Officials want to restore funding but full short of such a promise
Smithtown, NY (SmithtownRadio.com) – Retiring superintendent of Smithtown schools Ed Ehmann spent his last Board of Education meeting Tuesday in front of a larger-than-normal crowd, who showed up to petition the district to restore funding to music classes. The program is facing a budget-related cut for the upcoming school year.

Smithtown Friends of Music president Kathy Sullivan has been organizing a petition to ask the Board of Education to restore the funds.

“The Board response and Mr. Ehmann’s response I think could best qualified as ‘cautious,’” says Sullivan in an interview with SmithtownRadio.com after the meeting. “They don’t think they want to appear too optimistic because they cannot guarantee what will happen. I think it’s very possible they will try to split things out with a few music teachers but not all of them.”

The groups best hope for finding lost funds may come from Ehmann’s explanation of full teacher evaluate. Ehmann says the district will review the budget before the school year begins to see if there are any surplus funds, some of which could come from money allocated to salaries no longer on payroll because of unexpected retirements.