Revised Clarkstown School Budget Numbers Shared (VIDEO)

The proposed 2013-2014 budget for the Clarkstown School District now totals $194,125,460.  Attendees at Tuesday night’s Community Budget Meeting heard from Assistant Superintendent John LaNave that the new amount reflects a $1.4 million spending cut made by the school board at its March meeting and a reduction in the tax levy of $2 million.  He noted even with the decrease in the spending plan and an increase in state aid of about $800,000 the district will still need to use $10 to $11 million from its reserve funds to close the budget gap.

LaNave told the 12 meeting participants and another 30 or so audience members, “The expenses have gotten less since the last meeting.”

The prior Community Budget Meeting had been held right before the board of education met and decided to cut $600,000 for the purchase of new buses; $450,000 for additional security greeters and guards; $600,000 for security and safety projects and some funding for technology labs. Board members voted to reduce the proposed budget increase from 4.3 percent to 2.9 percent.

The board voted to follow a multi-year plan for improving security and safety and to spend $600,000 for the coming school year. LaNave said the shortened list of security measures was scheduled for presentation to the school principals on Wednesday and then would be shared with Superintendent Dr. J. Thomas Morton before going before the school board.

“We cut it in half based on what our view was of what was most important to do,” said LaNave.

He said they consulted with the Clarkstown Police Department about which steps were the most important and should be implemented first. LaNave noted that certain aspects could be added with approval of the school board during the course of the year such as security greeters. He said increased building use fees could cover the costs.

Board President Joe Malgieri explained why the board did not approve the entire security package. He said it made more sense to have the security technology in place before hiring more security greeters.

“It’s not a fully self-sufficient program at this point,” he said. “The board is not saying we don’t want this. We’re saying we want to study this more.”

LaNave said the technology proposal was also being reviewed with the principals. That is also a multiyear program. It began two years with $250,000 spent to lease new technology to replace outdated equipment.  For the current school year the program increased to $500,000 and is slated for $750,000 for the coming school year.

“The whole technology budget is being looked at as a matter of fact we’re meeting with the principals tomorrow,” LaNave said on Tuesday.