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Most Long Island school districts plan to reduce numbers of teachers and other employees as part of next year's budget proposals, according to a Newsday survey and interviews with veteran school leaders.

The scaleback plans are far beyond anything seen since the early 1990s.

Dozens of districts already have warned workers that they stand to lose jobs in June, as budgets tighten and enrollments dwindle. South Huntington has issued pink slips to some 90 school workers, Hempstead to 110 and Brentwood to 190.

Some jobs could be restored, school officials say, once they learn exactly how much money they will get from a $787-billion federal stimulus package. Even so, there are widespread fears that in future years schools will be forced to impose even deeper cuts in staffing and student services, as federal aid dries up and districts run through financial reserves.

"Thirty years as a superintendent, and this is the worst I've seen in my career," said Joseph Laria, the acting schools chief in Hempstead. "We've been developing our budget against the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression."



Most plan to cut jobs

Newsday surveyed officials in 48 of the Island's 124 districts. Thirty-seven of those districts, or 77 percent, said they planned to shed positions, through layoffs or attrition.

Thomas Shea, superintendent of South Huntington schools and president of the Suffolk County Association of School Superintendents, said virtually all his colleagues in Suffolk expect layoffs. Ronald Friedman, chief of Great Neck schools and president of Nassau's Council of School Superintendents, said layoffs could hit more than half of all districts there.

Cutbacks reflect a nationwide trend. Last week, the American Association of School Administrators released findings that 44 percent of districts expect to lay off personnel next year, while 22 percent plan cuts in academic services.

Despite planned layoffs on the Island, school budgets are slated to continue climbing next year at rates ranging from 1 to 4 percent, according to districts' preliminary projections. Most districts will set final figures next month.

The principal factor, officials say, is contractual pay raises.

School taxes also will continue rising in most cases. A notable exception is Smithtown, where school officials aim at a zero tax increase, or even a cut. Elsewhere, many districts face an uphill task in selling budgets to local residents in advance of May's voting.

In Massapequa and Glen Cove, school superintendents have announced they will forego pay raises next year, and have challenged employees to do the same. School spending accounts for 66 percent of the Island's property taxes, with 70 percent of that spending on school payrolls and fringe benefits.

"If everybody pitches in and gives a little, we can save jobs and keep everybody working, at least for this year," Shea said.



Offers to give up 5 days' pay

Shea has offered to give up five days' pay next year, if any of his district's five employee unions agree to equivalent cuts. His current salary of $255,000 has become a target for local critics.

School unions so far have rejected such overtures - and for good reason, their leaders say. Glen Cove's teacher union recently turned down a district request to give up a 3.5 percent pay raise negotiated in June, which is on top of annual step raises already built into pay schedules.

Union president Karen Ferguson notes that, before that agreement, members went two years without a contract. Ferguson adds that the district's starting pay of $51,000 for teachers is hardly lavish by regional standards, and that teachers must work 30 years and earn extra college credits before reaching top scale of about $127,000.

"You really are struggling in the beginning, until you get to a halfway decent level," said Ferguson. She has taught special education in the district 18 years and now earns $112,000.

Newsday also found a growing number of districts planning to cut student services.

In Bellmore-Merrick, school officials have been buttonholed by parents, demanding to know why they decided to stop sending students to a popular training program in professional art, dance and theater. The program, known as the Long Island High School for the Arts, is operated in Syosset by Nassau BOCES.

Ellen Fantauzzi, a Bellmore-Merrick spokesman, said her district could no longer afford the school's tuition charge of $13,931 per student next year for a half-day program.



Dance student heartbroken

Lindsey Monaco, 15, a 10th-grader in the Bellmore-Merrick system, said she broke into tears last fall when informed of the district's decision.

"I had been planning my life around it," said Lindsey, who has studied dance since she was 2 and hopes to make it a career.

At a recent school board meeting in Levittown, school officials spoke of projected cuts in summer school, lessons for the intellectually gifted and other programs. Later, the floor was opened to residents who wanted to voice objections, including a local house painter, Tom Kolman.

"Why," Kolman asked, "is it always the children and taxpayers who suffer?"

Converging factors contributing to

pressures for teacher layoffs on

Long Island next year:

FALLING ENROLLMENTS. Especially

in elementary schools

CONTRACTUAL PAY RAISES.

Exceeding 6 percent in many districts

UNCERTAIN STATE AID. Amid

declining tax revenue and growing

dependency on federal assistance

DEEPENING RECESSION. Feeds

growing resistance among homeowners

to tax hikes

More teachers per student

White student enrollments on Long Island began to decline three years ago, the number of teachers has continued to increase. Here are K-12 figures for both students and teachers.

Year No. Teachers No. Students

1998-99 31,946 432,603

1999-00 33,521 442,353

2000-01 34,673 452,236

2001-02 36,073 460,572

2002-03 36,650 466,862

2003-04 37,018 470,759

2004-05 37,477 471,944

2005-06 37,705 470,806

2006-07 37,752 466,279

2007-08 38,348 462,352

SOURCE: State Education Department

Where it's hitting hard

BRENTWOOD. May eliminate at least 37 teaching jobs, six administrative positions and four clerical slots. A spokesman says the district has notified 192 nontenured teachers and about 30 administrators who might be affected.

HALF HOLLOW HILLS: May eliminate 21 teaching positions through attrition and restructuring, plus minor reductions in student clubs.

LEVITTOWN: May cut 10 teaching positions, eliminate summer school and cut classes for gifted students in grades 7 and 8.



SEWANHAKA: May eliminate about eight jobs and cancel summer school for about 700 students.

OYSTER-BAY

EAST NORWICH: May cancel many field trips and combine seventh- and eighth-grade sports teams.