There was a special meeting of the Newburgh School District BOE on Tuesday April 20 at 7pm. The main purpose was for the Board to vote on the 2010-2011 budget proposal. A few other items were added. All the resolutions passed unanimously with little discussion.
- The meeting begain with a one hour executive session to discuss employment history of an individual.
- School District Budget proposal for 2010-11 in the amount of $226,468,390 was approved.
- Library Budget proposal of 4,240,343 was approved.
- Property tax report card data for submission to NYSED was approved.
- West Street School will house grades K to 5 for the 2010-11 school year.
- North Junior shall operate as grade 9 to 12 school next year.
- Boys track team approved to attend an event.
The agenda of the meeting included time for public comments, but there were no speakers. After the executive session, it took less than 15 minutes to approve everything.
The Times Herald-Record summarized things in an article yesterday:
Newburgh school board offering $226M budget
By Doyle Murphy
Published: 2:00 AM - 04/22/10CITY OF NEWBURGH -- The Newburgh school board will ask voters to approve a budget that is more than $3 million less than the one they approved a year ago.
The board held a special meeting on Tuesday to finalize the proposal that will go to voters on May 18 for final approval.
The $226.4 million budget includes 27 fewer positions but could still increase the tax levy 1.36 percent -- in part because the cost of paying employees' salaries and benefits increases annually.
The district is also short $7.88 million in state aid. If the federal government leans on the state to restore some of that money or the school board decides to spend a portion of the cash it keeps in the district's fund balance, the tax levy could change.
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How many superientendants do we need?
Come on, do we really need an assistant to the assistant, to the assistant of superientendant? We need to cut the fat! We should be cutting athletic programs instead of academic programs. We waste so much money on stupid stuff that is not needed. Do administrators and educators really need new furniture every year?
Salaries
Of course the budget goes up, along with salaries. THe question is of the 27 positions cut...how many are teacher positions? I've watched my kids' class sizes increase each year while the retoric from the board goes on about working towards lower class size. How many positions from downtown have been cut? Are there still people paid to handle public relations, teacher recruitment, and how about teh one who tells people to turn off the lights to save money? I can think of other ways to spend ,money, can't you?
Line by Line 2010-2011 Budget
Will the district be posting the proposed line-by-line budget on its website for the voters to review before the public meeting?