001Mhm. >> Good evening and welcome to our Wednesday April 15th Board of Education meeting. At this time we would ask you to please rise as Katie leads us in the pledge. All right, thank you so much Mr. Monahan. Any changes to our meeting agenda? >> No changes to report. Okay, in that case Katie, we will turn it over to you for our student representative report. Good evening everyone. I hope everyone had a relaxing break. The third quarter went by really fast and now students are super excited to welcome the fourth quarter. And I'd like to begin with a few academic updates at War Memorial High School. Juniors are being notified about the upcoming letter of recommendation process, which is an important step as they begin preparing for our college applications. At the same time students
002across the building are getting ready for AP exams and there's been a strong focus on preparation and academic success as teachers are offering helpful review sessions throughout the next few weeks. In extracurricular achievements, our mock trial team has had an outstanding season and will be heading to states in Albany this May after being named Suffolk County regional champions. Additionally, our DECA students recently competed in the New York State competition in Rochester against top students from across the state. Several of our students earned first place honors and a total of 24 War Memorial students have qualified for the DECA International Career Development Conference. Our school community continues to stay active and engaged as our seniors attended an assembly before spring break and today our students and staff wore purple in support of military children showing our
003continued commitment to awareness and unity. Spring sports are also now in full swing and our teams are having a very successful season so far. I wanted to give a special congratulations to Juliana Russ who is the first War Memorial softball player to be selected for All-State which is an incredible achievement. Looking ahead to upcoming events at War Memorial, our War Memorial High School Players Club will be presenting their drama show on April 17th and in addition our Symphonic Band Orchestra and Mixed Chorus will be performing in their spring concert on April 16th. And finally our Math Honor Society will be hosting a math fun night on Wednesday April 22nd in the War Memorial cafeteria. In this event is designed for elementary school students and will provide a fun and hands-on opportunity to engage in with
004STEM and math-based activities. And that's my update for today. Thank you. Thank you. Great job Katie. Thank you so much. All right, we will turn it over to Mr. Carlson now for a presentation on our 2026-2027 budget. Sorry. Okay, thank you. Um oh, You'll wake everybody up. Um so I'm going to do a little bit of a recap to uh talk about where we began discussing the budget. It's hard to believe that was 5 months ago in November. Um and uh as I said I'll I'll go over where we began, give some history about the tax cap and the tax and how that's impacted the tax levy over the years and state aid fund balance and then go into the the budget itself for next year. So uh this was our budget timeline um starting
005and actually first bit of information really comes in in October with the employee retirement system contribution rates and then followed by teachers retirement system. We had a uh at our November board meeting we started talking about we did the budget first look. Um we've been working on program program um staffing needs. Dr. Scanlon, Dr. DeBrowsky and Dr. Muscari have been working on that with our building principals and administer district-wide administrators for months now. Our health insurance rates, health insurance is going up 12% next year. Uh the governor's budget proposal came out in January with a pretty minimal state aid increase in in her proposal of 1% increase in foundation aid. We're hoping that with the final state budget that goes up a little bit but but we don't know. Uh we're fairly confident we'll go
006up a little bit from there which I'll explain why we're fairly confident that in a minute. Uh and then we had the several board budget workshops right here with including tonight with um the adoption of the budget. Um and of course as usual the state missed its April 1st deadline to adopt the bud their budget um but what are you going to do? Uh starting tomorrow night Dr. Scanlon and I will be starting our road show going around to various community groups, PTA meetings, etc. uh doing the budget presentation concluding with the budget vote on May 18th. So the tax cap um as you know we [clears throat] always say it's not just a 2% tax cap. There is one of the variables that can be up to 2% and that's known as the levy
007growth factor and that's the one that it can be up to 2% but it it can be less too. It's based on the inflation rate or could as measured by the consumer price index. For this year as determined by the New York State Comptroller and the same rate applies to all districts throughout the state, the CPI rate to be used is 2.63% and as I just mentioned that's what's limited to 2%. However, there is another factor. It's called the tax base base growth factor and that accounts for new construction in the district. It varies year to year and district to district. Usually it's somewhere in the it can't be less than we can't lose because of it. So it's either a 1.0 or something a little more than that. It's usually maybe a tenth of
008a percent or two tenths of a percent kind of thing. This year for us it's 1.19%. So right off the bat even so you have that plus the 2%. So um that's given us before we even look at anything else a much higher tax cap than usual. Um and then as we had discussed at a couple of meetings prior especially with the bond referendum not passing is increase in our capital projects back from 1 and 1/2 million which is where it is this year to 3 million which is where it was um uh last year was $3 million. And that of course increases the tax cap, increase in capital projects. We also had a bit of a decrease in our building aid related to doing fewer building projects these days. Um so that a decrease
009in building aid also increases the tax cap some. So when you add it all together, our tax cap for next year is 4.54% and the budget that we're putting forward for the board to consider voting on to adopt tonight complies with that. Uh this is a slide I had done back in November. This is just to show the tax cap history and what it has meant for us. So so it's a little hard to read. So when the tax cap first started in 2012 um the year the first year right off the bat CPI was 3.16% and because the levy was capped because of that um if what I'm doing is doing what they our actual tax levy was with the tax cap formula in place and what the tax levy would have been if
010instead of just still a tax cap but instead of saying CPI meaning inflation rate or 2% whatever's less, it was just CPI. If CPI in that first year's case was 3.16% well then that's the levy growth factor. If the second year it was 2.0% that's the levy growth factor. Third year you can see it was 1.46% okay so as it and that and that was the levy growth factor that year. So you could see right off the bat so that first year our tax levy was almost a million and a half dollars less that if then if and this is a big if is if is a big word. If that had been just inflation rate. That or 2% whatever's less. So then that number each year that the the inflation rate is over 2%
011increases but also compounds a little bit. So you could see in the first 10 years that annual difference grew to 2.691 million. All right, so it's not a tremendous amount of money on a $200 million budget, you You it's a little more than 1%. Um but it wasn't it wasn't impossible for us to deal with. Um it wasn't ridiculously difficult to to to budget having that much money less than had we um you know, of course we have to deal with inflation rate. However, then you get to 2022, and that's when the inflation really started to take off. And the inflation and now I added 26, 27 into this. The inflation inflation rates for the past 5 years, 4.7%, 8%, 4.12%, 2.95%, 2.63%. So, you could see if again, if the tax cap formula was
