When I first wrote about the budget development process a few months ago, I indicated that I was focusing most of my attention on improving teacher instruction and student learning. I am therefore very pleased that the Board of Education has adopted a budget for 2008-09 that includes a number of exciting curriculum innovations that I believe will be of great benefit to Roslyn's children.

One of the first things we do as administrators when we begin the budget process each year is to calculate how much it will cost to "roll over" the current year's budget into next year. In other words, if we didn't add a thing and kept all programs and services just as they are, how much would the budget increase? Considering all of our contractual obligations and the impact of rising costs (such as the high price of gasoline) the rollover for 2008-09 would be 4.55 percent.

Then we added all of the new instructional initiatives we were hoping to undertake next year, as well as capital improvement projects to continue the progress made in recent years in upgrading our facilities. Major initiatives include:

After adding all of these items, the increase came to about 7.85 percent. In a word: Unacceptable.

So my staff and I went back to the drawing board, and identified more than $3.3 million dollars in cost reductions and efficiencies. These include refinancing of existing debt to take advantage of lower interest rates, reducing out-of-district placements by providing more high quality programs in district, and re-examining how we contract for services with BOCES and other service providers.

Now, instead of a budget which merely maintains current programs, the Board has adopted a spending plan with an increase of 4.60 percent — only slightly higher than a simple "rollover" budget — which includes all of the new items listed above.

As I have said previously and repeatedly, our core mission as a school district is to provide the very best education we can for the community's children. The budget is not just a spending plan for the district, but an expression of the community's commitment to public education and everything we hope for regarding our children's educational future. I am confident that the proposed budget for 2008-09 will help the district take major strides towards enhancing our educational program while demonstrating strong fiscal discipline.