Lynbrook BOE Holds First Budget Work Session

The elimination of a Latin class, the creation of a double block of English in middle school and the increase in class sizes at the kindergarten level were among the proposed changes announced Wednesday night at the Lynbrook Board of Education's first budget work session for 2012-13.

The district has until March 1 to submit the maximum allowable tax levy to the State, which is a problem since it is an item they were not given back in December when they were given the information regarding the tax cap levy, according to Assistant Superintendent of Business, Dr. Melissa Burak.

"That’s going to be an issue moving forward year after year. How many people recall the State budget being solved by March 1?" Burak said to the crowd. "If the school district relies on state aid to help bring down it’s levy, to help it get to the tax cap, how are we suppose to prevent that if we don’t have the information before then?"

This created much more difficulty in building the budget this year for the school board, according to Burak.

"We usually build our budget and we take what our needs are and ways we can improve the programs, but what the tax cap levy has forced schools to do is actually work a little bit backwards," Burak said.

Burak said this is because the schools have to first worry about the end result - the tax levy limit - then have to develop the budget to get within the limit.

"We have worked very hard as a district to get within that tax levy limit without creating a tremendous strain on the educational system and the students," Burak said.

Among the proposals are reducing total kindergarten sections by one, from 10 to nine, which would increase the students per class ratio from 19.1 to 20.6, with total enrollment anticipated to drop by five students. At the elementary level, Marion Street school would see one section reduced, while Waverly Park and West End would be unchanged. Average class size for Marion Street is anticipated to be 19.4 students, with 19.1 at Waverly Park and 20.9 at West End.

One change proposed at the middle school level is the elimination of a 6th grade Latin class and the creation of a double block of English, as well as increasing the rigor of math programs.

At the high school level, the board has proposed creating an AP studio art class. Special education programs with remain the same, and no teachers will be laid off at any levels, according to the board.

District social workers will be also hired in place of temp social workers, according to the presentation.

Salaries are expected to increase $344,533 in 2012-13. In benefit costs, retirement and civil service costs are expected to increase from $895,644 to $1,035,680. Burak said the board will put in additional money from their retirement contribution reserves to help offset that cost, and said they will have approximately $1.2 million left in reserves after the 2012-13 school year.

Increases in pension and health insurance costs are to blame for the increase, according to the presentation. Health insurance costs are project to rise 11 percent in 2012-13 to $7,434,834.

Personnel and student support services budget will increase $195,362 or 12.75 percent because of local assessment mandates in accordance with the APPR regulations. State mandates require the school to give testing materials electronically every year, according to the board. The highest cost is expected to be $33,600 for Lynbrook High School testing materials, which was no cost in 2011-12.

The county also mandates the use of the new computerized voting booths, which increases the budget by $11,104, the presentation said. 

The next budget work session will be held on Feb. 29 at and will focus on the building, department and special programs budgets. The budget hearing is on May 2 and the budget vote is on May 15.