It’s been more than a month since Hyde Park Central School District residents rejected the original proposed 2005-06 budget.
Now, after much work by school officials and Board of Education members to produce a more palatable budget, district residents will get the chance to vote on the revised spending plan on Tuesday, June 21, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the Haviland Middle School gymnasium.
District residents voted down the initial budget, which had a total spending amount of $64.5 million, a 7.5 percent spending increase from the 2004-05 school budget, on May 17.
The newly proposed budget calls for spending $63.9 million - a 6.49 percent increase in spending over the current budget.
The Board of Education and the district’s administration have worked to reduce elements of the initial budget, making cuts in three main areas: administrative components, programs and capital.
There is a $349,805 cut in the administrative area, including leaving vacant an assistant principal position at Franklin D. Roosevelt High School, eliminating faculty and support positions as well as a weekend tax collector position. Other cuts include reductions to the curriculum writing andequipment lines, and theelimination of the district calendar and reductions to the supplies line of the budget.
The reduction in program costs is $107,723, and includes the elimination of a special education and life and work skills teacher at Haviland Middle School, assistant superintendent, instruction textbooks, the sports intramurals program and technology for special education.
Capital costs were reduced by $143,477, including professional and technical services, contractual facilities work, boiler repairs, building repairs, facilities equipment and classroom equipment.
If the June 21 budget does not pass, the school district is required to implement a contingency budget, which would slash $2,786,130 from the budget, including the district’s entire athletic program as well as the district’s kindergarten program, with its 15 teachers.
On May 17, district voters also rejected a proposition for the district to purchase eight 72-passenger buses, one driver trailer, a one-ton cargo van and a mower with a cab, totaling $720,941.
On June 21, district residents can vote on a revised version of this proposition, which calls for purchasing seven 72-passenger buses, not to exceed the maximum amount of $542,521, and one Toro 4100-D mower with a cab, not to exceed a maximum amount of $48,374, for a total amount of $590,895 in that proposition along with the budget revote.