School budget talks continue in Oceanside

On March 1, the Oceanside Board of Education held a special meeting to discuss smaller line items of its proposed budget. At just under $128.6 million, the 2010-11 budget amounts to a $2.5 million increase over last year's budget. At its most recent budget meeting, the board discussed programs for students with disabilities, tuition for special schools, and the Department of Community Activities.

The district is increasing its payments to Nassau BOCES for its outdoor education programs, which include overnight trips for elementary school students. The district increased this item by over 100 percent, from about $109,500 to just over $273,500. The overnight trips, meant to teach students about the environment and how people impact it, are currently only taken by some of the elementary schools. With the added funding, all elementary students would be able to take the trips.

Louis Frontario, the district's assistant superintendent for business, explained that the fee parents pay for those trips actually offsets nearly the entire cost of running those programs through BOCES.

The other big increase for BOCES services comes in the form of tuition to the organization's special education schools. The district's tuition payments are increasing by $257,000 this year. That increase, Frontario explained, will be recouped without a tax raise, as it will be offset by an overall decrease in tuition payments footed by the district.

Beginning this year, DOCA expenses will be included in the district’s budget, as per a state audit recommendation, to give the district more financial oversight. But the inclusion of DOCA expenses does not indicate a tax increase, as DOCA's expenses are covered only by members of the community who use its programs — not the taxpayers

As the proposition of the 2010-11 budget begins to wind down, Frontario is also beginning to plan the Contingency Budget, which would only be put into effect if the proposed budget is voted down twice. The Contingency Budget has a state-mandated increase based on the Consumer Price Index. This year, the allowable increase under the Contingency Budget is practically zero, meaning that the district would have to cut much more out of its budget proposal under the contingency plan.

According to schools superintendent Dr. Herb Brown, in all his years at Oceanside, the district has never had to resort to a contingency budget.

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