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Ask the Superintendent -
June 3, 2008
On Tuesday, May 27, the members of the Board of
Education held a special meeting to review their
options in the wake of the May 20 budget defeat. The
board decided to place a reduced budget before the
community for a revote on June 17. (Under New York
State law only one revote is permitted). The other
two options within their purview - resubmit the same
budget or go immediately to contingency/austerity -
were considered but dismissed in favor of a revote.
The Central Office Administrators had prepared for
this decision by spending 3½ days of intensive
budget reduction discussions with their principals
and directors. They presented the board with three
levels of potential budget cuts. The board carefully
scrutinized the reductions to be made at the
$350,000 level, additional reductions at the
$500,000 level, and even deeper reductions at the
$700,000 level. After a long discussion and critical
questioning, the Board of Education agreed to reduce
the budget by $506,250. They also requested that the
administrators, principals, and directors, save as
much program as possible within the adopted
reduction.
To reach that half million dollar figure, the
following were removed from the 2008/09 budget:
• Elimination of a computer teaching assistant at
the High School;
• Reduction of a full time physical education
teacher to half time;
• Elimination of a .6 music teacher at the
Intermediate School;
• Elimination of 11 teacher aides;
• Elimination of summer curriculum writing;
• Elimination of 6 modified athletic team II’s;
• Elimination of conferences for teachers, staff,
and administrators;
• Elimination of most new classroom furniture;
• Reduction in technology computers, monitors, and
other hardware;
• Reduction of 1/3rd of the Co-curricular activities
at the Middle School and High School;
• Elimination of fencing, drainage projects, and
back stop repairs at the Middle School field.
At the end of the meeting, it was decided the
administration would go back and try to
make further reductions and restore some program
that would impact the greatest number of students.
After additional discussions, it was decided to
eliminate the 5th grade trip to Ashokan, the $5.00
per day increase for substitute teachers, reduction
in half of the summer guidance high school students
and their parents, and additional reductions in
athletic supplies. As a result, the following
programs were reinstated:
• A limited Summer School at the High School for
Juniors and Seniors;
• .4 music teacher at Goshen Intermediate School;
• Co-curricular activities at the Middle School and
High School.
Anytime a budget is defeated and budget cuts follow,
individuals become very emotional about the loss of
school program. We all had hoped that our initial
budget would have passed on May 20. It was a lean
budget and when it failed the subsequent reductions
have become very painful.
Next week I will discuss how a contingency/austerity
budget will impact our school district.
Roy Reese
Superintendent of Schools
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