WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. March 30, 2004: The Board of Education passed a $143,809,184 School Budget for the 2004-2005 school year Monday evening, calling for an increase of 6.82% over the 03-04 budget. It is, WPCNR believes, the lowest year-to-year school budget increase in Westchester County. The budget will mean a 7.53% School Tax Increase, costing the owner of a home assessed at $15,000 approximately $300 more in taxes.

The budget provides for All Day Kindergartens at all five White Plains elementary schools at a cost of less than $850,000, adding eight new kindergaten teachers and eight teaching assistants and provides for all building alterations. It adds 2.4 additional teachers at the high school, brings Latin to the seventh grade, and adds a fifth grade teacher at Ridgeway School.

The $9.6 Million increase is due in part to mandated $4 Million in year-to-year cost rises in Health and Retirement mandates from insurers and the New York State Retirement Funds and an additional $2.4 Million in eroded assessments.  Supertintendent of Schools Timothy Connors said the District will be working closely with the city beginning this fall to incorporate assessment erosion and PILOT impacts on the budget so there are no surprises in the years ahead. The School District will issue a newsletter making the case for the year-to-year budget increase and a special booklet on the transition to All-Day Kindergarten to all residents in the coming weeks before the budget comes to a vote on May 18.

In a special report to the Board, Dr. Lucy Roman and her three technology specialists presented an optimistic report on the District's "Data Warehouse," saying they are now capable of prepraing reports on "longitudinal" performance of students from Grades K through 9, and that longitudinal studies can be custom-prepared on high school students and groupings starting with this year's courses.