East Williston School District residents approved the proposed a $51.44 budget million for the 2011-12 school year by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, 831 votes to 450 votes.
The $51.44 million budget represents a 1.9 percent increase from the current $50.48 million budget, with a 3.56 percent tax levy increase.
School board president Mark Kamberg, running unopposed for his board seat, drew 861 votes.
East Williston Superintendent of Schools Lorna Lewis credited salary concessions from three of the school district’s employee units for enabling the school district to keep the budget increase under 2 percent.
“The compromising spirit of the teacher’s bargaining unit, administrator’s bargaining unit and the clerical bargaining unit, in negotiating their contracts, must be acknowledged as an important piece of the puzzle in keeping our budget-to-budget increase to 1.90 percent, a 20-year low,” she said.
The East Williston board negotiated a new four-year contract with district teachers that includes a wage freeze in the first year of the contract and an average 1.1 percent annual increase over the subsequent three years of the deal. Four-year pacts with district administrators and clerical staff unveiled in late April include wage freezes in the first year of their respective contracts, with 1.3 percent and 1.4 percent increases, respectively, over the duration of those deals.
Kamberg said he saw the vote results as an affirmation of the effort the district administration and the school board had made in holding district costs down
“I’m thrilled that the community came out and showed their strong support of the budget and the work that the administration and the board has done to control costs while educating our children,” Kamberg said.
Kamberg said he felt that the numerous public hearings the school board held on the budget – including a line-by-line review on a Saturday – helped to clarify the budget process.
“We tried to get everyone involved so there were no questions and so they understood, and I believe that they did,” he said.
Kamberg also said he was “truly humbled” at the number of votes he drew for his candidacy in an unopposed re-election bid.
School board Vice President Robert Freier said he was pleased about the level of support for the budget, but said the board would be facing a difficult situation under a prospective 2 percent budget cap next year.
“I’m thrilled that the voters supported the district and the educational programs. The following year will be more challenging,” he said.
State aid for the district will decrease from $2.41 million this year to $2.28 million next year, a loss of $125,219.
The district has also yet to be reimbursed for $27,508 of its MTA tax of $91,380 from 2009-10.
Unlike last year, when the budget passed by only 34 votes, there was no grassroots campaign mounted against it.
