Budget Plans Underway for Harrison Schools

Last week, Harrison's Board of Education began preliminary discussions regarding next year's budget. Obviously, the current economic conditions wll create financial difficulties in the school district.

With a 13 percent cut in funding expected from Albany, which would translate to a $572,000 cut in state aid, coupled with a projected 2.5 million loss in property tax revenue, there is a tentative $3.1 million cut in revenue expected to be taken from next year's budget. The school board is taking care to watch its step in regards to spending.

Mr. Louis M. Wool, recipient of the Superintendent of the Year Award for New York, offered his thoughts on the proposals presented at the meeting.

"We make very careful decisions and very conservative decisions in this process," he said.

On February 12, a draft of the new budget was presented to the Board; on February 24, the meeting and budget work session commenced. Wool, along with Joan Tiburzi, school board president, preferred to postpone further comment on the proposed budget plans until after a public presentation on March 10.

One major expense for the district is employee salary, the rate of which has gone up by only 2.6 percent, but takes up a sizable chunk of the budget. The small increase in employee salary should help in the weeks ahead, as the board works through the details of the budget.

The tentative date for mailing the finalized budget plans to all qualified voters is May 6. The process will last approximately six days.

President Obama's "Race to the Top" competition, which has a lofty prize of $4.35 billion in federal education funds, has just recognized New York as one of 16 finalists. Suzi Oppenheimer, Chairwoman of the New York State Senate Education Committee, issued the following statement:

"New York has long been a model of innovation and creativity in education and I fully expected our application to be competitive. I look forward to the next phase of the competition and will continue to look for ways that we can enrich the educational experience of all our schoolchildren."