Hewlett-Woodmere, Lawrence school districts adopt operating budgets

The Hewlett-Woodmere and Lawrence school districts have both adopted the proposed operating budgets for the 2019-2020 fiscal year that begins on July 1. Next month, on May 21, district residents will have their say.

The proposed $123, 318721 Hewlett-Woodmere budget includes a 2.95 percent increase — $3,533,659 — over the current spending plan of $119,785,062. The tax levy — the amount of money raised through property taxes — is also slated to increase by 2.95 percent, to $103.2 million. The present tax levy is $100,328,412. State aid will be $10,353,446.

Louis Frontario, the district’s assistant superintendent for business, noted the numbers presented at the district’s budget forum in March are the same as the adopted figures in April. He said that the primary reasons for the uptick is a $1.5 million jump in employee benefits a nearly $817,000 leap in transportation costs.

“I commend the effort the Board of Education put into putting this together,” he said. “I’ve never been a part of a school district that has a budget process as comprehensive as Hewlett-Woodmere’s process.” Frontario pointed out that the work for the proposed budget began in September.

The school district will hold its annual budget hearing on May 8. Officials said that the fiscal plan cannot be adjusted at this meeting. Voting is at the Woodmere Education Center, at 1 Johnson Place in Woodmere from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Assistant Superintendent of Business and Operations Jeremy Feder said that the flat spending increase was achieved by a $732,739 uptick in state aid for a total of $12,880,481, after the state budget was approved on March 31, and a decrease in pensions costs will offset the staff step increases and there is expected to be a decline in health service revenue.

Through a $520,000 grant from T-Mobile, the school district has begun distributing Chromebooks with Wi-Fi hotspots, first to the elementary school students in third through fifth grade. The district aims to but what they are calling a “new cutting edge” math program for grades kindergarten through fifth grade from Houghton Mifflin that includes professional development and training for teachers. Should the budget be approved, Lawrence will also have a summer elementary enrichment program and expand the BOCES vocational program.

Upgrades to the schools could continue with renovations of the Broadway Campus sports complex and to the main lobby in the building that houses the elementary school and middle, including heating, ventilation and air conditioning. Similar refurbishments are planned for the high school, including HVAC, and there will projects paid for with money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and continued districtwide security improvements.

“We’re pleased to be able to present a budget that enhances the educational opportunities of our students, funds a robust capital program while not imposing any additional tax burdens on our taxpayers,” Board of Education President Murray Forman previously said.

A budget hearing will be held on May 7 at Lawrence High at 8 p.m. Voting is also from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., at the Number Two School, the middle school, the high school and Atlantic Beach Village Hall.

Have an opinion the school budgets? Send your letter to the editor to jbessen@liherald.com.