012the be meaning that the levy growth factor was the inflation rate. Can't be more than that. Well, our tax levy for next year would have been $26.5 million more. Just in the last 5 years alone, it's 90 .4 million dollars less. So, as far as taxpayers are concerned, great news for them. Uh and I'm not saying this as a negative. I'm just saying so it's great for for taxpayers. Uh what I'm saying now is it's making it more and more difficult for us to to keep our programs and services in place dealing with inflation and be limited on the tax levy increase. Especially since we're getting minimal increases on state aid. That's the reason I show. This is not a complaining about the tax cap. Just should saying that's what we have to deal with
013when we're uh putting the budget together. And more and more districts are seeing this kind of thing and and it's being and and the impact it's having on them. So, state aid uh the governor's proposal, not including building aid, which uh I've talked about before. That's based on capital projects, and that can go up and it can go down. So, the state, when they do comparisons, sometimes you see a Newsday, when they do a comparison, they they take building out. So, I do the same thing. Uh and it would increase our building aid in the governor's budget proposal, again not counting state uh um building aid, uh an increase of about $550,000. Most of that is due to uh well, actually two main things. One is the 1% increase in foundation aid, which by itself
014is about $300,000. And the rest of it is the universal pre-K aid, which we're including the governor's proposal, which is so the current uh universal pre-kindergarten aid per student is $5,400. And that amount has been in place for over 20 years. Us having a half-day program, we've been able to get $2,700 per student. In the governor's budget proposal for next year, she is proposing increasing the full-day amount to from 5,400 per student to 10,000 per student. In which case we would be able to get the five half of that 5,000 per student. So, that's that's an increase in our total aid, too. Now, we were unsure about this a couple going back a couple of uh board meetings ago in in discussing the budget, I had not originally included that because we didn't we have
015to get a waiver in order to get um aid on our half-day program. We did not know if we were going to be able to get that waiver. Dr. [clears throat] Scanlon and Dr. Viscarii met with uh the person from state ed state aid state ed department uh who oversees you UPK programs and uh let us know that we will be able to get the waiver again uh to and and and have a half-day program and still get the aid. So, so that's that was good news. So, so that's increasing our state aid a little bit for that. Um as I said, the state uh budget was due April 1st. It normally is not due by then uh not done by then, and this year's no exception. So, we don't know what the final state
016aid amount is going to be. And normally that it does go up from the governor's budget proposal, uh but last year we saw it did not, and that was an unusual thing. So, I would say this year we're a little more confident that it will go up a little bit. I'm not that I don't mean by millions of dollars. Um I'm fairly confident that the state's final state budget will see our foundation aid increase for instead of 1% be more like 2%, which would be about another 300,000 dollars. And the reason I'm confident in that is not because I don't think they would do that 2 years in a row. I don't think they care about that. But um one is last year the governor's budget proposal had a 2% uh increase in the foundation
017aid. The state Senate and Assembly both wanted to increase it to 3%. So, we thought that might happen. It didn't happen. It was 2%. This year the governor's budget proposal had a 1% increase. So, and both the Senate and the Assembly are in their um budget bills want that to be 2%. So, we're fairly confident, but the biggest reason is the entire state Senate and the entire state Assembly and the governor are all up for election this year. So, that's really why we're confident that will go up a little bit from there. But but we did not budget for that. So, if that happens, great. And if that's $300,000 more revenue that we get that we didn't earmark for spending, that leads me right into uh that well, as soon as I finish this, the
018next subject, which will be fund balance. But so, just to give you a little history. In '09-'10, state aid, not again not including building aid, uh was 19 almost 19.6% of our total revenue. For the current year, I'm not going to next year yet. I don't want to use the governor's proposal in this. I just want to go with with actual. Uh for the current year, our state aid is 15.75% of our budget. Uh it's it's only increased um state aid about 1% a year during that this last averaging about $344,000 a year. It's just not that much money on a $244 million budget. Um and just to put it in perspective, if we were still getting like we were getting in '09-'10, 19.59% of our total revenue from state aid, that would have given
019us more than $9 million more this year, but we're not getting it. So, back to the if we do get a little more state aid that we did not include in the budget, brings us to fund balance. So, uh fund balance is basically when we have the difference between more revenue coming in than expenditures going out. That's where fund balance comes from. So, in June of '19, our total fund balance was $24.9 million. And the average, just straight average of all the other schools on Long Island, was $20.5 million. So, we were about 21 per 21% higher than the average of other all other Long Island school districts. So, during COVID, as we all know, we talk about this a lot. Uh most school districts closed schools for the most part. They had kids come
020in on a hybrid schedule couple of days a week. Most kids stayed at home. They didn't do a whole lot of work during the uh that especially that one year, the uh the 20 2020-21 school year. Uh but we kept schools open. Every student could attend school all day, every day. One of the few districts anywhere in the country to do such a thing. But it cost us a lot of money, and we talked about that a lot at the time. It cost a lot of money. We pulled a lot of money out of our reserves and fund balance uh to do that. So, what did that mean? Well, it meant kids were in school all day, every day, and that was great. On the financial side, what it meant was by June of '21,
021our fund balance total fund balance, which includes reserves, uh had decreased to 18.5 million from 24.9 million. Most districts uh what they did is they were still getting all their revenue in, but they cut a lot of programs. They just didn't have them. They had kids coming in a couple of days a week. They didn't have a lot of any after school stuff. They didn't they didn't do a lot of stuff. So, what that meant is all that money coming in that they weren't spending, they were able to increase their fund balance or reserves a lot. During that time, we were using ours. So, total fund balance for for over that 2-year period for all other Long Island school districts increased by $522 million during that time. Uh and that meant that the average Long
022Island school district fund balance had increased to 24.9 million, exactly where ours was in June of '19, while ours shrunk. Now, the average school district uh the average on Long Island was 35% more than us. And what's happened over the past few years is those things we put in place during COVID. Now, a lot of the extra staff, a lot of that we don't have anymore. But some of the programs and and things that we did put in place during that time, especially on the mental health side, we didn't just eliminate those. So, what what what it's been a slow process of trying to realign everything with our budget tax levy. So, we're kind of turning the corner um on using up fund balance. Um you throw on to that the um building um um
023uh we had the Setauket roof collapse uh almost 3 years ago now. Uh the flooding at Nissequogue. Uh yeah, those kind of things on to that, which also pulled money out of fund balance. So, um if if not by the end of this school year, we still have 3 and 1/2 months to go, so I don't want to you know, jinx it. But um if we don't start adding back to fund balance or reserves by the end of this year, by the end of next year, we'll start at least turn the corner on that and start building our fund balance and reserves back. And then if we continue on that, we'll be in great shape. Just to interrupt for a moment, excuse me, Jeff. So we just emphasize for the good of the community, too.
