each to replace; software, inkjet cartridges and printer paper.

Equipment such as: overhead projectors, SMARTBoards, laptops, tape recorders, digital cameras, whiteboards and corkboards.

Furniture replacement such as: chairs, desks, kidney tables, bookcases, paper drawer cabinets, computer tables, chair caddies and lunchroom tables, which could be as costly as $1,200.

Staff Development: conferences, seminars, training in new initiatives and best practices.

The board then heard from Director of Public Services Mehri Fryzel who, along with assistant director Roberta Hopkins, presented the Public Services Budget.

The pupil services are provided to those children who have been identified with a disability. Help is provided to all students in the district, which includes private schools, residential placements, other public schools, BOCES and parochial schools.

Each student is classified as follows:

2005	2007
Autism	21	28
Emotional Disturbance	35	25
Learning Disability	204
Mental Retardation	6	6
Deafness	3	4
Hearing Impairment	7	8
Speech/Language	92	114
Impairment
Visual Impairment	4	4
Orthopedic Impairment	1	2
Other Health Impairment	125	151
Multiple Disabilities	43	30
Deaf/Blindness	0	0
Traumatic Brain	0	0
Total School Age	542	546
Preschool Disabled	56	54
Grand Total	598	600

A chart was also provided which described the how children with disabilities are served:

In District: 90.8 percent

Out of District: Day: 7.7 percent

Out of District: Residential: 1 percent

Home or Hospital: 5 percent.

June 2007 Graduation Results of Students with Disabilities:

Thirty-three students graduated or aged out of the Herricks School District; 26 graduated from Herricks High and seven graduated from out-of-district placements.

Of the 26 Herricks graduates:

• Six graduated with an Advanced Regents diploma and were accepted into a four-year college.

• One graduated with an Advanced Regents diploma and was accepted to a two-year college.

• Seven graduated with a Regents diploma and were accepted to a four-year college.

• Four graduated with a Regents diploma and were accepted to a two-year college.

• Two graduated with a local diploma and were accepted to a four-year college.

• Four graduated with a local diploma and were accepted to a two-year college.

• One graduated with a Regents diploma and was accepted into the military.

• One graduated with an IEP diploma and will attend a vocational rehabilitation program to prepare for future supported employment.

Of the seven students who graduated from an out-of-district placement:

• One student graduated with a Regents diploma and was accepted to a two-year college.

• Three students graduated with a diploma from a residential school in Maine and all were accepted to a two-year college.

• One student graduated with a local diploma and will enter competitive employment.

• Two students aged out at 21 from the district-supported programs and will transition to adult services for supported employment options.

Director Fryzel explained that it was difficult to develop a budget for Public Services because it is influenced by many variables. She said, "Determining the services needed for our students is dependent on the assessment and planning for each individual student each year. Students with severe disabilities may be small in number, but these students require the most highly skilled specialized support. One new student can have an enormous impact on our tuition account or contract services. It makes predicting the different amount in each budget account difficult at best. With this in mind, the important factors will impact our budget for the next year."

She then said the amount of students in the program has increased from 514 to 546 and the numbers continue to rise. The number of preschool special education students has also increased from 44 to 54.

Fryszel added, "Students with disabilities continue to be integrated into general education classes in very high percentages. Ninety point eight percent of students are educated in our local school programs. This option continues to reduce tuition spending, while providing high quality options for our students in less restrictive environments.

"The New York State requirement for all school districts to pay 20 percent of the maintenance fees for residential placements continues to significantly impact our budget. This requirement totals $137,384."

The total projected budget for the 2008-09 Public Services Budget, therefore, is $2,900,032.

Anyone wishing to see the entire budget may do so by calling the administration office at Herricks Community Center at 248-3105.

After the budgets were presented the board went back to its regular agenda.

At the regular portion of the meeting many of the trustees attended the Chinese Festival given jointly by the Manhasset Music Department and the Herricks Music Department at the Manhasset School. Half of the monies raised went to the Manhasset music department and half to the Herricks music department. Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Dr. Deirdre Hayes announce that Ashley Lerman has, after her last competition, been ranked number one in fencing on Long Island.

Further Lisa Parissi and her fifth grade class have been awarded a Chase Multimedia in the Classroom Award. Their challenge was to discover whether or not the water in a toilet bowl in New Zealand swirls in an opposite direction than the water in toilet bowls in our part of the world.

Apparently, after much research, it was discovered that in New Zealand the toilet water doesn't swirl at all but rather empties straight down, with no swirling.

Gerard Bloom, English teacher, gave a short presentation on his use of the SMARTBoard in the classroom and how he can convert a student's handwriting to text. He said it alleviates the students from having to take lots and lots of notes. They go to the SMARTBoard they write the notes in their handwriting and it automatically changes it to text. He demonstrated the process on the SMARTBoard in the boardroom and it was amazing.

Bloom said his major object was to teach community outside the classroom by using software entitled classchatter.com. He said he posts their homework on it and they can communicate with each other but they are unable to see what each other has done with that homework until the end of the week or the following Monday. At that time Bloom is able to use a mode that lets the students make comments as well on the homework.

The Searingtown PTA presented the school board with the following gifts of programs and services and they were accepted by the board:

Multi-Sensory Early Childhood Book Collections; Biography Book Collection; Literature based on math book collection; cooking collection, Enteos (handheld devices that go with the SMARTBoards); Four-way Volleyball net and lightweight Volleyballs; programs for kindergarten children; Theodore Roosevelt Bird Sanctuary; Program for students-Planetarium. The total value of the gift is approximately $6,000.

On the recommendation of Dr. Hayes, the board voted not to increase the 2008 fees for the Summer Recreation Program. However, the fees of the instructors will be increased by 3 percent.

The next school board meeting will be held on Feb. 28 at 7:15 p.m. at the Herricks Community Center, 999 Herricks Road, New Hyde Park. At that time they will hold a regular meeting as well as a review of the high school budget and the technology infrastructure budget.