School Budget Discussions Begin in Hauppauge

The Hauppauge Board of Education is shaking up its budget process.

In the past, principals and directors would submit their proposed budgets to the board of education, which would then figure out where to cut certain items, Superintendent Patricia Sullivan-Kriss said at a Board of Education meeting last week.

“In essence, it was their kind of wish lists of what they felt they needed and then, we would go through the process of reducing, reducing, reducing,” she said.

This year, the district is taking a new approach. 

“We have said to our administrators, the budget that you currently have is where you are. You need to tell us how you need to use that money and where would you allocate that money,” she said.

"We know we can't be increasing the budget by huge amounts," she added.

Also, instead of having separate elementary, middle and high school budget discussions, those meetings will be wrapped up into one.

The key change that makes to the budget process this year is time management, the superintendent said.

“Meetings are really focused on personal and program staffing, and its giving us more time to meet and having those discussions,” Sullivan-Kriss said. “We’re thinking we’re really going to make better use of time and going to have a budget that hopefully comes together more quickly that we are able to present to the board and discuss with you.”

Last year, Hauppauge voters passed the district’s $98 million budget for the 2012-13 school year on Tuesday by a vote of 1,367 to 675. By passing the budget, the average homeowner within Hauppauge school district saw a tax levy increase of 2.9 percent.