The proposed 2010-11 school budget will include a net reduction of 10.8 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions, announced Superintendent of Schools Dr. Robert Feirsen at a Garden City Board of Education budget work session on Tuesday evening. The superintendent also requested that class size guidelines be temporarily suspended.

The class size cap will be increased from 25 to 27 for classes in grades two through six if the budget is adopted by the Garden City Board of Education in April and approved by Garden City voters in May. At Stewart School, 26 sections will be reduced to 23: two sections will have 24 students, 13 will have 25, seven will have 26 and one will have 27. At Stratford, 29 sections will be reduced to 28: 13 sections will have 24 students, six will have 25, seven will have 26 students and two will have 27 students. Out of all 51 sections, only three will be at the highest newly proposed level of 27 students.

Dr. Feirsen recommended reserving three full-time equivalent positions in general and special education in case of a potential enrollment increase. However, he suggested several reductions that equate to a net reduction of 10.8 full-time equivalent positions: 1 assistant principal, 4 elementary teacher positions, 1 elementary Quest teacher and a .2 Quest section, 1 elementary science specialist, 1 middle school sixth-grade teacher, 2 high school teachers, 2 paraprofessionals, 1 clerical position and a .6 technology staff developer. At this time it is unknown which assistant principal position will be eliminated.

“These are my recommendations to the board. These are my proposals,” he said. “The board has not adopted them, did not approve them. I take responsibility for these proposals....Obviously, I have taken my responsibilities quite seriously and it has been a very difficult and a very challenging process this year, to say the least.”

Dr. Feirsen said the Quest program will continue with one teacher switching between both elementary schools. Other proposed program reductions include: a 10 percent reduction in clubs at the middle and high schools, elimination of the four high school JV-B teams, elimination of high school intramurals, elimination of middle school summer intramurals, and a 50 percent reduction in the summer Academic Intervention Services program. The reduction will mean the AIS summer program will be two weeks instead of four. The technology budget is also being proposed to be reduced.

He said he has felt like he has had multiple personalities at times over the past several weeks. His primary role as Chief Executive Officer of the district is to put into practice the district’s mission and values. “Our values, from my position, are putting kids first,” he said. In keeping with this philosophy, Dr. Feirsen said he wants to provide students with the best programs and resources.

However, Dr. Feirsen also recognized that the school district is very labor-intensive and that every decision he makes has a human dimension. “I recognize that when we talk about reducing things, eliminating things, postponing things, that we affect lives,” he said. “We affect the lives of many people in our community and on our faculty and staff.”

Dr. Feirsen is also responsible for making sure that the district makes sound financial decisions and ensures its continued fiscal health. “So I have that on one side, and the need to provide the best things for kids on the other,” he said. “So, basically I felt like I’m pulled between a rock and a hard place.”

The district is faced with a significant reduction in state aid; Dr. Feirsen estimated the net total to be $700,000. Large increases in state-mandated contributions to the Teachers’ Retirement System and the Employee Retirement System have also deeply affected the budget. The teacher retirement system contribution has risen 43 percent, and the district has seen a similar increase with the state employee retirement system, which covers non-teaching and non-certificated personnel. The 2010-11 budget calls for 8.8 percent of the payroll paid by the district to go toward pension contributions to the NYS Teachers’ Retirement System. Dr. Feirsen also noted the district pays for other benefits and required salary increases.

He said if he had just moved everything in the budget into next year’s budget without making changes, taxpayers would see a budget-to-budget increase of at least seven percent, and a tax levy increase of eight percent or higher. “That was clearly not acceptable,” he said. The public would most likely not have passed the budget, leaving district administrators to make cuts in expenses totaling millions of dollars in a very short time.

Dr. Feirsen believes that his recommendations “protect the core of our community’s investments in the schools, and maintain our tradition of excellence.”