024Different than businesses, we cannot overspend our budget. We cannot We have You know, we're hearing districts now like South Country that's borrowing pressing the state to borrow money. We can't overspend the budget, correct? That's correct. Right. So So when we're talking about this when people in the community hear from certain individuals that are online saying, you know, the district's mismanaged and then, you know, not doing what needs to do financially, we are actually doing fiscally what is responsible for the district by having the fund balance in place. Exactly. So So our goal is to continue replenishing that, to to build that back to where it it should be. So it'll take a little time. And then as of June last June, our total fund balance had decreased to $10.1 million. So as I said, we
025want to turn that around and start building that back up again. Not that anybody cares, but back in 2007, I started here in 2007. In June of 2007, our total fund balance and reserves was around $2 million. So we built it up and then with COVID, we used a lot of it, but we'll build it back up again. So some of the major increases that we have in our budget for next year, of course, the biggest one is the health insurance. It's a 12% increase. I talked about this all the time. You know, the pharmaceutical costs especially are what's driving health insurance costs. I mean, the medical part, too, but the pharmaceuticals are just out of control. You know, it's And I say it like half jokingly, but but I'm serious, too. When you when
026you see all the commercial If you when you're watching the TV, all the commercials for medications, prescription medications um that and for the most part are designed for you to be on for the rest of your life. They cost so much money. Um there's that and then it's funny that that If you look at If you watch all of the food commercials on TV, it's all little junk food and it's never about this food is healthy for you. But all the pet food commercials talk about how healthy it is for your dog. >> [laughter] >> Not human food. Uh it's the human food commercials are what make you sick and then here's the medication you're going to need for the rest of your life because of it. Um so capital projects were increasing by $1.5
027million. I'll talk about what projects are in that in a in a minute. Our contractual salaries because we have a lot of savings due to retirements and other staffing changes, which which is coming up in the next slide, is a That's the And the savings for the for those pieces are already deducted from the total contractual salaries. So this is after that. Other benefits employees retirement system, teachers retirement system, social security, workers comp, Medicare, separation pay, that's the any retirement incentives. And that's the line where we're increasing that because as we've we've seen now, our numbers of retirees each year are going up and up and up and up. So instead of having to If you remember 2 years ago when we did it, it was a retirement incentive, we had to pull money out
028of reserves. It's a reserve called the employee benefit accrued liability reserve. We had to pull money out of that to pay the incentive. Which is fine and it's saving it's saving us money. That's great. The goal though is to have enough in the budget to pay even So this year with with the 21 teacher retirements that we have, even a lot of them, most of them are getting the retirement incentive. We have enough in the budget to pay for that. But we as we keep talking in the next five and you know, any anywhere but up to next 5 to 10 years, we're going to have significant numbers of retirements each year and we want to What we want to do is have enough in the budget to pay for all of those incentives each
029year, not have to tap into reserves to do that. And so that helps us in a couple of ways. One is when we have those retirements, it saves a lot of money. And two, if we have more in that code, that that separation pay code than what we needed to pay out for retirement incentives cuz we don't know how many people are going to retire each year. We can take a guess, but we don't know exactly. Anything left in that, that's where a lot of our money that's going to help build us fund balance and reserves back will come from. And then unemployment, the reason that's going up, the state back in the I guess it was last fall or last summer, they changed overnight the weekly maximum went from $405 to $869 or something
030like that. It more than doubled. All out of nowhere, just overnight. So unemployment insurance is not a big It's not a big cost for us, but there is an increase to it because of that. >> [clears throat] >> So as I mentioned, we have a number of teacher retirements this year. I specifically mentioned teachers because there is a there is a fairly large cost savings between a retiring teacher and replacement teacher. So we have 21 this year and that's without a special incentive. There is one in in their contract, which everybody is eligible for their first year of eligibility, meaning to retire without a penalty from the retirement system. They get that one crack at it. And as I said, not not everybody Some people stay longer than that and they choose to go. Some
031people don't even reach that. They can still retire if they're 55, but they might not have the years of service and they get an early retirement penalty, but if they want to go, they can go. Either way, it saves us money. So we That's a significant savings. Of the 21 we're saying 18 of those don't even have to be replaced. So that's more savings on top of that. And then what we did is with all of our our own areas and all of our principals and directors, mandate from direct from the superintendent was cut all discretionary spending by 25%. That means equipment, contracted services, supplies, materials, all of that kind of thing. Of course, we can't cut utilities, you know, we don't want to get to the point where we say, "Sorry, we're not going
032to turn the lights on today because Carlson told us to cut the budget by 25%." But that that was significant amount of money that that saved. Also, we did some administrative reconfiguration. One is moving from chairs to department directors. Now this isn't this move isn't well, this is going to save us a lot of money. That's not the That's not the the motive for this change. The motive for the chair Well, Dr. Scanlon talked about it more, but was more from a programmatic need. So but of course, when we this was first brought up to the board, the first question is, "Well, how much is that going to cost?" And the answer is it's not actually going to cost anything more. It'll actually save a little money. But that was the chairs to department of
033the of direct department directors is not meant to save money. It'll save a little bit of money, but that's not the reason for it. There are two central office administrative positions which are being cut and with all of that, it's a total of nine fewer administrative positions. Dr. Scanlon, do you want to talk about that? Sure. So this >> [clears throat] >> represents about a 20% cut in the administrative staff for the district. Now the move to having we have chairs in some of these departments in multiple buildings. Having a single person, the responsibilities will be moved from just being in the single building through a P through 12 piece that will work directly with Dr. Scarian and Dr. Rinaldi and their roles with curriculum and instruction. So um that will create some more consistency
034and more efficiency for us as a district as we move forward. District has gone from having 7,400 students to 5,400 students. I want to emphasize again for those at home and those that will watch this video later on. Our enrollment has gone down by a half a percent over the past 4 years. So it has not gone down significantly in the past 4 years. We're still going to be in that 5,400 range and we're projecting we're going to still be in that next year as well. And again, going back depending on how the governor's budget may come through, if we do get that pre-K 8 piece, we may be looking at some people coming off the pre-K waiting list for next year and we might be able to open up additional sections there. So let's
035those folks that are home with their child waiting on the that wait list, everybody should hope and pray for that that money to come through so we can get you off that list and then at least some of you off that list um with that piece. But this is just creating a much more efficient system. We do have directors in certain departments [clears throat] already. Um and we've seen the benefit of that across the board from an academic standpoint and this is expanding that further into other areas in the district. So it's a it's a big move and a lot all at once. There are certain components of jobs with the central office positions that cannot go away and we must have other positions created. So overall, the the fewer positions that we have, we're
036looking at adding directors. So we're looking at five total positions coming in with the elimination of 13 total positions, but there is also these add up to nine fewer administrators overall. Since 2022, we've cut 17 administrative positions overall. So we've added back a few in different areas, but we've cut 17 administrative positions with this proposal. >> [cough] [clears throat] >> As I mentioned included in this budget is $3 million in capital projects. Uh the projects that were identifying uh all come right off of the the bond project scope uh list that we had and these are the um most pressing uh building needs. Uh cupola repairs at Tack it Murphy and Minnesauke, they're the worst. Uh the Ward Melville High School pool uh machinery room, diving boards, starting blocks, and bleachers are in desperate need
037of uh renovation. The Nassakeag mini gym floor uh that was damaged in the flood um we'll try to get FEMA aid on that, but uh we're putting that in um uh uh to be done next year. And then we put we always throw in something um because if we don't get aid on a project unless we list it. So, if there's money left over after doing the other work, uh then we'll do some district bathrooms depending on what which school and uh needs them the most. Uh so, we would just put district-wide bathrooms. That way uh we're not promising that we'll do all the bathrooms, but if there's money available, we'll do some bathrooms and by listing it we'll be able to get building aid on it. Uh Jeff, just for a moment. Nassakeag, there's
