Despite heavy opposition from parents, the Katonah-Lewisboro Board of Education has cut $700,000 from a budget proposal to run the schools next year. The cuts come in the wake of a close defeat of the board's original budget proposal by district voters earlier this month.

The revised $77.5-million budget will be put before voters Monday, June 30. A public hearing on the budget will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 23, at John Jay High School.

"Like everything in life, it's a compromise, and one that we hope the community can come together on," said Don Scott, president of the school board.

The cuts were made amidst protest from parents and school budget supporters who urged the board to send the original $78.3-million budget proposal before voters once again.

"There was some serious consideration given to that," said Mr. Scott. "But I think cooler heads prevailed, and you step back from that and you say, `Wait a second. We were sent a message, and the message is: You lost the budget and fix it.'

"So I think we made some fairly significant cuts that, while falling short of directly impacting the classroom, sends a message to the people who voted `no' that we hear you and we've made changes, yet at the same time works very hard to preserve the quality of the system."

The original $78.28-million plan was voted down June 3 by a margin of 168 votes. If the revised budget is

rejected by district voters it will result in the implementation of an austerity budget.

School officials say the revised budget responds to the community concerns expressed in the original budget defeat. Indeed, an outspoken critic of district spending, Spencer Dvorkin of Katonah, said at a budget meeting last Friday he would support the revised budget.

The spending proposal represents a 7 percent increase over the current budget. The result would be tax increases of 8.4 percent in Bedford, 4 percent in Lewisboro, 8.6 percent in North Salem, and 7.4 percent in Pound Ridge.

The $700,000 in cuts came from various pieces of the budgetary puzzle. The district saved about $200,000 through a readjustment of what it expects to pay with interest rates. The administration had originally estimated the cost of borrowing next year would result in paying 5 percent in interest. "It ended up coming in at 3.8 percent,' said Mr. Scott.

The school board also removed one of two teacher positions from the alternative high school; cut one fulltime kindergarten teacher and one full-time kindergarten teacher's assistant; reduced expenditures for building improvements; and eliminated stipends for teachers who spend extra time working on curriculum planning at the high school and middle school.

"We hope that these revisions are viewed as a real compromise," said Schools Superintendent Robert Lichtenfeld. "Failure to pass this revised budget would severely compromise the district's ability to deliver the kind of educational experience the public has come to expect." (RUBBISH-JPG)

The cuts were approved by the board last Friday. Faced with the dawning realities of contingency, the board emphasized potential revisions as a means of demonstrating its goodfaith effort to respond to the community's vote June 3.

"The alternatives are convincing people to support this or contingency We need to convince them that a major pain is being spread around," said Brent Hailpern, who emphasized the demonstration of "suffering" next year as a means of convincing dissenting voters. Mr. Hailpern added, "We have to look at the long term we have to convert some of the `no' votes. I don't want to go through this again next year."

Mr. Hailpern led the fight for sweeping good-faith revisions, noting the potential consequences of another close vote and also the potential effects of a contingency budget. Rather than emphasize isolated cuts, proponents of an altered budget felt that widespread reductions would present the image of greater sacrifices being made. Said Mr. Scott, "Every division needs to pay a little bit."

Some, however, felt that the greatest good could be achieved by resubmitting the original 2003-04 budget. Board member Judith Collins-Turi, for instance, noted, "I think we have to bet on the community I'd like to give them the chance to OK the budget once more,

"Do not cut anything from this budget," urged Carol Durante, copresident of the high school PTO, in a meeting last Tuesday night. "This community owes you a `yes' vote." RAH RAH RAH

Ms. Collins-Turi, along with several other board members, expressed strong reservations regarding the impacts of the proposed cuts. Sandy Rebinar, president of the teachers association, concurred, saying, "The viability of our community depends upon the reputation of our schools."

Such anti-revision statements reflected a predominantly somber tone at last Friday's meeting, as even the strongest proponents of heavy cuts expressed remorse over their effects.

Mr. Hailpern said, "We're in desperation, finding an area between where we should have been and where we cannot go."

He later added, "These cuts will seem minor when compared to contingency cuts." (More Rubbish-JPG)

The revised budget constitutes a I percent overall reduction to the original 2003-04 budget proposal.