The Mineola School District Board of Education was so disheartened by the residents' rejection of the 2005-2006 proposed budget last week, the board decided not even to try again. The board voted by a 4-1 margin not to put another budget before voters and adopt a contingency budget for the 2005-2006 school year.

Board of Education President RoseAnn Buglione said before the board accepted the result of the vote that the district put up a well-prepared and responsible budget. The tax levy increase for the proposed budget for the 2005-2006 school year was 4.93 percent, which was among the lowest in Nassau County.

However, with rising taxes forcing many homeowners to question how much they can afford and Mineola having among the highest per pupil costs in the county, the voters of the district rejected the budget.

The results are as follows:

Cross Street School 303 Yes 306 No

Hampton Street School 260 Yes 334 No

Jackson Avenue School 411 Yes 616 No

Meadow Drive School 353 Yes 338 No

Total 1,594 Yes 1,327 No

Under state education law, the board has three options when it comes to the budget after a defeat. It can put the same budget out to vote; it can reduce the budget and then put it before the public for a vote or it can adopt a contingency budget calls for up to a 3.2 percent increase over the 2004-2005 budget.

Board of Education Vice President Donna Strein said she had trouble sleeping after the budget vote as she was agonizing over what to do about the budget. Strein said that she spoke to a lot of people about the vote and the concerns were financial. Therefore, she said she could not support going out to the public for another vote.

Buglione referred to the situation two years ago when the Mineola budget failed and the board put the same budget before the public a second time. She said the community perceived that as an insult and the board certainly does not want to insult the community. "I feel our responsibility is to honor that vote," said Buglione about last Tuesday's vote.

Board members Steve Siwinski and Mary Ellen Williams also voted to adopt the contingency budget and not go out to the public with another budget. However, board member John McGrath said that he would like to know exactly what would be cut before voting to adopt a contingency budget. McGrath believes that the board shouldn't rush to adopt a contingency budget. However, the board voted 4-1 to do so with McGrath casting the lone negative vote.

As a result of the board adopting the contingency budget, it has to make $1.8 million in cuts to the budget that was proposed. Those cuts are on top of the $3.3 million in expense side reductions that were part of the proposed 2005-2006 budget.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Lorenzo Licopoli said that the June 2 board of education workshop meeting at 8 p.m. at the Willis Avenue School would be dedicated to a plan for the cuts.

Cuts figure to come from extracurricular programs, co-curricular activities such as field trips and conferences and other non-mandated items such as summer school programs and adult education.

Board members may agonize over cutting some items that were in the original programs, but they feel that the community has spoken with its rejection of a budget they felt was fiscally responsible.

District residents also rejected a $10,687,373 bond referendum for maintenance improvements to the schools even though that referendum would have had a zero tax impact to taxpayers. That's because the district planned to use revenue from Nextel as part of an agreement to lease the district's communication lines to the company to pay off the referendum. District residents rejected the referendum by a 1,391 to 1,111 margin.

The most pressing need that was included in the bond referendum was the replacement of the high school windows. Dr. Licopoli said the state doesn't consider that to be an emergency expense. Therefore, the board cannot put the money for the replacement of the high school windows in the contingency budget so that improvement as well as the other items that were in the referendum will have to wait.

Voters re-elected board member Mary Ellen Williams for another three-year term. Williams thanked the voters for the privilege to continue to serve on the board. Residents also elected John Carroll to fill the seat of longtime board member RoseAnn Buglione, who decided to retire from the board.