LAKE HUNTINGTON, NY — Sullivan West Central School District Superintendent Dr. Nancy Hackett warned that “volatile and uncertain times” for New York State government are likely to cause mayhem with funding for education. “In the last 30 years, this could be the most challenging budget year that we have seen,” she told the board of education on January 11. Hackett referenced Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s State of the State Address on January 3 in which he stated that New York faces a $4.4 billion deficit. How this will impact state aid that offsets taxes to pay for the next academic year remains to be seen. Cuomo presented his spending plan on January 12, which enables negotiations with the legislature to proceed toward finalizing the budget due on April 1.

“I don’t think New York State has the money to make us whole,” she said. While Cuomo in his speech vowed to maintain a “historic investment” in education represented by New York spending more per pupil than any other state in the nation, he also previewed that the state must deal with “a federal and economic challenge never experienced before.” One educational field initiative that Cuomo broached was to advocate for funding parity. “We must address education funding inequities and dedicate more of our state’s school aid to poorer districts. Trickle-down economics doesn’t work, nor does trickle-down education funding,” he said. The Sullivan West school board took a step toward developing its next budget by conducting its annual program and service review, in which administrators reported on their statistics and major initiatives.

The instructional program for pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade accounts for 71% of the district’s total 2017-18 budget of $36,924,793. The cost per student is $22,290. Sullivan West Elementary (pre-K through 6th grade) has 591 students enrolled currently, with a drop to approximately 573 projected for next year. There are 34 full-time classroom teachers, 23.8 instructional support positions, and 27.4 aides, assistants, and clerical positions, for a total of 85.2 jobs costing $13.9 million. Class sizes for the elementary grades range from 16.3 to 19.3. Sullivan West High School’s roster of students is 495, with 480 projected for 2018-19. Grades seven through 12 have 29.2 fulltime core academic classroom teachers, 27.5 staff for electives and instructional support, and 18.8 aides, assistants, and clerical positions, for a total of 75.5 fulltime jobs costing $12.3 million.

The retirements of three long-time teachers were accepted at the January 11 meeting. As of June 30, technology teacher Lionel Billard, fifth-grade elementary teacher Maxine A. Evans, and elementary teacher Kelly M. Erlwein will all be leaving Sullivan West. Evans began her employment in 1984, Billard in 1985, and Erlwein in 1999. “This is quite a class of retirees. We are losing some real historic pieces to our organization,” Dr. Hackett said.

In other news, it was reported that Sullivan West’s proposed conversion to an eight-player varsity football team remains under review at the scholastic athletic league level. As of January 11, the district had used four of its nine programmed snow days. The next board of education meeting will be at 7 p.m. on February 8 in the high school library, preceded by a 6:30 p.m. budget development workshop.