038some work going to be done this summer for Nassakeag, correct? >> Yes, that's included in the current year's uh capital project uh uh budget. Uh the back parking lot uh by the auditorium entrance that got awful one. Uh that's going to be redone. Um and uh as well as some flooding mitigation uh kind of work. Um that's going to be done this summer. That was included in the current year's budget. The That was part of that million and a half dollars um in the this year's capital projects. Oh, and also the two classrooms where the slab sunk. Um that's going to be repaired this summer as well. It's a total of $3 million and all of these projects would be eligible for the 66% building aid portion. >> again back to the budget uh with
039the with the bond piece as well. So, with the bond failing and there's definite work that has to be done next year. These are the priority items that we put into place. Um after the budget vote it goes goes on, we wanted to talk about what the priorities would be for if the board would consider a revote or putting the bond up for a revote sometime in the fall um with a much more reduced amount of money to be looked at at that point in time. I mean, we already have the priorities put into place for what that could look like uh when we look at that. Um that does not mean that that work that we put in the bond doesn't need to be done. So, we want to be clear with the community
040that there's still desperate needs within the district. And this winter was a very harsh winter. Um everyone can see that it with what's been done in with roads and potholes. It's taken its toll on our buildings. Well, we have we have these wonderful um solar panels on the roofs of the building, but when there's 17 in of snow sitting on top when they slide off and hit the gutters, now we have gutter damage in almost every building. And it's not to mean that the cupolas in the other uh six buildings don't need to be done, but these are the ones in the worst shape. I'm fearful if ringing the bell at Tack it this year may be even possible based upon the condition of the cupola. So, and Murphy's cupola, if one more piece falls
041off, we're just going to have to start uh getting a little worried about that. So, we're we're in those are in very very poor condition. And by the way, the pool, if anyone's why is that a priority? Um well, we have we have uh we're lucky to have a pool in this district. Our community swim program uses it quite a bit, but our teams use it. And it's that we have uh mitigation issues in there as well. We have rusting bleachers that have to be addressed. Machinery is in bad shape. The starting blocks, so you know, we don't want to be in a position where we're going to have to close the pool for community swim and for our teams and have to rent space then somewhere else for us to be able to do
042those things when we have the pool already in place. Yeah. The our buildings, we have to take care of them. Uh so, to summarize uh the budget to budget increase is uh 2.87% and the tax levy increase is 4.5% 4%. Uh chief uh reasons for the uh why the percentage increase is higher in the tax levy is one that's based on a lower base. Uh the the increase is based on uh it's as you can see the the $8.1 million uh tax levy increase is based the percentage increase is over a $178 million uh current year's levy and the $6.8 million on the budget increase is the percent calculated on 238 million. Uh but the difference in the the dollar amount in the increase that $1.3 million, that's mostly because of the reduction in building
043aid for next year. >> [clears throat] >> So, if the budget doesn't pass, well, uh and we've been through this, you know, we've seen this before. Uh if it does not pass, the the options are uh uh put the same budget up for a revote, uh revise the budget and put that up for a second vote, or don't have a second vote at all, go straight to contingency. But either way, if there is not a budget that's passed by the voters, that means we're on contingency and that means no increase to the tax levy at all and that would mean from this budget that we're putting forward even after the reductions that we've made, we'd have to cut another $8.1 million. Now, exactly what gets cut, we don't know. Um and and there are reasons
044why we don't want to talk about it. It's not we want to keep it secret. Uh for one, that's a discussion we would have to have with the board. Um that's one. Second is we have to be careful uh in how we say things like that because we cannot we're not allowed the board uh and administration as as officers of the school district cannot advocate for the passage of the budget. We can't make statements subjective uh statements such as uh if the budget fails, your child's education will be adverse adversely impacted. We can't say that. That's a that's a subjective statement. Uh we can say factual. We can say, "Well, we have to cut $8.1 million from the budget." That's a fact. Um but we always have to be careful because uh the commissioner has
045ruled in some school districts if you say, "Well, you know, if the budget fails, we might have to cut kindergarten." The commissioner has felt those kind of things can be deemed a threat. Like, you better vote for the budget or else. Uh so, that's part of the reason why we say we don't know what would be cut uh if if the budget fails and we have to cut that $8.1 million. Actually, I know the first 3 million is capital projects cuz there are no capital projects in a contingent budget. So, that would be the first 3 million. But other than that, I don't know. Uh and and we have to be careful even speculating as to what that might be. Uh because someone might feel it's we're threatening sports or kindergarten or whatever kind of
046non-mandated uh programs we may have. >> [clears throat] >> So, included on the on the ballot this year is going to be a special proposition that is being put forward by the Long Island Museum. Uh this is So, there's a section in the education law and it's not a new thing, but I think it's a it might be a new interpretation. And somewhere over the last couple of years, some museum somewhere in the state uh said, "You know, I think that section of law which kind of govern really I think is meant for libraries, but that would apply to us, too. There's requirements to be museum. You can't just hang up a sign and say I'm a museum. Um you have to be chartered and but where we could put a proposition on with the
047school budget vote and get a tax levy out of it." So, uh somebody did that and sure enough it was it was the the I don't know if it's a comptroller whoever at the state uh New York state level uh decides that, said, "Yeah, no, that that makes sense." Um so, I think we're going to see this more and more. So, um in our case, so the Long Island Museum is putting this they they they uh got a petition at a certain number of signatures. Anybody can put a petition on the ballot and they had the with they have enough signatures, which they did. Uh the the wording of their proposition is legal. We our attorney checked that. Uh so, this will go on to the ballot. And if passed by the voters, it would
048create a a separate tax of $500,000 with that money would go to the Long Island Museum. Now, the mechanics of it um at least so far in the town of Brookhaven uh for any district that has this already in place, there's not a separate line on the tax bill for it. So, you would not see at least not yet. Maybe down the road Brookhaven would do that, but but as of right now it's not. You would not see like when you look at your tax bill and you see school taxes and you see Emma Clark Library and you see refuse and you police and Suffolk Community College and blah blah blah. You see all of that, you wouldn't see Long Island Museum. At least not now. Uh it would be it would get added to
049the school tax levy. We would the town would pay us the money and then we would pay it to the museum. So, that would be the mechanics of that. Um we don't do that with the library here. There are some school districts, especially in Nassau County, where the district collects library taxes and distributes them to them. That doesn't happen in Brookhaven. Brookhaven pays the library taxes directly. Uh but this is um you know, and this is not something that uh the board or administration pushed for when it's just it just it is what it is. They they uh got the uh required number of signatures on the petition. It's going on the ballot and it's up for everybody to uh to vote yes or no on. And it does not impact our tax levy. So,
050it the two added together even they both pass even though if you added the dollar amounts together with it would appear that it's above the tax cap it's not because that's that's it's it's just because it's not a separate one. So, anyway so that that will be on the on the ballot this year. So >> Mr. Dawson can I just ask a quick question? Let me just put a slightly finer point on that. So, you mentioned this wasn't something [clears throat] that the board solicited but did we have the opportunity to say no some members of the community are wanting could we have said no to the museum? No. No. Uh And there are there are other types of propositions that can be put forward for certain valid purposes. Um and if somebody were to
051do that then then that's that's that if if it's a valid proposition that the appropriate number of signatures um it goes on the ballot. So, it's not something the board could either you know you you could you couldn't say no. So. Thank you. Whether you wanted to or not. It was it's out of out of your control. So, the budget vote Tuesday May 19th all at Ward Melville High School in the gymnasium and for anybody who doesn't want to go there early voting is available and you would contact the district clerk for information about that. So, that's it on the presentation. I will sit down and we'd be glad to take any questions anybody may have. Thank you. Thank you so much. We'll let you get seated. And I believe Mr. Dawson has a question.
