Lyn schools already making cuts

During the third budget work session for the Lynbrook School District, officials detailed that facilities costs in the 2010-11 budget have decreased by five percent, the elementary science program will be redesigned, and five teachers in the district will be excessed due to a projected decrease in enrollment.

According to Dr. Melissa Burak, assistant superintendent of finances, facilities costs for the upcoming school year will decrease by $136,820, with the largest savings being in fuel and oil. The district will save more than $200,000 in fuel/oil costs, Burak said, because of better energy conservation methods. Employee salaries in the 2010-11 budget will increase by 3.1 percent, or $1,174,516, but Burak explained that the increases are contractual. Retirement and civil service benefits will also go up by nearly $200,000, but officials plan to use $125,000 from a reserve fund to offset that, making the net increase about $70,000.

The district will also redesign the elementary science program. In grades one and five, the science program is currently taught solely by a science specialist, but under this budget, that would no longer be the case. “We are redesigning the science instruction to be taught by both the specialist and classroom teacher,” Burak said. The redesign reduces the number of elementary science teachers from four to three.

Other savings the district found were in intramural activities, health instruction, athletic supervision and coaching salaries. Overall, the savings totaled $21,884. Burak said that health instruction used to be a contracted service, but now an in-house teacher will assume the duties. The district also lowered the number of supervisors at athletic events, she said, and reduced the number of automatic defibrillator sessions for district coaches.