Schools
Board of Ed. Expecting Cuts
Harrison's Board of Education bracing itself for budget cuts from Albany.
The Harrison Central School District's Board of Education is continuing to monitor the budget situation in Albany and bracing itself for budget cuts to be passed down to the school system.
"We're looking at a 5 percent decrease in school aid in the coming year," said Board Member Abby Mendelsohn.
Mendelsohn said it will be awhile before the board has any definite answers, but they're hoping to see some measures put in place that will help school districts have a little more control over budget issues.
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Board Vice President Dennis DiLorenzo said that in addition to a decrease in state aid, the school system is looking at a decrease in sales tax revenue.
"We are in the midst of a very difficult budget season. We started the budget process this year in August because we saw the dark clouds looming," said School Superintendent Louis Wool.
Find out what's happening in Harrisonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Wool said the school system is monitoring the situation on an ongoing basis and trying to find any edge that will ensure the academic program is protected while keeping the tax burden at a manageable level.
DiLorenzo said that invitations were sent recently to past participants in the citizens' budget committee, but all are invited to participate if they like.
During the public comment session, Gail Frohlich discussed her displeasure with the way Regents test scores were handle for her daughter. Frohlich said her daughter, a student at Harrison High School, was told she'd failed a certain Regent's exam in August, then told on Jan. 8, she had actually passed the exam.
"She was scheduled to take the exam for the fourth time, and on Jan. 8 we discovered she'd passed in August," Frolich said.
Wool admitted that no system is perfect and promised to continue to work on improving the system.
"You should know our intention is to serve every child," Wool sad.
In other news, the Feb. 3 Board of Education meeting will be postponed until Feb. 10 due to an event scheduled to celebrate Wool's "2010 New York State School Superintendent of the Year" achievement.