052Yeah. Dr. Scanlon could you go into the movement from chairs to department directors a little bit in more detail like sort of what are these individuals going to be doing what's the scope why is this change being done? So, given what we've witnessed with some of the demands from the state with changes in different curricular areas there is been a lot of changes in curricular areas in science math English standards across the board. Our our structure that we have right now with chairs who are part administrator part teacher in each of the buildings goes back to the inception of Three Village. A long time. We've had over the course of years coordinating chairs between different buildings. Mr. Visco was one of them at one point in time. We've had multiple departments under one person. I
053was the humanities chair at Gelinas. I had the reading department the library the English department and social studies under me. So, there's been different machinations over the over the course of time. With analyzing our needs and going back to four years ago when the board hired me in as the superintendent role a goal was put it forth that given our declining enrollment and given our structural needs and based upon some of these changes that are coming would it be a more efficient model to have an individual as opposed to multiple individuals overseeing the departments. And given our circumstances right now where we have that already in place in in social studies and it's been working very efficiently there and that's been in place for several years with different people having been in the role. We're
054applying that same model to the other departments other academic areas. So, English social studies English science and math and also looking at phys ed and health and currently we have a coordinating chair for world languages and ENL that was a director position last year and this year we're proposing changing it from a coordinating chair to a director position. So, we're all these positions on the same level. Um the PPS department we have a chair in that department just putting that title to an assistant director and putting it on the same level on playing. We will still have one coordinating chair in the district that would be in guidance. And we'll be looking forward looking at that going into the future about what what change may need to be in that area as well but it's
055based upon trying to make the areas much more efficient in that capacity. Now, as Jeff said this is not a money saving proposition with the chair positions. The other positions do save us quite a bit of money overall. Again, I would say some of the responsibilities in those roles are still needed but they we're dividing out some of those responsibilities to other other areas at this point in time. What we also didn't mention to the title position of principal at the academy is being changed to an assistant director position for alternative education encompassing other areas. But there's certain positions that we need at the district level like the district is required to have a DAS coordinator. We have to have those things by regulation. So, we need that assign that different people than other positions.
056That's what we're saying we're we're taking away these positions but we're adding back five different newer positions. So, basically like the science department is going from three chairs to one director. The English department is going from three chairs to one director. The math department is going from three chairs to one director. Physical education and health we're just going from two chairs to one director. So, those are the proposals that we're putting forth in this to try to streamline the our administrative team in some ways and giving more of that that as I said P through 12. Remember we have a pre-K program now. We used to say K through 12. So, we're P through 12 district not a K through 12 district. Having them involved with some of the responsibilities at the elementary level coordinating
057with the principals at that level because it's a continuum of education. You know, the foundations are placed in the elementary level but there are a lot of the way the standards are working a lot of a lot of things that connect that are necessary to have students developing skill levels and abilities in the elementary level that lead to the secondary opportunities that we offer. And we are academically a very very successful district as he's mentioned multiple times. Our graduation rate is still extraordinarily high. Our students with special needs having been having have very small percentage less than 0.8% of our population goes out of district. Still having the success with students with special needs in this district is something we should be very proud of. And that's also taking into account that in the past
058several years we've had a 400% increase in ENL and increase of our poverty level from 4% to 18% yet our graduation rate still remains the same. I think we should be very very proud of that and I look at that as a success of this district despite what everything else might be felt about what's going on. And you know, Dr. Muscarella has mentioned multiple times about the expansion of programs and departments in different areas. We've increased our CTE programs AP offerings. We offer some the largest number of AP courses of any district in this area of the county. So, we've got a lot of opportunities. Our moves that we did this year with the grade levels changing sixth grade to the middle school level and ninth grade going to high school we're offering more elective
059opportunities for students. So, and I think we've seen so far this year the success of all of that. Are there things we still need to work on? I'd be I would never lie to the people of course. There's things that we all need to still improve upon. It's it's ever continuing. We're an educational system. Of course we should be improving. So, I think this will put us in a better footing to have greater coordination of services and then within between those departments and within those departments district wide. So, if I want to hear hear you correctly are they going to be because today the chairs are on a per building basis? >> Correct. Yes. So, are they going to be coordinating so let's take math for an example is the director going to then be
060responsible to coordinate curriculum across the grades? >> Yes. And across all the buildings? Yes. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. Who else has a question or comment? Dr. [clears throat] Beck? Um sure. So, um the the 12% increase in health care obviously makes it very difficult to to to plan things ahead right? So, 12% increase the number was four and a half million dollars which is roughly 2% of our budget right? The budget increased the total increase was like 2.8% 2% of that that's already health care. So, um I do appreciate it's difficult to plan under that situation. So, so so it's it's good we put it together and and uh have to put things together under those constraints. Um the fund balance is is concerning obviously right? So, if the fund balance sort
061of represents the in my mind the the sort of the general fiscal health of the district. So, I I just would ask um you know, if in the future if we're talking about adding programs you know, there's a lot of great things we could do if you know, if you have money for it um or adding positions or you know, whenever we're doing this we just need to be mindful of that the the fund balance situation. And I think we need we need to prioritize that a little bit more in the future. I agree. Yes and I and I I agree as well. The thing that will help us tremendously is the presentation that Dr. Muscarella Mr. Wells did several months ago about personnel with the retirements that are coming up. You know, this year
