School Board Unanimously Approves Budget

About 100 residents were on hand at Tuesday's Board of Education meeting to get a glimpse of the Port Washington Union Free School District's proposed 2010-11 budget. Those residents as well as registered voters throughout the district will have the chance to vote for or against it on May 18.

After Assistant Superintendent of Business and District Clerk Mary Callahan outlined the budget increase of $2,452,677, a 1.97 percent increase from last year, and an expected 1.94 percent increase in the tax levy, the school board unanimously approved its operating budget of $127,093,245 for the 2010-11 school year. Callahan explained that it is only assumed that the tax levy will be 1.94 because the board does not yet know what aid, if any, the district will be receiving from the state.

"We're not making widgets, we're educating children and it's up to the board to decide if this is the right budget to best help our kids," Callahan said.

Superintendent Dr. Geoffrey Gordon said the maintaining of staff and programs is paramount, especially with the slight increase in the budget. To do this, there will be fewer positions through attrition without the elimination of programs, realignment of assignments so students do not lose programs, and maximization of efficiencies using cost-effective alternatives which include a recommendation for minor adjustment or waiving of class size policy.

"We're going to keep programs for kids to make sure they have all the tools for success and do it smartly," Gordon said.

Along with the budget, residents will have the opportunity to vote to fill three Board of Education seats during next month's election. Four district residents are running for the three seats. The three openings are those of board president Karen Sloan and trustees Jean-Marie Posner and William Hohauser. Sloan and Posner's terms expire on June 30 while Hohauser, who was appointed to his position to replace Susan Sturman who moved out of New York State, will retain his current seat until the election on May 18.

Posner is not seeking re-election, having served on the board since 2004, but both Sloan and Hohauser will be running in the election along with past board member, Joseph Mirzoeff, and Robert K. Ryan.

As the school board elections are at large, the candidate who receives the third most votes will begin his/her term on May 19, and will remain in that seat until Sturman's term would have expired on June 30, 2011. The top two vote-getters will serve from July 1, 2010, until June 30, 2013.

There will be two more school board meetings prior to the May 18 vote — on May 4, which is a public hearing presentation of the budget, and May 11, which includes a tenure reception. Both of those meeting will take place at Schreiber High School.

The budget vote and trustee election will then take place on May 18 at Daly, Salem and Sousa elementary schools as well as Weber Middle School, where the vote tally and results will be announced that evening.