In a 5-0 vote, the Massapequa Board of Education adopted an $80.68 million budget at their April 23 meeting. The budget still needs to be approved by the voters on May 19 for final approval.

The proposed budget calls for a 3.72 percent increase over last year's school tax rate, or $1.67/100 a.v.

According to Superintendent of Schools James Brucia, 2.0 percent of the 3.72 percent goes to cover the costs of the recent contract settlement with the MFT.

Trustee Ric Sorvillo, who last year voted against the budget, said that he was voting for the budget this year because much of the percent increase goes to pay for the district's settlement with the teacher's union and with the hope that the rate will be lowered in August when the board sets the final tax rate.

The board discussed at their Thursday meeting a New York state legislative initiative to granting the district $1.2 million for new school construction. Sorvillo said that he hoped the money could be used to lower the tax increase.

On Saturday the school construction initiative was vetoed by Governor George Pataki.

The 1998-99 budget proposal calls for an average increase of six dollars per student for textbooks, for a total of $65/student.

The budget provides funds to continue some of the initiatives adopted by the board in the past, including the Science Research Program. "A lot of the programs we started this year we're continuing," explained Brucia.

Two new programs that this year's budget provides funds for are a new Summer Reading Program and Fast Forward, a new speech-language program.

The Summer Reading Program is a phonics based 5 week program established primarily for grades first through third, but open to grades fourth through sixth, using the Recipe for Reading technique to address the needs of students with decoding problems. There will be no fee for the program.

Fast Forward is another new summer program that's a part of the proposed budget which is intended to use the internet to teach children ages five through twelve with speech problems. The cost to the district is $850 per child, and will be a pilot program for study by other districts. There will be no tuition charge for the program, but a fee may apply.

At the high school, the board of education approved eight new classes to be taken as electives. They are: French 5, American Sign Language 3, Photography 3, Forensic Science, AP Environmental Science, SAT I Math Preparation, First Aid and CPR, and a business education College Freshman Seminar.

Also, the budget allows for all of the occupational education programs to be continued. Currently, students at Massapequa High School are permitted to take any classes at the Levittown Vocational Center that are offered at no cost. Any classes not offered at Levittown, but offered by Nassau BOCES, are also available.

Brucia said that he was very satisfied with the new electives. "Every one of those has some substance to it," he said.

One of the largest revenue portions of the budget that differs from last year, at $140,000, is the expected rental of the Hawthorne School by BOCES. The plan in the works between BOCES and the district hint at an expected July occupancy for the establishment of a Nassau Educators Resource Center, including a resource library and a training center. The district has scheduled a meeting for May 28 to answer questions from the community.

"I don't think there will be concerns about it," said Brucia. "I think this is an opportunity to use the building in a good way."

Current staff levels throughout the district remain the same this year, with the loss of one elementary school teacher and the addition of a new administrative position.

The new administrative position will be responsible for maintaining the district's grant program, seeking new grants, acting as a liaison to the BOCES public relations service, conducting special projects, compiling statistical data on the district's programs. "It's a very detail oriented job," said Brucia.

The addition of a new administrator was a point of argument among the members the board of education throughout the budget process. A measure to eliminate the proposal from the budget failed to get a majority of the board of education's approval.

Sorvillo said that he voted for the budget despite his opposition to the addition of a new administrative position.