062we're looking at 21. We're actually going to be up to 23 if we get the additional letters that we're anticipating. Next year that we're going to be in the 20s as well. And for years here during that 10 year period prior to our my administration here um we only would have single digit number of retirements. So, within the next 10 years as Dr. Muscarella pointed out we're going to have 370 of 530 teachers eligible to retire. So, that change as Jeff has indicated in his presentation will be ways that we we can take money if we're not replacing all those positions or or even if it was one for one, we're still saving a lot of money there. And that's where the board could have a heavy hand in where should that some of those
063funds go into. The other thing that the board has been very very successful doing and then that this is also with the work that our attorney has been doing with Dr. Mascari and Mr. Carlson too with our negotiation processes with all of our units in the district advocating for areas where we need to increase the benefits as well. So that will also help save us money. So as Jeff is pointing out that health care benefit is going up exponentially like this. Focusing on on we need to have a higher contribution rate in those areas is something we're going to have to continually look at as we go through the negotiation process. Doesn't mean they have to increase drastically right away, but we're incrementally they have to come up, you know, just to meet where our
064needs are. So all those things combined, yes, you're absolutely right. We need to keep focusing on, but that's where some of those funds can be. And it's a volatile system, you know, whether it's, you know, a 12% increase this year, hopefully it's not a 12% increase next year, but it's something beyond our control with some of those things. The things we can control are what we do with the retired positions, what we do with the health care benefits in all the unit contracts that we negotiate. Um and we will have a couple more next year that we're going to be looking at and we still have a couple this year that we're wrapping up. Yep. And I would say in addition to, you know, continuing to negotiate contracts where those benefits where the employee is
065paying more into them, you know, you've also worked to get the contribution on certain medications on the prescription part to come down, which was meaningful. Yes. [clears throat] Uh that's that's one thing at at the uh health insurance uh consortium uh we've been working on is changing some of the co-pays. Um and one one for example that was costing a it was costing the plan um about a million dollars a quarter for weight loss drugs. And and I'm not talking about Ozempic or Mounjaro, which are for diabetes. Just the Wegovy or um uh Zepbound, the uh prescribed for weight loss, was costing a million dollars a quarter um and and kept increasing as more people do it. And so we made a change to that. We said the co-pay is now 30% for that. So
066um so that at when it was $1,400 a month for Wegovy, um now if you have to pay 30% of that, well, some people, well, it's still worth it, right? Um if it's really working for them, then then great, good for them and and and they'll they're they're paying it. Um but it's that's a significant savings to the plan. And then some people who were just on it because, well, sure, if it's only going to cost me $25 a month, sure, I'll take it and if I drop 5 lbs. Um but so some of those people go, "Oh, never mind. I'm not going to take it. I I really don't need it. I'm not going to take it." So even better then, then saves even more money. So uh and that's one change. But we
067made other changes as well on the on the prescription uh prescription drug co-pays. So. Hi. And I just wanted to mention that we are putting $400,000 in uh in the budget this year to put into reserves. So we'll be continuing to do that and hopefully increasing that as the years go on. But we are continually to do that cuz we know the funds have to go up. And I also just want to give um some props or whatever the right word is to administration because I think they have been looking at adding programs that are fiscally sustainable. And there's a lot of things that are going to be happening next year or happened this year that are cost neutral and didn't cost the district anything and that we were able to give our students I
068mean we have the Bloomberg lab coming next year, which was um the technology department was able to finagle that without any um cost increase. Um we have the collab with uh Suffolk Community College with the Beacon program. So now we could start having our students um earn associate's degrees. And that again um wasn't a uh a cost to that. Um we're going to be reinstating the science TAs into all the elementary schools. That again administration worked with the building administration and they were able to do that cost neutrally. Um moving all the second doors, which was a um recommendation from the uh school closing committee. They're able to do that. Um this year they started the peer mentoring program where the high schools are going to be working with the with high school students going
069to be working with the middle school students and eventually the elementary school students. Um Dr. Scanlon started a superintendent a superintendent task force, which is fantastic. Um you know, I I I said where we are putting money in for the reserves. And just all the everyday things like our sports teams are so many of them got to the championship this year. We've had coaches that have won awards for uh being best in state or best in county. Um you know, our science Olympiad team, our a deck a deck a team, our mock trial team, the yearbook staff, our art students, our music students. There's so much that happens every day that doesn't cost us anything, but what's makes Three Village Three Village. And all of that has to be, you know, talked about as well.
070So thank you for that. Absolutely. I agree and I'll jump in with one other I noticed um with all of the wonderful posts that are being put out all the great things our kids are doing. How great is it to see recently the sixth graders winning academic competitions? They never would have done that before, right? They're up in the big leagues now and they're winning and that's amazing and that's just a beautiful thing to see. That's forward thinking and and we do appreciate that. Well, Mr. Jansen's in the audience tonight, so Murphy beating Gelinas is a we won't go into that. Miss Keen is not here apparently cuz so she's not as happy about that for the that hasn't happened in a long time, so uh but it does has uh given great opportunities for
071students at an early stage and put them on par with a lot of their counterparts. 75% of the state is in a configuration like we are right now. And that gives our students a leg up in many ways. And I will have give also kudos to all of our seniors like Katie here and we the continued success of students going off to two-year and four-year colleges and and getting in and getting scholarships uh the millions and millions of dollars in scholarships that are being offered to our students. Uh looking at our art programs and our music programs, the students that are getting into those type of things. And also uh we have students that are going into the military. Um not just the academies that we should be very proud of those students, uh but
072it's straight into the military and that's a sacrifice for themselves and their families. And we have students that are going straight into the workforce. We have CTE programs where students are whether they're at BOCES or through us that are going right in and starting their careers and and and being very successful. So this district offers a plethora of things for every type of student imaginable and that's unique, you know, it's it sometimes it takes a lot to do that and we've been we've been very blessed to have those opportunities. When when I started 4 years ago, we only had about 30 students at BOCES. We have 54 in there right now um taking career career programs that you know, different areas like plumbers and electricians and carpenters and uh welders that we didn't have before.
