Herricks School District held its first budget meeting of the year last Thursday.
The district’s Board of Education estimated the budget would be $3 million more than last year’s, totaling over $144,000,000.
Budget areas contributing to the increase include special education, instructional technology, facilities, security and residency, and payroll. Other notable features of the budget proposal include the addition of a high school teacher for a new mandatory financial literacy course, a behavioral specialist for elementary students, increased cybersecurity, new textbooks, replacement of musical instruments, and upgrading athletic equipment.
The board estimated that there would be a roughly 2% tax levy, or increase, to fund the budget. This year’s tax levy cap is 2.4%.
Taxes will fund roughly 80% of the budget, with state aid covering around 20%, Lisa Rutkoske, the district’s assistant superintendent for business, said.
Other budget meetings are scheduled for March 13, March 27, and April 10. A final budget hearing is scheduled for May 8. The election to approve the budget will be held on May 20, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the Herricks Community Center.
Community members wishing to make their voice heard on the district’s budget must have lived in the school district for over 30 days before Election Day and be registered to vote with the Nassau County Board of Elections, as they would for any other local or federal election.
Voters can register any day through May 15 and on Election Day. Those not planning to vote in-person may apply for an absentee ballot on the district’s website beginning April 21. All absentee ballots must be submitted by 5 p.m. on May 20.
The district also used the board meeting to celebrate its Regeneron Science Talent Search finalist, Sandeep Sawhney, and to recognize four Regeneron semifinalists, Serena Chen, Shannon Hong, Caitlin Lee and Armaan Vaswanindeep. Sawhney won $25,000 for his research, a novel prototype facilitating gallium cancer therapy. He will go to Washington, D.C., with the other top 40 finalists from around the country later this year, where he will have the chance to win $250,000.
The Regeneron Scholar program is for high school students completing scientific research in labs under Ph.D candidates. These five students have participated in the program for four years, Caitlin Etri, the students’ science research coordinator said.
