Teachers, Staff Cut in Proposed Smithtown School Budget

Smithtown School District Superintendent Edward Ehmann unveiled the proposed 2012-2013 budget Wednesday night, a $215.8 million spending measure which would lay off roughly 45 faculty and staff members and increase 1.63 percent over the current budget. 

To reduce the financial gap the district is putting forth a number of staff reductions, decided prior to March 20. The cuts include:

• five full time employees in elementary attrition
• six full time employees from the closing of Nesconset Elementary
• three full time employees from special areas
• one elementary principal and one assistant principal
• one teacher assistant
• .5 nurses
• two greeters
• six lunch monitors
• one clerk typist and one senior clerk typist
• two custodial positions
• five full time employees from a change in the secondary music lesson rotation
• 12.1 full time employees in an increase in high school class size averages

The secondary school music lesson rotation will change from students receiving individual lessons from every seven days to every 10 days. Elementary music education will remain the same.

The staff reductions would result in savings of $3,059,276.

Following the initial reductions decided by March 20 were an additional $625,000 in reductions, which include $425,000 in savings from attrition due to declining enrollment, a social worker and psychologist retiring at the end of the year that won't be replaced, and replacements of a counselor and a reading teacher. An additional $200,000 would be saved by a rebate offered to the district for renewing the bus contract. This would be pending the board's approval.

To hit this number the district is suggesting the use of $1.5 million from the Assigned (Approprated) Fund Balance and $3.8 million from the Restricted (Appropriated) Reserves. This was contested Wednesday by Board of Education member Joseph Saggese, who suggested the district find another way to make the $1.5 million other than by using money from the fund balance or split the $3.8 million through cuts or Smithtown Teacher Association concessions.

Nesconset's closing also would result in savings for the district. According to the Citizens Advisory Committee final report, .

The district will review the information from Wednesday's meeting during Tuesday's board meeting at 8 p.m. in the Joseph Barton Building on New York Avenue. The board will vote to adopt the budget or not on April 17.