Only 2 show up for hearing on 2012-13 school budget plan

Shelter Island voters will be voting to approve or reject a $9.7 million budget proposal for the 2012-13 school year when they go to the polls on Tuesday, May 15. They also will vote to fill three seats on the School Board for which three candidates are running: incumbents Stephen Gessner, the board president, and Mark Kanarvogel are running for re-election. Joining them as a candidate is Marilynn Pysher, president of Shelter Island’s Communities That Care.

The one with the lowest vote count will complete the unexpired term of Kim Reilly, who resigned from the board last October.
Voting takes place between noon and 9 p.m. Tuesday in the school gymnasium.

Only two people — both teachers — showed up for the School Board’s formal hearing on the budget proposal Monday night.

Attendance also has been light at previous budget meetings. The hearing took all of about two minutes with no questions.

“It’s a vote of confidence,” board member Elizabeth Melichar told the Reporter about the lack of public input at the hearing.

The proposed budget would raise taxes 1.96 percent so that the current tax rate of $5.7278 per $1,000 of assessed valuation would rise to $5.8366.

While the proposed budget required cuts in sports and co-curricular activities and the elimination of one custodial position, Superintendent Michael Hynes said it met the goals School Board members had set from the start of their planning in January.

He says the proposal comes in under the state-mandated 2 percent tax levy cap and preserves programs vital to continued student growth; maintains educational opportunities within and outside the school; maximizes staff productivity; and is responsive to fiscal realities facing Island residents.

The budget calls for cutting the cross-country program, which didn’t run this year. The intramural fitness/golf program isn’t in the budget and there would be some reductions in sports transportation if the spending plan passes muster with voters. But Dr. Hynes said he’s talking with officials from other districts to attempt to work out some shared transportation services that could minimize that cut.

Two field trips — the schooner trip and the high school New York City visit — wouldn’t be funded, but that doesn’t mean they would be eliminated, Dr. Hynes said. They could be financed by students having to pay their own way or perhaps money could be found to offset the costs, he said.

The literary magazine, Spanish Club and writing workshops would be cut along with cuts to the positions of coordinators for the district newsletter, audio-visual program and auditorium. The director of a fall play, the arts in education coordinator and the high school trip coordinator wouldn’t be funded by the budget.

The fact that state aid increased by 10.9 percent saved the district from having to cut spending more drastically, Dr. Hynes said.

At an earlier budget meeting, the superintendent issued a warning of how a budget rejection would affect the district. A contingency budget would require cutting an additional $170,816 from the spending plan.

“This is something I don’t like to talk about,” Dr. Hynes said, calling the contingency plan “catastrophic.”