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Residents to vote on revised school budget on June
17(Back)
Goshen Central School
District residents will go to the polls on Tuesday,
June 17, to vote on a revised school budget of
$58,819,493 for the 2008-09 school year. This
includes $506,250 in cuts from the district’s
original budget proposal.
The revised budget proposal was adopted by the Board
of Education during a special meeting on May 27. If
approved, voters would see a reduction from the
originally proposed tax levy increase that was
rejected on May 20 – from 6.8 percent to 5.3
percent.The
original $59,325,743 budget proposal was defeated by
five votes on May 20. Following the budget defeat,
the members of the Board of Education faced the
decision of whether to hold a revote on the same
spending plan; hold a revote on a revised spending
plan; or adopt a contingency budget.
The Board reached its decision to propose a revised
budget after deliberating over a list of possible
cuts compiled by district administrators.
FUEL CONSERVATION EFFORTS
Rising fuel prices have a major impact on the budget
increase and the district has looked at ways to
conserve fuel even further. Fuel conservation
measures will include:
- Eliminating
all field trips
- Eliminating
the 6 p.m. sports bus
- Eliminating
long-distance athletic tournament participation
- Consolidating
bus routes/bus stops
“We cannot control
the price of fuel,” said Superintendent Roy Reese.
“We can only control the number of gallons used.”
BUDGET REDUCTIONS AND ELIMINATIONS
In addition to the fuel conservation measures, the
revised budget proposal calls for the reduction and
elimination of many other items, including:
Athletics, co-curricular activities and field
trips
- Elimination of
six modified athletic teams (team II):
- Boys
soccer team II
- Girls
soccer team II
- Boys
basketball team II
- Girls
basketball team II
- Softball
team II
- Baseball
team II
- Elimination of
the annual fifth grade trip to Ashokan Field
Campus
Staff and
program
- Elimination of
11 teacher aides
- Elimination of
one classroom teacher at Scotchtown Avenue
Elementary School
- Elimination of
one computer teaching assistant
- Reduction of
full time physical education teacher position to
0.5 position
- Reduction of
0.6 music teacher position to 0.4 position
- Elimination of
summer curriculum writing
- Elimination of
conferences for teachers, staff and
administrators
- Reduction of
parent and high school student Summer Guidance
Conferences
New equipment
and repairs
- Elimination of
most new furniture and equipment
- Reduction of
technology equipment, such as new computers,
monitors and other hardware
- Elimination of
fencing/drainage/back stop repairs at middle
school field
If voters reject
the revised budget, the district must adopt a
contingency/austerity budget, which would limit the
spending increase to 3.36 percent. This would
require an additional $885,000 in cuts to teaching
and support staff positions, educational programming
and all co-curricular activities.
A public budget hearing is set for Monday, June 9,
at 7 p.m. in the Board of Education Room at the Main
Street Building, 227 Main Street.
For more
information, visit the
budget revote section.
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