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:75th Year, No. 17 Fa-eeport, N.Y. 11520
The Community Newspapear'
Thursday, ApriS 29, 2010
Hearts for Haiti at Billi$
BALDWIN MIDDLE SCHOOL CARES: Art
club students crafted ceramic necklaces, which raised $700 for the earthquake victims of Haiti. The art students, under the direction of Ms. Vota and Ms. Peines, sculpted, glazed, and strung the necklaces and sold them during lunch periods.
Middle school students and staff generously purchased and wore the necklaces as a reminder that Haiti needs our continued support.
Budget blues - A cenversation with Superintendent Dr. Kishere Kuncliam
by Laura Schofer
What happens to educational integrity when you remove $1.3 billon from the state's education budget? That's the problem school districts are trying to address as they finalize what Dr. Kuncham calls "a judicious, fiscally responsible budget that provides for student needs."
For Freeport this proposed cut by Governor David Paterson will translate into a loss of approximately $4.8 million that includes a loss in state aid of $4.5 million and the shifting of $270,000 in special education costs to Freeport.
"We had to find ways to reduce our expenditure budget," said Dr. Kuncham. The district had originally proposed a
budget-to-budget increase of 2.71% But with the ominous news from Albany, the district reduced its increase.
For 2010-2011, the proposed expenditure budget will increase by 1.88%. "It is one of the lowest of any school district in Nassau County," said Dr. Kuncham. "We believe this budget will maintain the integrity of our programs and minimize damage to educational programs." (See page 3 for details on cuts.)
But even with this reduction, Freeporters will see a 5.45% increase in the tax levy. That translates into an approximately $300 yearly increase in real estate taxes for the average home in Freeport.
"It's less than a dollar a day, about 89 cents, to maintain our programs," said
Dr. Kuncham. "We've come so far. Student achievement is on the rise. Dodd is off the state list [for schools in need of improvement] and we are working on the high school. I hope people won't lose sight of that."
Dr. Kuncham hopes Freeporters will remember that for the past two years "we reduced the levy and for the two years before that the levy was less than 2 percent. This translates into a four-year average tax levy increase of 0.63 percent."
In addition. Dr. Kuncham said the contract negotiated between the teachers' union and the Freeport School District was sensitive to the community's needs.
"In 2010-2011, teachers will see an
increase of two percent but not until February of 2011," he said. "Then in 2011-2012, the increase is one percent." Dr. Kuncham added that the "teachers are also giving up their step increase for half of the 2011-2012 school year."
Contracts for administrative, clerical and custodial staff are being negotiated as well. "We have done everything to keep expenses down. I will forgo my increase [this year] as will the assistant superintendents and the executive director of operations," said Dr. Kuncham.
"It doesn't amount to that much money but we want residents to know that we understand how difficult this is."
If the budget is defeated, the district would be forced to make deeper cuts. At the present time a "contingency
(continued on page 3)
Q & A with Mayor Hardwick
page 2
Baldwin iibrary news
pages
Freeport peace march is Saturday, IVIay 1
page 6
Object Description
| Rating | |
| Title | The-Leader_2010-04-29 |
| Subject | Newspaper |
| Description | This is a Newspaper distributed locally within the Village of Freeport and Baldwin. |
| Creator | Linda Toscano |
| Publisher | L&M Publications, Inc. |
| Contributors | Scanned by Imaging & Microfilm Access, Inc. (Bohemia, NY 11716) |
| Date | 2010 |
| Type | Periodical |
| Format | PDF; TIFF |
| Source | Freeport Memorial Library |
| Language | English |
| Coverage | United States |
| Rights | This digital image may be freely used for educational uses, as long as it is not altered in any way. No commercial reproduction or distribution of this image is permitted without written permission of the Freeport Memorial Library, 144 W. Merrick Road, Freeport, NY 11520 or email: frreference@freeportlibrary.info |
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