A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY
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| Volume 6 Number 14 - Tuesday, April 6th, 2004 |
A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY |
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The Orthodox Christian News Service |
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St. Basil’s Cut Out of Garrison
NEW YORK. - Two school spending plans that would have different impacts on taxpayers are on the table in Garrison, where school officials are fighting with the state and St. Basil’s Academy about who will pay to educate the school's former students. One budget proposal, at $7.5 million, assumes the district will have to pay for 22 students from St. Basil, which has been sending its children tuition-free to the district since September. The other proposal, at $7.2 million, assumes the St. Basil children would no longer be attending the Garrison school or would have their tuition paid.
The difference in
the tax-rate increase between the two proposals is
about 5.6 percentage points, a hefty jump for
local residents, said school Superintendent Ellen
Bergman. No matter who attends school in Garrison next year, district officials are planning to replace windows and doors and upgrade the district's computer network under the proposed spending plan. The district will make it easier to use computers, which are in every classroom and used by students from kindergarten to eighth grade. The upgrade will also allow the district to create an interactive Web site. “It's not easy for a teacher to list homework or for a parent to interact with faculty,” Bergman said. “This will enable us to do that as well.” The Board of Education is planning to adopt a final budget proposal April 20 and take it to voters May 18. Bergman is hoping there will be a decision by then on the issue that has put district educators and St. Basil officials at odds all year. St. Basil officials have said the children have no parents to care for them, and have made the academy and the school district their home. But Garrison officials disagree and have said most of the children go home for the summer, make telephone calls to their parents and are covered by their medical insurance. The few foster-care students who were placed by family courts at St. Basil should have their home districts paying for their education, Bergman said. No such arrangements were made by St. Basil. In January, the state Office of Children and Family Services denied the academy a license to operate as a foster-care facility and ordered it to close by Jan. 31. But later in the month, it decided to let the facility remain open as it appealed its decision.
Reprinted from
the Journal News. |
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