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Schools

Sag Harbor Voters to Consider $34M School Budget

$956,173 spending increased proposed.

The Sag Harbor School Board voted March 26 to approve a 2.88 spending increase in the 2012-13 academic year — and it will be up to district voters on May 15 to give the $34.2 million budget final approval.

After appropriating $500,000 from the district's fund balance to offset increasing costs, the proposed tax levy increase is about $600,000, or 1.94 percent, just under the mandatory 2 percent cap imposed by New York State.

The district will maintain a staffing level of 105 full-time equivalent teachers. No changes are being made in the number of special education, physical education, art, music, Spanish and ESL teachers. The number of counselors, social workers, occupational therapists, teaching assistants psychologists, speech therapists and assistant principals will also remain the same.

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No electives, sports or clubs will be cut.

Enrollment from kindergarten through 12 grade is expected to hold at around 979 students.

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During the 2011-12 school year, three teachers were cut from the special education program; the district pointed out that the percentage of children placed in special education has dropped from more than 20 percent in 2006-07 to just less than 14 percent in 2011-12. The district also no longer had to provide special education services for , a Catholic school in Sag Harbor that .

Sag Harbor School District projects that if voters reject the proposed budget, and the district is forced onto a contingency budget with no tax levy increase, the spending increase will be 1.22 percent — compared to 2.88 percent with voter approval. About $550,000 in operational spending would be eliminated, along with $500,000 for building improvement projects.

The School Board is also putting forth a ballot proposition to purchase six new buses for no more than $575,000.

Voting on the budget, as well as School Board elections, will take place Tuesday, May 15, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the gym.

There will be a voter registration day on May 1 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the district clerk's office at the Pierson Middle/High School.

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