Lawrence School District adopts $95.615M budget

Officials will review state rebate proposal

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Five employees, including three social workers, will be let go by the Lawrence School District should the current proposed budget plan for the 2014-15 school year be approved by residents on May 20.
After presenting three budget options at its previous Board of Education meeting, the trustees adopted a fiscal plan that called for the staff reductions in order to make up for a $734,013 deficit in the tentative $95.615 million fiscal plan at Monday’s trustee meeting at the middle school.
Along with the three social workers, the district will also cut a high school science teacher and a clerical worker. Superintendent Gary Schall said classroom instruction will not be affected as the teacher lay off is based on enrollment and two administrators will be hired to replace the social workers.
“This will address needs and shifting personnel to administration will allow us to call parents and have meetings with parents after school hours,” he said, noting that administrators have greater latitude than the social workers. He also said there is a backlog regarding student issues. Five social workers will remain on staff.
Money has been allocated for security and transportation upgrades. The high school and middle school will get new doors with a buzzer system and monitors. Officials are working with Independent Coach to install cameras on the buses and GPS.

The tax-cap levy is 0.9, which is under the state cap. Included in this year’s state budget is a provision that would provide a taxpayer rebate for their school district’s tax increase for the 2014-15 and 2015-16 school years if districts come in under their state-mandated cap.
Based on that, Atlantic Beach resident Jesse Lunin-Pack thinks the district should increase its tax levy to 1.46 (still under its cap), which would create more tax revenue for the district and more of a rebate for taxpayers. “I fail to understand how we are not taking the maximum tax levy allowed by law,” he said. “It is not fiscally responsible to leave money on the table.”
The “carrot” of the state reimbursement does not come without what Al D’Agostino, the attorney for the school district called “the stick.” He said that districts that take the money need to have a plan in place for three years with implementation beginning in 2016-17 for “efficiencies” in their budgets that account for a 1 percent give back to the state for those three years, a total of 3 percent. “It looks like they are looking for [the money] back,” D’Agostino said. “We have to look at it.”
District officials said that they will review the state proposal. “We will find out what it really means and there is ample opportunity to make an appropriate change,” said Trustee Asher Mansdorf, adding that the rebate could also be “restricted” due to the money residents receive through STAR (School Tax Relief program).
A budget hearting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 6 at 8 p.m. at Lawrence Middle School.