2014 voters’ guide for North Fork school districts

NEW SUFFOLK
Budget: $1.2 million
Estimated tax levy increase: 1.7 percent

Spending is expected to increase by $13,000 due to special education costs, said school board president Tony Dill.

Mr. Dill said the pre-K through sixth-grade district is anticipating significant savings next year due to a decline in secondary student enrollment. In addition, four students are graduating this year and one is moving out of the district, he said.

Secondary tuition costs are expected to decrease by about $155,000 next school year, according to the budget outline.

“This gave us the option of either using the tuition savings to fund long delayed improvements to our elementary program or returning the money directly to the taxpayers via a lower tax rate,” Mr. Dill said.

The district decided to reallocate those funds to extend the school day by 45 minutes — from 2:30 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. — in order to provide students with remedial help, add foreign language class two days per week and implement a new “applied learning program,” which Mr. Dill said will offer students “real world” learning opportunities.

The proposed budget also includes adding a full-time teaching assistant for primary grades and a part-time monitor to give teachers additional prep time during lunch hours, he said.

A technology plan to provide each student with an iPad is also built into next year’s budget.