073LPNs, uh culinary programs. Uh they're they're going right into the workforce in our communities. And I have to also give uh credit to you know, our community has been very very supportive. A lot of the business in here the between the Chamber of Commerce and the Civic Association support we received there. Um where some of our students have gotten internships and worked through our work study programs. Um we've had the career fair here for a number years. We had over almost 90 businesses um with 8 to 900 students and parents attending that program. That's showing the different opportunities that our students can go into. It doesn't have to, you know, Dr. Bonagura, who's the president of Suffolk Community College, is a Ward Melville graduate and he doesn't like it when I say not every kid
074can go does have to go to college um because he's like they could come to Suffolk and they could get a career path too. So yes, the the partnerships that we've developed with Suffolk will go a long way. We have identified 65 courses at Ward Melville High School that students could potentially get college credit through uh Suffolk alone. But we have relationships with six other colleges and universities. So that work has taken a long time. Dr. Mascari and his hard work with uh his team there to try to get those programs set up and and and running. Uh and I think we can just continue to plug away at that. And those those AP courses and those career opportunity courses um that we offer they save parents money in the long run. If a child
075can see that they could uh if they take a course like that in high school and decide, "Eh, maybe I don't want to go into that field uh before I go off to college and spend $100,000 a year of my parents' money and and then try to find myself uh I can find myself in high school first and decide I have an idea where I want to go. Um so we just got to keep plugging away at it. So this dis this district and all of its community members should be very proud of the support you provide to the uh to the students in this district. And you know, it's a great district that's been built on the shoulders of giants and we need to continue that going forward for the next next 60 years
076of our history. Absolutely. All right, other budget questions, thoughts, comments? Uh I was going to Okay, yes, please. Can Mr. Giamonna just quickly explain how the early voting process work? Yes, as of Tuesday they could submit an application for an early uh ballot. There will be QR codes out on the signs that they can um do that. They have to uh print it, scan it, and send it over to me. They can either do by mail up until the week before and then after that it's in person only. So they could do in person or by mail all up until the um day before the vote. Thank you. Is the information also available on the website? Yes, it's on the website. So is the applications. Perfect. Thank you. I was wondering could we circle back
077on a conversation we've had a lot in the past few months about maybe expanding STEAM? Yes. So the we before the COVID we had five STEAM teachers one in each of the elementary schools that served those schools and provided STEAM opportunities throughout the year from kindergarten through sixth grade. After when COVID hit we had to use those STEAM teachers in different ways in the district in classrooms as we navigated through that time period. Sadly sometimes when things go out they don't have a way to get back in. So this this year we brought STEAM back into fourth grade. It was a budget neutral system where STEAM we took out the fourth grade IG program and brought in a STEAM teacher. Servicing over 400 students in the fourth grade and has been working very well with
078that. One of the components of the IG program that we embedded within the STEAM curriculum was the IRP which is the individual research project which is now not just allowing students within the IG program to experience that opportunity it's allowing all the students in a grade level to experience that opportunity. So within our budget proposal for next year we're proposing to discontinue the IG program in fifth grade and replace it with a STEAM program in fifth grade. Again budget neutral and and the current fourth graders who are going in fifth grade will continue to have those STEAM opportunities and those IRP opportunities and then as the new fourth grade comes in the current third graders they'll have that opportunity. My hope and dream as we talk about budget processes and expanding forward and looking at
079adding new programs I would love to see us within the next few years add back the STEAM program so that all the students in the elementary level have that opportunity having an individual teacher in the building devoted to doing those programs. So that's the overall intent of this and this is something we can discuss as a board about what that looks like but that would service another 400 plus students as opposed to the current only 23 students in in the program. And for families maybe who don't have kids who are at that age yet can you just what what is the STEAM program? What does that mean for them? What are they doing? What is the result of >> stop talking and let Dr. Scarpinato Perfect. Thank [laughter] you. So Ms. Varachi was selected to
080be our STEAM teacher this year for fourth grade and she's you know she worked with a couple of the former STEAM teachers to write the curriculum and she's kind of taken off you know with it. So they do everything from design challenges. She had some students that were interested in participating in the presidential AI challenge. There's one student that went to one the region and I think is awaiting a response to see if he's moving on. I think that young man's father um he had to do presentation on his idea for AI which I I believe encompassed feeding people who are needed the food with like some sort of AI tool that would gather excess food in a neighborhood and be able to provide it for for other people. So this young man had to
081go in front of a panel. This is the president of the United States is you know AI challenge. So his father referred to it as like Shark Tank for for AI for you know a fourth a fourth grader. So she's been very she's been very attentive to the parents has has tried to articulate with them the things that are going on. You know there's some 3D printing. I had an opportunity to go into to watch her with her classroom both with the IRP which I think she's done a great job integrating some of the elements of our new literacy program into that [clears throat] research. But it's an opportunity for students really it's an enrichment for all type philosophy where we're seeing our students that maybe have some challenges in a traditional setting be more
082successful because they're project based. We're seeing you know leadership skills. We're not seeing you know any sort of behavioral issues because the students truly are engaged from the time that they enter the room to the time that they leave. So some of it is involving technology. Some of it is just using tools like straws and tape to build things. So they're putting together their engineering skills and it's helping us with an inquiry type model of science technology engineering art and math instruction which I feel is beneficial to to our fourth grade and I'm glad that they they have that opportunity. So expanding it would look like an additional teacher not an additional teacher if the IG program were to no longer be here then it would become a STEAM position and we would try to
083probably combine Ms. Varachi with another teacher so that they were in two and a half buildings each and they did fourth and fifth grade writing the fifth grade curriculum together so that they're not just spread so thin between five different buildings. It gives them an opportunity to have more student connection within a building and and you know a feeling of of a home base for them. So we would look to kind of restructure some of those things but she's done a great job on Instagram and I know that Ms. Nash has also highlighted on Instagram all the wonderful things that the kids are doing and it's great to see you know their excitement as as they start to figure these things out on their own. Thank you so much. All right anyone else? Sure. So
084yeah this [clears throat] the STEAM program everything I've heard about it sounds great by the way. So that does speak highly to Ms. Ms. Varachi and the program itself. I've seen some of the videos and the exciting thing that the kids are doing. So that's a that's a great program. The IG program that that serves you know you know we pride ourselves as a district that all students get their needs met. So there there is a group of students that the IG program was serving or has served that you know there the students are they have different needs right? We do a I think a good job but at the secondary level we have lots of AP classes. I think we mentioned 65 courses for college credit which is a lot. At the primary level
