Schools

Hauppauge Board of Ed Adopts $98M Budget

Hauppauge Public Schools receives an additional $96k in state aid which will go towards computers in elementary, middle school.

The Hauppauge Board of Education adopted a $98.6 million budget for the 2012-13 school year Tuesday night to present to district residents May 8 after receiving additional state aid at the last minute.

The adopted $98,646,111 budget represents a slightly more than 1.42 percent budget-to-budget increase over the current year, or a $1.4 million spending increase. If approved by voters May 15, it will raise the tax levy by approximately 2.9 percent for both Town of Islip and Town of Smithtown residents.

Under the $98 million budget,: 5 full-time special education teachers for its integrated co-teaching model in the elementary schools, a full-time teacher for its Languages Other Than English program and a full-time Literacy Collaborative support person to support reading instruction. In exchange, the district will be laying off 16 teaching assistants.

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The budget also include funds to purchase two minibuses and a maintenance van to replace the district's aging transportation fleet and a separate proposition for renovations at and

The adopted budget shows a slight increase since the $98.5 million draft budget school administrators presented to the public on Feb. 28. Hauppauge Public Schools received $91,169 more in state aid than anticipated.

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"I want to be clear to the board and the community my recommendation is to continue to monitor the fourth grade at Forest Brook despite an increase in state aid," Superintendent Patricia Sullivan-Kriss said.

At the March 27 board meeting, Sullivan-Kriss recommended to board trustees to look to reduce next year's fifth-grade class sizes. She suggested reassigning one kindergarten teacher from Forest Brook to transfer to Her reason is incoming kindergarten enrollment at Forest Brook is low, only 41 students compared to 66 this year, and the current fourth-grade class at the Pines is filled to max contractual capacity at 30 students per classroom.

This drew fire from Forest Brook PTA President La Young Trantum and parents who felt the current class size of 27 to 28 students per classroom is too much. However, the district has already been informed two Forest Brook fourth-grade students will not be attending there next year, according to the superintendent.

Sullivan-Kriss recommended the additional $91,169 be placed in the district's technology equipment line.

"If we do not break a section, we will be able to use those moneys towards another unfunded mandate. Not next year, but the following year, the state will require state assessment of elementary and middle school students online," she said.

The superintendent said the district is not sure if the students will be able to take state assessment by class, or all at once, possibly requiring the purchase of additional computers.

Sullivan-Kriss said if necessary, the district can move the funds back to their staffing budget to hire a teacher to break next year's Forest Brook fifth-grade class into additional section.

The Board of Education voted unanimously to approve the superintendent's recommended action.

Hauppauge school officials will hold a formal budget hearing May 8 at 8 p.m. in the James Baxter Board Room of the former


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