GIANNA VOLPE PHOTO | School Superintendent Dr. Michael Hynes on Monday night made a Powerpoint presentation on cuts he is proposing in the 2012-2013 school budget.

School Superintendent Dr. Michael Hynes walked an audience of 30 parents, community and staff members through cuts he is proposing for the 2012-2013 school budget on Monday night during the first of three budget presentations slated through March 12 before the Shelter Island School Board.

The most significant cut would be to the athletic program, on which the district currently spends $265,377, including transportation.

“The interests of the students have changed over the years,” Dr. Hynes said. “Over the next few weeks, the administration and the faculty will engage in a conversation about our priorities. The board will approve a plan to reduce the total expenditures by 7 percent, or about $18,500,” he said.

The second cut he proposed would be a 15-percent reduction or about $14,160 in spending for co-curricular activities. Currently $64,413 is spent on salaries for advisers and coordinators and $30,000 on field trip chaperones, additional duties and other items.

The figures may change as the board goes over Dr. Hynes’s proposal in the coming weeks and develops a final budget proposal to present to voters in May.

For his presentation, Dr. Hynes used an uncooperative overhead projector that overheated every few minutes. “All of our money will go into technology next year,” he joked when the projector failed him the first time.

As he has warned before this winter, increasing costs and the state’s new two-percent property tax cap means cuts will be necessary to keep the tax levy in check.

For more details on his proposed cuts, see the Feb. 16 edition of the Reporter.