The Manhasset board of education on Wednesday unanimously approved the school district’s $90,389,627 million proposed budget for 2015-16 that will go before a community vote on May 19.
First introduced during a weekend work session by the board in early March, the budget carries a $82,872,705 total tax levy, meeting the district’s allowable 2.52 percent levy limit, and enables Manhasset to continue its restoration of courses, extracurricular activities and teachers lost by a 2013-14 budget vote that unsuccessfully sought to breach the state tax cap, officials said.
“From the start, this is really a student-centered budget that helps us restore the four A’s of education,” Manhasset Superintendent of Schools Charles Cardillo said, referring to the district’s mission to maximize its academics, athletics, activities and arts.
The adopted budget represents the culmination of a seven-year average tax levy increase of 1.9 percent and a seven-year average expenditure increase of 1.7 percent, while overall student enrollment has increased 7.5 percent, officials said.
Manhasset has approximately 3,300 students enrolled at Munsey Park Elementary School, Shelter Rock Elementary School and the Manhasset Secondary School, which houses Manhasset Middle School and Manhasset High School.
The budget provides for the hiring of 12 teachers and the implementation of several new courses at the elementary and secondary levels to meet student demand and enrollment projections in future years, officials said.
In addition to restoring class sections of various electives, as well as class sizes that align with state averages, Manhasset plans to offer new elective courses in Advanced Creative Writing, Journalism, Latin I, Mandarin Chinese I, Multivariable Calculus, advanced placement-level Computer Science and Accounting, advanced placement-level Studio Art, Architectural Drawing, Drawing, Electronic Keyboarding, Introduction to Business, advanced placement-level Environmental Science, Forensics, Criminal Civil Law and Introduction to Psychology.
Manhasset has also proposed an intramural athletics program at the middle school level, which officials said may take a few years to cultivate due to field constraints with upcoming renovations to Memorial Field and other scheduling conflicts.
“As a business person, if you’re not a step ahead, you’re three steps behind, and that’s not Manhasset,” said Trustee Carlo Prinzo, the board’s vice president. “That’s not our legacy, that’s not what we’re about and not why people move to Manhasset.”
Manhasset will receive $4.2 million in state aid in 2015-16, a $397,000 increase from 2014-15, which includes the restoration of $227,000 the district lost in past years as a result of the state’s gap elimination adjustment program.
