Say 'yes' to your school budgets next Tuesday

In a good year, crafting a school district budget is an arduous, months-long process that challenges school administrators, boards of education, PTAs and budget advisory committees to come up with plans to keep property taxes as low as possible while preserving or even improving student programming.

In a bad year, developing a district budget can be downright harrowing. This is one of those years.

Drastic cuts in state aid for education combined with increases in mandatory staff benefits, electricity and heating fuel have made it difficult to put together a budget that, at the very least, maintains student programs. Fortunately, both the Merrick and North Merrick elementary districts as well as the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District have done just that. Each has proposed a modest increase in expenditures while keeping programs –– and, for the most part, staffs –– intact.

Only the Central High School District is cutting teaching positions –– 13 in all. But Central officials say they believe the cut will not dramatically affect the overall educational program. At the same time, Central District and North Merrick teachers and administrators have agreed to freeze their salaries for the 2011-12 academic year in order to preserve programs. Merrick officials say they believe a freeze is unneeded to maintain programs.

In Merrick, the proposed $42.3 million spending plan includes a 3.31 percent increase in expenditures over the 2010-11 budget.

The proposed budget was adopted by the Board of Education on April 12. Facing a $600,000 state aid cut, the board was able to adopt the budget without eliminating programs, reducing staff or increasing class size.

In North Merrick, the proposed budget stands at $26.8 million, which includes a 2.11 percent increase in expenditures over the current year.

In April, after what the board of trustees called a “challenging” budget season, including a $500,000 cut in staid aid, the teachers and administrators in the North Merrick School District agreed to voluntarily forgo their raises in the 2011-12 academic year, which will save the district $350,000.