Lawrence puts three options on the table

Though the Lawrence School District will reduce its workforce by three, the proposed 2014-2015 budget includes a spending increase of $2.54 million over the current $93.1 million fiscal plan.
District officials will decide between three options to meet the jump in spending: A 1.46 percent tax-levy cap that raises $1.2 million in tax dollars along with the reduction of the three full-time professional staff that will include at least two teachers; 1 percent tax-levy that would raise $830,000 and include the layoff with another $385,000 needed to be cut and a 0 percent levy that includes the staff reduction and a $1.2 million decrease in programs or services.
Atlantic Beach resident Jesse Lunin-Pack, who has two children attending Lawrence schools, asked the Board of Education during Monday’s budget presentation to not consider the 0 percent option as that would force the district to cut into instruction. “There is something more important than money and that is quality of life,” he said.
Superintendent Gary Schall said that two retiring science teachers are part of the three to be laid off, but a decision has yet to be made on a third. “This will be done through attrition and an analysis of next year’s enrollment,” he said.
Lori Skonberg, president of the Lawrence Teachers Association, said this was the first time learning that three employees would be let go. “If I find one more teacher [to retire] would that be the three?” Skonberg asked the trustees and Schall. That depends on cost, district officials said.

Schall said that the district is focusing on the state mandated Common Core Learning Standards, has put $40,000 in the budget for increasing security, including cameras that is part of a five-year plan to upgrade, along with the hiring of Tom Frawley, a retired police officer who is serving as a security consultant. The superintendent said that a coordinated series of lockdowns will be conducted to test the district’s security procedures.
The fiscal plan also includes money to improve communication with parents as the district’s transportation has been reorganized with new staff, funding to continue expanding its after-school offerings, while maintaining extracurricular activities and academic electives.
Salaries -- $1.069 million -- make up the largest portion of the spending increase that includes a $493,538 jump in money paid to vendors, a $378,192 uptick in employee retirement pay, $162,000 for new textbooks, and the $442,865 the district pays for its non-public school nurses, social workers and psychologists that is a $151,135 savings compared to what Lawrence was paying Nassau BOCES for the same services.
“We have to change the way we do business to keep instruction,” Schall said.
State aid is projected to be about $8.7 million — 799,138 more than the current amount — and the district is waiting for $800,000 in Hurricane Sandy expenses to be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Should the Number Six School sale referendum pass, the $500,000 down payment from the Hebrew Academy of Long Beach would be applied to the reserve funds, Schall said.
A public budget hearing is set for May 6 at Lawrence Middle School at 8 p.m.

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Lawrence district budgets

 

School Year     Budget             Tax Levy         Tax Levy%

2010-11           $94.1M           $78.9M           4.9%

 

2011-12           $93.1M           $78.9M           0%

 

2012-13           $93.1M           $80.5M           2%*

 

2013-14           $92.1M           $83M              2%

 

2014-15**       $95.4M           $84.2M           1.46***

 

*First-year state tax levy-cap

**Proposed budget

***Two other options

 

Caption: Budget and tax levy figures for the past five years. The Lawrence School District has three options to consider before approving its proposed budget.