Three Village School Board Adopts $174.6 Million Budget; Teachers Union Agrees to Concessions

Facilitated in part by more than $2 million in labor concessions made by the teachers' union, the Three Village board of education on Tuesday unanimously adopted a $174.6 million spending plan to present to the community for the May 17 budget vote.

The adopted budget represented a 4.5 percent increase in spending over the 2010-2011 budget of $167.1 million, but still fell several million dollars below what would have been a "rollover budget" of $181.5 million which the district used as a in January. It is expected to raise the tax levy 3.8 percent, a figure which the board after previous discussions centered around . The exact amount of the budget is $174,585,266.

The adopted budget largely preserves the programs which community members defended in recent weeks, including elementary health education, student government, the Intellectually Gifted program, the athletic trainer position and more. A last-minute motion by trustee Frank McIntosh, supported by the rest of the board, transferred a portion of the school's security budget to fully restore cuts which would have affected the transition coordinator position and secondary mathematics education. In total, the district reduced spending in non-mandated areas by $1.4 million, including a $200,000 reduction in administrative costs.

"I hope people in the community will understand the difficulties we have had and come out and support the budget," board president John Diviney said. "It does, in my eyes, present a fair balance between cutting where we have to cut and maintaining the programs we have."

While the adopted budget was unanimously approved, the deal reached with the Three Village Teachers Association was not. McIntosh cast the lone dissenting vote as the board approved the deal 4 to 1. Trustee Diane Peritore was absent from the meeting.

Some praised the agreement for the $2.1 million in savings it would yield and the 25 teaching positions it would save for the 2011-2012 school year. Jeff Carlson, assistant superintendent for business services, said it would be achieved primarily through an immediate salary freeze that would be returned over the final two years of the contract. Future salary increases based on the Consumer Price Index as well as additional delayed step increases are included in the deal, which also extended the teachers' contract to 2016.

Trustee Glen Whitney called that extension "reasonable, given these concessions."

However, it was also the basis for McIntosh's vote of "no."

"The reason why I won’t support this tonight is with all the uncertainty coming out of Albany and the possibility of a tax cap, tying ourselves into another two years of a contract, even to save money in the short term, is not in the best interest of our district," said McIntosh, who is up for re-election to the board this year.

This is the second year in a row the TVTA has agreed to concessions. Last year's agreement saved the district $1.3 million in the 2010-2011 school year and set up $1.8 million in savings for the 2011-2012 school year. Administrators said it was the union's leadership which had approached the district to open up negotiations.

"We believe this new agreement will best serve the interests of students, taxpayers, and the Three Village CSD family," TVTA president Claudia Reinhart said in a statement Tuesday night.

A separate retirement incentive approved April 5 will save the district additional money, and the board on Tuesday accepted the retirement of 14 teachers who will not be replaced as part of that arrangement. The district also benefited from the which it expected to lose, but which was restored in the days leading up to the state legislature's April 1 budget deadline.

The adopted budget and teachers' contract appeared to inspire a variety of community responses following the meeting.

"This was the biggest bull**** I have ever seen," said Ali Ramaliu of Setauket.

Several days ago, Ramaliu was among the recipients of an illegally leaked letter from the school district's attorney urging the school board to vote down the union deal. He suggested the attorney issue a retraction letter after Diviney said during the meeting that the letter was not an accurate representation of the state of negotiations with the TVTA. He doesn't feel he has enough information yet in order to make a decision on whether to support the budget in May.

"What I won't support is this board," Ramaliu said.

Faiza Akhtar, a civic activist who helped mobilize community resistance to a last fall, said several residents whom she knew wanted to speak up against the teacher contract modifications eventually decided not to for fear there would be backlash against them.

"They're too scared. ... There's something really skewed about it," it said.

Others, like Diane Meyer of South Setauket, praised the board's actions. The mother of two school-aged children plans to vote "yes" on the budget.

She called the leaked letter inappropriate and divisive and said she was "proud of what the board did and the positive way the community supported them."

Deena Brando, a 12-year resident of Stony Brook and mother of three, lauded the teachers' union for opening up contract negotiations and said she planned to support the budget.

"I think it says a lot about our staff," she said. "I'm very happy that we could salvage a lot of the things they could have reduced."