$1.3 million in cuts proposed for budget

By FRANK NARDOZZI

Responding to the resounding defeat of the Bedford Central school budget on May 16, a total of $1.3 million in additional budget cuts were proposed by the school administration Wednesday night at a special board of education meeting.

The total budget proposed is now $65.5 million, representing an 'increase in spending of 6.35 percent over the 1999-2000 spending level. The original budget was defeated by a vote of 1,834 to 1,365.

An overflow crowd of more than 200 students, teachers and parents packed the Fox Lane Middle School auditorium Thursday night, mostly to plead with the school board not to cut their favorite electives, including business, music, art, theater and foreign languages, and to avoid increasing class sizes.

They heardabout the proposedcuts, a defense ofthe teachers' payscale and a favorable cost comparison to private schooleducation presented by Dr. BruceDennis, Bedford Central's superintendent of schools.

Audience members also heard some criticism leveled by taxpayer advocates against, the school board and school administration for what they considered to be illegal electioneering in favor of a 'yes' vote on the amended budget. The new budget will be voted on Tuesday, June 20.

- Further public hearings on the budget will be held on May 31 and June I with a final revised budget to be adopted by the board on June 1. A final public hearing on the revised budget will be held on Wednesday, June 7, before the budget is submitted to the voters for a second time on June 20.

PARENT and Former School Board President KAREN Schecter

to SCHOOL BOARD

Budget cuts proposed

Dr. Dennis proposed a number of staff reductions including a first grade teacher at Bedford Village Elementary School; a kindergarten teacher at West Patent Elementary School; one elementary school learning specialist; 1.4 English as a Second Language teachers; .95 of an art teacher; .4 of a business teacher; .8 of a high school foreign language teacher; a contingent elementary school teacher; three special education aides; and four instructional assistants.

The proposed personnel cuts would save $588,000 in salaries and benefits. They would also cause classes in Spanish 11 to be increased to an average size of 26 students. Spanish III classes would increase to an average of 25 and Spanish IV to 27.

The reduction of .4 of a business teaching position would mean that three sections of business law would be consolidated into one and limited to seniors.

The reduction of .95 of an art position would eliminate the unified arts course at the middle school and ceramics III at the high school, and limit photography at the high school to sophomores along with any others who need it to graduate.

The gifted and talented program would be reduced from $20,000 to $10,000, and the reduction of $25,000 in athletics and intramurals would mean the elimination of some assistant coaches, teams and modified activities.

Transportation was proposed to be cut by $58,639, which would eliminate two midday high school runs, one mid-day Rippowam Cisqua run, all elementary after school activity buses and the remaining 5:25 p.m. buses from the middle school/high school campus. The purchase of a new van for $42,160 was also proposed to be eliminated.

Another $120,000 was proposed to be eliminated on capital projects and major maintenance, including the paving of the high school campus main driveway, the installation of a new gym floor at the Pound Ridge Elementary School and other items. A total of $68,000 was proposed to be saved by not purchasing new computer hardware and software.

Funding for textbooks was proposed to be cut by $36,229, and operations and maintenance was proposed to be reduced by $48,000.

Austerity budget

If the Bedford Central budget is defeated a second time, state law requires that the school board adopt an "austerity budget," which requires the school district to cap its spending increase to 120 percent of the rate of inflation. This year that would amount to 2.64 percent.

Dr. Dennis stated that if an austerity budget was imposed, that would require a cut of $4.2 million in expenditures instead of the $1.3 million that is proposed. "I want to avoid the severe implications of an austerity budget," he said.

Under the current budget cuts proposed, Dr. Dennis said that the hiring of some new teachers would have to be postponed. He also said that the recent hiring of a new principal for Mount Kisco Elementary School would have to be held in abeyance until after the June 20 budget vote, in case more drastic cuts in the budget were required.

One Fox Lane High School senior said it was "a travesty that the budget was voted down," with a junior stating that, "If  people want to take Out their frustrations, they should do that in November and not in June." This chiding met with a loud round of applause by the audience.