“These are extraordinary circumstances that we face today,” he said. “I really am confident that even though there has been a lot of angst about doing this budget, and I know there is a lot of tension in the community about it, I am confident that we will be able to surmount the challenges that we have ahead of us, and the careful analysis that we have done, the good planning, the vigilance about using our resources in the best ways, coupled with a budget process that you ensure is open, transparent, thoughtful and frank, will produce the best results for Garden City in the long run.”

Not surprisingly, Dr. Feirsen’s proposals elicited many comments from residents in the audience. School Board President Colleen Foley welcomed the input, but reminded the public that if they want something kept in the budget, something else must be sacrificed.

“It is very difficult for all of us here,” she said. “There is not a single board member here who wants to cut a program, or do anything that some of us have spent 10 years building. The superintendent has done I think a good job in giving us a basis of where to go. We approach this not as business as usual. It’s not going to be business as usual for us going forward because it can’t be.”

The tone remained civil, as Foley requested, as the majority of residents asked for specific programs to be saved. The proposed reduction of the elementary science specialist concerned several parents who believe the district should be stronger in the area of science. The elementary school years are prime time to generate student interest in the subject, they contended.

Dr. Feirsen took the opportunity to correct what he called “misperceptions” when it comes to the district’s science research program. The program was changed four years ago from solely writing papers and attending occasional meetings to participating in actual scientific research. In those four years, many students have achieved success in several distinguished science competitions. Enrollment has increased in science research programs at the high school. A teacher-run science club at the elementary school level is very popular and is not expected to be affected by the budget reductions.

He says the district’s goal differs from other districts that annually produce numerous science contest winners. “The approach right now is for kids to gain a valuable and robust research experience,” he said. According to Dr. Feirsen, other districts handpick students in the sixth or seventh grade and put them in special programs with a dedicated teacher for their high school careers to create a project.

Some parents were concerned about the proposed increase in class size for grades two through six. Dr. Feirsen said the class sizes are on par with other districts, and they are all experiencing similar financial challenges. “Our situation this year is not driven by forces that are unique to Garden City,” he said. “It is a malady that afflicts every one of our comparable districts.”

Dr. Feirsen’s presentation on Tuesday focused on the instructional component of the budget, which comprises the largest portion with a total of $73,173,051 or 74.46 percent.

If the current proposed budget is passed, the district will spend $15,761 per pupil. Garden City is second to last when the district is compared to 11 other districts in Nassau County with residents in a similar income bracket: Jericho, Locust Valley, Great Neck, Manhasset, North Shore, Roslyn, East Williston, Syosset, Port Washington, Rockville Centre and Herricks. With $15,232 allotted per pupil, Herricks is the only district in this group that spends less than Garden City.

This comparison is done every year to show residents that they are getting a comparable level of quality for less money. In Nassau County, Garden City is ranked eighth in wealth by the state and 31st in per pupil spending. There are 56 districts in the county.

When class 1 tax rates are compared to other districts in Nassau County, Garden City ranked 48th with a rate of $384.184 in 2009-10. Levittown has the highest tax rate, totaling $719.578.

Dr. Feirsen’s proposed budget is $98,275,256, which is 3.21 percent higher than last year. The projected tax levy increase (with STAR) is 4.52 percent. He emphasized that the budget is still a work in progress.

A budget work session scheduled to be held on March 9th at 8:15 p.m. at the high school will cover other instructional components including Pupil Personnel Services (PPS includes special education as well as health, guidance, psychological and social work services, speech and hearing services, home instruction and adaptive physical education), computer education, continuing education, summer school and interscholastic athletics. Even though it is a work session where public participation is usually not permitted, when it comes to the budget the school board has been allowing time to address public questions and comments.

The public has several upcoming opportunities to comment and ask budget-related questions. Besides the regular Board work sessions and meetings, there will be a public hearing on the budget on Tuesday, May 11. Garden City residents will be asked to vote on the budget on Tuesday, May 18. For a complete list of budget sessions, visit www.gardencity.k12.ny.us.