Board Scrambles ToLower Budget





In a world where gas prices are soaring to record levels and the cost of living on Long Island continues to climb, administrators from the Garden City School District did a last-minute scramble to ease residents’ tax burden by lowering the proposed budget.

The Garden City School District announced the lowest budget-to-budget increase residents have seen in six years at Tuesday evening’s Board of Education meeting. The overall proposed budget currently totals $85,375,699, which is 5.39 percent higher than last year.

The district was able to reduce the budget by $424,929 on Tuesday after New York State decided not to implement the new federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which was supposed to take effect on Sept. 1. Superintendent of Schools Dr. Robert Feirsen said he learned of the state’s decision late on Tuesday afternoon. John Powell, assistant superintendent of business and finance, had to hurriedly make adjustments in time for the evening Board meeting, when the budget was scheduled to be adopted.

Dr. Feirsen said that it is possible the state will implement the act next year. Under the IDEA, more staffing would have been needed in special education. All children in the school district, regardless of their district of residence, would have been required to be serviced by whatever school district the private or parochial school was located in. This meant Garden City, as well as other districts, would be required to service a significantly larger pool of students.

The district reduced staffing that was in the budget by 2.8 by eliminating the staffing that would have been needed because of the new IDEA. New staffing will now include two high school teachers, 1.4 special education teachers for in-district programs like co-teaching and programs for students with significant special education needs, one foreign language (FLES) teacher for the third grade, a .5 psychologist and a .5 clerical position. The total is 5.4 new positions.

The budget, as well as the bond for the Middle School field purchase, is supported by the PTA. “Our organization believes that the Board of Education and the administration are committed to improving all programs, providing systematic curriculum review and enhancement, and the development and supervision of all staff members,” said PTA President Jeanine Swartz. “We urge the community to stay informed of important budget issues and we will continue to work toward the successful passage of the budget.”

Early next week residents will be able to determine what their exact tax increase will be by visiting the district’s Web site, www.gardencity.k12.ny.us. Through this site, residents will be able to access Nassau County’s Web site, where they can type in their tax lot information and find out how much their taxes will increase. The amount will not reflect STAR program discounts.

A public hearing on the budget will be held on Monday, May 8. Garden City residents will be able to vote on the budget and the field bond on Tuesday, May 16.

In other district financial news, the Board accepted a $40,000 donation from the family of the late Frances Di Maria Viviani. The scholarship, known as “The Frances Di Maria Viviani Award,” is for a graduating student selected by the chairperson of the Italian Department at Garden City High School for academic achievement in the study of the Italian language, history or culture.




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