However, Leonard Laub, a resident of Bedford Corners, said that the school budget process was the only one in which taxpayers could express themselves. He claimed that more than half of all property taxes were school taxes and charged that it was fiscally irresponsible for the school administration to propose budget increases of 12.5 percent, 8.5 percent or even 6.5 percent.

"Salaries don't go up by that much. You don't recognize any other index. The economic consequences are not bearable," Mr. Laub said.

Electioneering charged

Mr. Laub went on to criticize the distribution of buttons and bumper stickers at the meeting that read "Vote Kids - Vote Yes Bedford School Budget" and "Vote Yes Bedford Budget," calling it "electioneering."

He said that the pro-budget material was placed on the table at the entrance door to the meeting alone

with the school district's information handouts.

School Board President Paul Alcorn denied that charge and requested that all pro-budget material be taken off the table. He stated that the board and school administration were prohibited from campaigning for passage of the budget. They were required to provide fair and accurate information about the budget so that the electorate could make an informed decision, he said.

Mr. Laub went on to suggest that if an austerity budget was adopted by the board or required by another "no" vote, the 2.64 percent spending increase allowable could be spread evenly so that no essential programs would be affected. He said that state law does not require that any particular cuts be made, only that certain categories of spending were exempt from the spending cap.

According to a copy the Education Law that was handed out by the school administration, those exempt spending categories included tax certioraris, court orders or judgments, emergency expenditures due to damage or destruction, capital expenditures resulting from construction and expenditures attributed to the projected increase in student enrollment.

Additional cuts

According to Dr. Dennis' letter to school district parents of May 19 (see a copy in today's Letters to the Editor section), discretionary expenditures that would have to be considered for cuts in case of an austerity budget would include spending for:

* Administrative costs based on a formula prescribed by the state;

a New equipment purchased or leased including computers and other technology, athletic equipment, buses, Furniture and musical instruments;

* New capital projects or improvements; and

- Funds for pupil supplies, including notebooks, writing pads and paper, pens, pencils and crayons.

Karen Schechter, who identified herself as a parent and business owner from Mount Kisco, stated that she was "sorry for all of us in this room." Ms. Schechter, who at one point was president of the Bedford Central School Board, called the budget that was defeated "educationally sound" and urged the school board to maintain small class sizes and after school transportation and keep the programs that work for Bedford's diverse student population with special needs.

Budget supporters rally

"Don't be scared. We failed you on the first time around. We'll come through with the votes on this second time. Don't play not to lose. Play to win for our kids," Ms. Schechter said to school board members.

Another parent agreed, saying that the budget was voted down because of low voter turnout and "the tyranny of half truths." She criticized the "vitriol and hostility" toward education that she said was displayed by some groups, and called for the board to make more modest cuts.

A parent of a third grader at Mount Kisco Elementary School, Paula Sharp, spoke up for the school board saying, "There isn't a person on this school board who wants these cuts."

She criticized the "anti-public school vote" and stated that the most important voting bloc was the one that she belonged to that supported public education. She exhorted everyone to vote, including the many high school seniors in the audience.

"Cast your first vote. if you want to keep your high school as good as it is get up and do something about it,' she said.

Appeal to commissioner

School board critic Phil Christe of Mount Kisco filed an appeal with the New York state Commissioner of Education Richard, Mills this week, asking Mr. Mills to intervene to insure a fair election in the Bedford Central district. He charged that a letter sent out by Dr. Dennis to school district parents on May 19 categorizing the proposed cuts being contemplated was "false, threatening and malicious."

At Wednesday night's meeting, Dr. Dennis in turn characterized Mr. Christe's placement of a full page ad in the May 12 issue of The Record Review as "an unfortunate, albeit legal printing" of school teachers' and administrators' salaries. He characterized the ad as unfair and showed a Power Point comparison of Bedford's teacher salaries to neighboring school districts.

The presentation illustrated that Bedford Central salaries were in some cases lower than the median, but in all cases competitive.

The full-page paid advertisement, which ran the Friday before the Tuesday, May 16, vote, listed all of the top salaries paid in the district and claimed that 80 percent of the 8.52 percent increase in the budget was for pay raises. The school board stated that an increase in spending of 6.1 percent was necessitated by previously negotiated contracts.