06-16-2000

To the Editor:

 The first Bedford Central School-District budget Superintendent Bruce Dennis proposed to the school board this year was a 12.5 percent increase in spending over last year's budget. That is 5.68 times the cost of living increase and would have cost $18,000 per year per. student. The board rejected this proposal.

 Dr. Dennis returned to the board with a budget that was 8.5 percent greater than last year's budget and j.86times the cost of living increase. The cost per student was $17,200. The board decided to submit that budget to the public and it was defeated.

The board will now submit a spending plan to the public that represents a 6.89 percent year-to-year increase that is 3.13 times the cost of living. This ,will be presented in two parts. The second, much smaller part, which among other things includes the long beleaguered Pound Ridge elementary school windows, is a hostage of the first part and cannot be passed alone. We-started-,out with a $70 million budget that is now a $66 million budget and represents a cost per student or $16,900,which is still an increase in cost per student over last year.

As the student population increases, I would expect the cost per student to decrease as the use of staff and facilities becomes more efficient. just the opposite is happening.

The bureaucracy is increasing at a faster rate than the student body.

Not only is this budget flawed, the entire process is flawed. Year after year we see the budget increases all out of proportion to the rest of the economy. There has got to be a better way of deciding a budget than perpetuating a "Let's see what we can get" philosophy.

The only way to control this runaway spending is to see that more efficient use is made of the staff. We need to elect people to the school board who can convince the administrators that they need to run a more productive operation so that we can provide good, programs to the students at a price that the community is willing to accept. I -cannot- support this budget.

Derek J. Brooks Bedford