By Samuel Glasser
The Sewanhaka Central High School District is still waiting to hear how much state aid it will receive before it can finalize the budget for the coming school year, Ralph Ferrie, the district superintendent, said Tuesday.
The final total will not be known until the state budget, due April 1, is in place.
“If state aid is unchanged we will still need to cut $1.3 million [in spending] to stay within the calculated tax cap,” Ferrie said.
State funds account for 19.2 percent of the proposed $192.8 million budget for the 2017-18 school year. The district cannot increase revenue from property taxes by more than 4.75 percent under the state’s tax cap law.
Ten teachers and one administrator decided to take advantage of a retirement incentive, which is expected to reduce expenses by $1 million, John Capozzi, the assistant superintendent for personnel, said in an interview.
The district invited members of the state Legislature to hear the administration’s concerns regarding policy and budget issues at an invitation-only forum held at H. Frank Carey High School on March 9.
School board Trustee Jean Fichtl, who organized the meeting along with Cheryl Champ, the assistant superintendent of curriculum, said the district’s concerns were well received by state senators Elaine Phillips and Todd Kaminsky, Assembly members Edward Ra and Michaelle Solages, and Board of Regents member Roger Tilles.
Fichtl said that a major issue was unfunded state mandates, along with other financial issues, including the state’s method of allocating federal aid.
The length of time it takes to get approvals and decisions from the state Education Department was also discussed.
School board members also attended from the four component elementary school districts – Floral Park, New Hyde Park-Garden City Park, Elmont and Franklin Square, Fichtl said.
Most of this year’s proposed spending increase is driven by increased debt payments on the district’s $86.5 million bond, which voters approved in 2014 to fund various building projects.
Ferrie gave a progress report Tuesday on the third and final phase of those construction projects, which he said are on schedule and within budget.
At Floral Park Memorial High School, the foundation for the new auditorium is in place. The steel work is expected to be completed within three or four weeks, Ferrie said.
At New Hyde Park Memorial High School, the auditorium is completed and the rooftop solar panels will begin generating power over the next two weeks, Ferrie said.
The panels are expected to supply 35 percent of the building’s electricity.
At Sewanhaka High School in Floral Park, the steel structure for the new cafeteria, gymnasium and related facilities is up and the project is expected to be completed by the opening of school in the fall, Ferrie said.
At Elmont Memorial High School, the walls for the new gymnasium are up and the gym and the auditorium are expected to be completed in time for the new school year, Ferrie said.
The three art classrooms across from the main office were relocated and the space is being converted into guidance offices which should be ready after spring break.
At H. Frank Carey High School in Franklin Square, the new auditorium is finished and the new natural gas supply line will be installed soon, Ferrie said.
Window replacement is underway and the new parking lot is finished.
The Sewanhaka school board also voted Tuesday to apply for $800,000 available through the state’s the SMART Schools Bond Act, which funds technology purchases across the state.
Christopher Nelson, the district’s technology director, said the funds would purchase 1,600 iPads for the incoming seventh-grade class in the fall and 76 Chromebook laptops for incoming seventh-grade students at Notre Dame School in New Hyde Park and the Our Lady of Victory School in Floral Park. Both are private Catholic schools.
