Last Tuesday, voters in the Roslyn area, by a 934-572 margin, approved the Roslyn School District's 2002-2003 budget. The budget totaled $69,803,536, a 10.69 percent increase over the previous fiscal year's budget.

Throughout Nassau and Suffolk counties, most school budgets passed, even though about one in six were rejected, a percentage that was the highest in recent years. The budget for the Herricks School District, for instance, an area where many Roslyn Heights schoolchildren attend classes, was defeated.

In addition to the school budget, voters also approved a referendum on extending modifications to the mileage eligibility limits for school bus transportation for one more year. The extension came with no additional cost to taxpayers. The 2002-2003 Bryant Library budget of $3,502,830 was passed. Two incumbent board of education members, William Costigan and Ellen Seigel, faced no opposition as they were re-elected to serve another four-year term each.

Since April, school district officials gave a great deal of publicity to the budget vote, including holding several public meetings on the subject. Throughout the past few months, the district was able to reduce the size of the proposed budget considerably. Originally, the 2002-2003 budget called for a 15 percent increase. However, by the time it was up for the May 21 vote, the increase was pared down to the 10.69 percent that was approved by the voters. In all, nearly $3 million in budget reductions were made while the final budget was being prepared.

School district officials said whatever increases there were from last year's budget were due to several factors. They included continuing increases in enrollment, plus "significant" increases in insurance costs and in the special education population. There was also the matter of the first repayment on the bond that was approved in 2000.

Over the past decade, the school district has experienced a 25 percent increase in its student population, which itself represents the equivalent of an entire school. This has led to the need for more building administrators, teachers, teacher assistants, special services and more technology programs. Consequently, the largest items in the budget went for employee salaries, health insurance coverage, liability insurance and bond repayment. In addition, services for the district's BOCES program accounted for $2 million.

On the cost-saving side, school district officials pointed to a reduction in the size of the central administration, plus savings in travel and conference expenditures; a reduced use of consultants; no additional capital improvement projects and savings in excess of $1.7 million by increasing the share of health insurance premiums paid by school district employees. More specifically, savings also came from custodial coverage, professional development, intramurals, teacher stipends, and teacher positions, the latter of which will not increase despite rising enrollment. Staff reductions and administrative reorganizing resulted in another $400,000 in budget reductions.

While drafting the budget, school district officials cited several items as major priorities. They included support for research, life skills, elementary foreign language and community service programs; new state mandates for English language learners and the all-Regents high school and testing; academic intervention services; professional development for all staff; and the expansion of the Advanced Placement program.