The Great Neck Public Schools board of trustees presented a revised draft budget for public review at its meeting Monday night.
The $192 million plan, which includes a 3.14 percent tax levy increase that falls under the state tax cap, shares the same top-line numbers as a first draft released in March, but shifts spending to preserve specific programs and jobs.
“Additional money was added to the Academic Intervention Services budget, in order to prepare for students who may need academic assistance after this year’s exams,” said Great Neck Superintendent of Schools Tom Dolan.
The district also restored funding for four school matron positions, after March’s board meeting when one matron – a decades-long employee of the district – gave an emotional appeal to the board to preserve her job.
“The matron positions which had been cut from a previous budget have been restored to the budget,” Dolan said. “Those four matrons remain employed by the district.”
The budget still includes dozens of cuts to staff, including the equivalent of 17 teacher positions and 21 teachers’ aides, assistants and monitors.
“We regret that this situation has come upon us,” Assistant Superintendent for Business John Powell said in March. The budget will be subject to additional public hearing and possible revision before a board vote.
The district is facing $14 million in increased costs compared to 2012-2013, driven largely by a $4 million jump in retirement liabilities and $2.2 million in projected tax refunds, school administrators said. The state tax cap allows for a $5.8 million increase, leaving millions for the district to make up with spending cuts and reserve funds, Powell said.
“Unfortunately the only way to materially cut budgets is to reduce personnel,” Powell said following the release of the first draft budget.
Powell said that 98 percent of the $14 million cost increase was due to salaries, fringe benefits and tax certiorari liabilities. The certiorari obligations, which have for decades been paid for the county in accordance with state law, represent a new cost to the district
The tax certioraris were to be made the responsibility of the district when Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano signed a law ending the county’s guarantee of tax refunds. That law was struck down by a state appellate court, but the county is appealing the decision, and that uncertainty led the district to budget for the possible cost of the cases.
The board also introduced a policy to tighten identification and entrance requirements for visitors to schools, a move that Dolan said was partially motivated by safety concerns in the wake of the shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.
“Part of this was certainly talking about Newtown,” Dolan said. “I think this is a response, both in language and in procedure, to emphasize how important it is to monitor visitors to our school.”
The proposed changes would require that visitors access schools through a single point of entry and require photo identification.
And while the deadline for filing paperwork to get on the ballot for the upcoming school board election is not until April 22, one candidate has declared, according to district clerk Diana O’Connell: incumbent trustee Monique Bloom, whose seat is the only one up for a vote.
