Schools

New Budget-Cutting Considerations Proposed at BOE Meeting

Line items include staff reductions, cuts to travel opportunities for music programs.

Sachem administrators introduced a new set of budget reduction possibilities that amounted to $6.5 million in savings to the district at Wednesday night's Board of Education work session meeting.

The cuts, if enacted, would lower the tax burden from a 16% increase to a 12.3% increase after Associate Superintendent Bruce Singer was charged with presenting numbers to reach that levy at the previous board of education meeting at Samoset Middle School.

As illustrated in The Sachem Report, among the approximate $6,590,506 in proposed reductions are:

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  • Admin/teacher: -$1,615,659
  • 50 % reduction all supplies: -$1,100,000
  • Elem. class size-inc. by 1: -$900,000
  • Custodial: -$560,000
  • Social workers: -$525,000
  • Health insurance – rate reduction: -$489, 695
  • Elementary librarians – split: -$450,000
  • Attendance aides: -$361,344
  • Gate program: -$329,196
  • Hallway aides: -$300,000
  • Maintenance: -$280,000
  • Student acc. insurance: -$279,000
  • Clerical: -$275,000
  • Psychologists: -$150,000
  • Guidance counselors: -$150,000
  • Deans: -$150,000
  • Grounds: -$140,000
  • BOCES – prof. development: $120,000
  • Office aides: -$115,000
  • Trans. code reduction: -$100,000
  • 50 % clerical ot/subs: -$78,000
  • Piano tuning: -$55,000
  • 50 % travel and conf.: -$20,000
  • Prof. development admin.: -$13,000
  • Principal aide: -$12,000
  • Music – travel compensations: -$11,800
  • Music – travel other: -$6,000
  • BOCES – neg. info: -$4,812
  • Increase unemployment: +$2,000,000
  • >>>>>>>>>>>TOTAL: -$6,590,506

The above cuts do not reflect any possible increase in state aid that might materialize during Gov. Andrew Cuomo's final evaluation of the state budget or any possible voluntary reductions in staff at Sachem.

At the next Board of Education meeting, administrators plan to roll out what the school's 2013-14 budget will look like if the proposed budget fails the first time around.

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