085in my mind IG was was was serving that that need. So you know it's it's a small number of students that that was sort of affected by IG and I do understand STEAM is is for everyone so that that does help but that that need is still there. So I don't know if there's some way we can something we can do I guess for for for for that group of students maybe maybe not IG if that's that sounds like that's the way it's going but but that that need is still there. Just echo that. I think IG is kind of a special education as Dr. Scarpinato once mentioned so I wonder if we can kind of sorting funds from outside supporting this kind of special need as many other districts have been doing. The the
086issue in New York State with the gifted programs and and when they refer to gifted education in New York they don't use the term gifted any longer they use high ability learners. It's providing opportunities for those high ability learners to explore their to expand their horizons and provide them challenges within the curriculum. Having done Dr. Scarpinato's role for 10 years here in the district I witnessed first hand in the elementary level where many of our elementary teachers provide those opportunities and over the course of years remember the IG program here back in the late 90s and early 2000s it was third fourth fifth and sixth grade and we were running classes two classes in each of those grade levels with over 30 students each. And over the course of time because the program is housed
087in only one building many parents have chosen not to have their child leave their home school and prefer to have their child remain in the home school regardless of the challenges. Those things were more important than that not being able to able to interact with students in their own home school. So that was one of the reasons why we've seen the numbers diminish over the course of time. So yes there's things we can probably do within the curriculum itself to help support students of all different levels. Just remember though in New York State which is not a thing for the districts it's the state level. There is no mandated component for gifted education. It's where there's special education and arguably yes it's special it should be considered that and in other states in the United
088States it is under the PPS umbrella. It is not in New York State so it's not even a mandate and advocates and other groups throughout the country have advocated for it being component of that and it has gone really nowhere but you know that's why you see in New York City system where they have magnet schools for certain programs. And you know Dr. Scarpinato worked in city as did I at one point in time so can tell you very first hand how that pulls away from students in certain areas and sends them to those schools and specialize it. And there is a like-mindedness to those students and you want to be able to capture that piece too for the what they're experiencing and provide those challenging opportunities. So I think there's things that we can
089do as we move forward with this to to see how we could support those students. So you know if parents don't feel that they they're not getting anything that they're getting something some type of enrichment some type of challenging activity that would help them continue to foster and grow. Anyone else? Thoughts on the budget? Okay. Thank you so much. All right. Do we see any public comments this evening? No public comments. Okay, thank you so much. All right, that takes us down to our policy item 10. We'll turn it over to Mr. Mustaki. The district has several items on tonight for first read. And there's a request for those items to waive the first reading under under district policy. Those items are the district sexual harassment and grievances policy under Title IX. That makes reference
090to the legal changes that were made to Title IX in light of recent case law. That also impacts the district's student harassment and bullying and prevention policy, the sexual harassment policy, the sexual harassment in the workplace policy, and the equal opportunity policy. At this point I'm going to request that there be a motion by the board pursuant to policy 2410 that the board waives the requirement that no action be taken on policy on first reading, and the board approve those policies effective immediately. >> Okay, do we see a motion to waive second read? Second. So moved. Second. All in favor? Okay, that is unanimous. Thank you so much. And would you continue beginning with F? I will. And with regard to F through K, that represents the policy committee's review of the 600 series of
091the board's policy manual. That includes the policy on fiscal management goals, annual budget, budget planning, budget deadlines and schedules, dissemination of budget recommendations, and budget hearings. That matter has those policies have been reviewed by the policy committee and have been reviewed by legal counsel, and I'm available to answer any questions if there are any. Okay. Any questions on any of those policies? All right, do I see a motion to approve the policies A through E? Second. Second. All in favor? No opposed, no abstentions. Thank you so much. Just a a point with that we need to be clear on. So, these changes with the sexual harassment policies will necessitate a change in the code of conduct immediately. So, we are convening a code of conduct committee meeting tomorrow. The code of conduct will be amended
092April 29th board meeting will have the new code of conduct. It will have to be voted for on by the Board of Education. On the 30th, we will disseminate that information out to parents. They will have to go back into infant campus and check off that they've read those that change in the policy. This is in addition to what we do every year in August when we have to put the code of conduct up again. So, we just want to be prepared. So, what we're going to attempt to do tomorrow too is do the changes that we want to do for next year as well and get it all in and then be ready to go for for the next school year and then have that ready for for the August review by parents. I
093just want to be clear that we're going to move F through K to second reading. Right. That is correct. >> Okay. Thank you. All right, we'll move on now to our consent agenda. Do I see a motion? So moved. And a second? Second. All right, we begin with A and B, Ms. Germano. B is the minutes of March 25th. Thank you so much. And C, Mr. Carlson. This is the recommend recommend recommend Yeah, it's easy for me to say. Recommended budget and property tax report card as I um went over in the presentation earlier. The budget increase is 2.87%. The total dollar amount of the budget proposed is 244,980,092 dollars. And the associated tax levy would be 187,000,000 97,362 dollars, which is an increase of 4.5 4% and complies with the tax cap. Um Also,
094the property tax report card, and which is basically the the form that I sent to to report the budget, tax levy, and tax cap calculation to the state ed department and the controls office. Thank you. And I believe D is yours also? >> Yes, this is the establishment of two new scholarship funds, a Brianna Panzini Britt memorial scholarship fund and an Arthur W. Corrano memorial scholarship fund. Thank you very much. Any questions on either of those items? All right, E, Dr. Biscari. This is just an updated list from the state of the impartial hearing officers. Thank you. F, recommendations of the committee on special education subcommittee on 504 accommodation plan meetings as dated. And G, recommendations of the committee on preschool special education meetings as dated. And beginning with H, Dr. Debraski. Yes. H, personnel
095items instructional. We have two instructional retirements, one nurse and one teaching assistant. We have 22 instructional resignations, which includes many many many substitute teachers. One instructional leave of absence, which is one teaching assistant. One instructional appointment for a one-year leave for speech pathology. Seven instructional substitute appointments. The appointment of three middle school spring coaches and one volunteer coach for the spring season. And appointment of co-curricular sponsors. And several hourly extra assignments for the 2025-2026 school year. I, personnel non-instructional. We have one non-instructional retirement. 10 non-instructional resignations. Three non-instructional appointments including a custodian, food service worker, and a special ed aide. Two non-instructional substitute appointments. And one non-instructional hourly and extra assignment. Thank you so [snorts] much. All in favor of the items in our consent agenda? No opposed, no abstentions. Thank you so much. Do
096I see a motion to waive >> sorry, before you stop, I Please. I apologize. Um I just wanted to recognize and congratulate a few of our retirees that are coming up. >> Perfect. Um first, our instructional retirements, we have Denine DiGennaro, who's been a nurse with us mostly in the academy here for the last 10 years, and we certainly wish her well. Um Jerilyn Meagle, who's been a teaching assistant at Nassakeag for the last 26 years, is retiring. And as our non-instructional retirement, we have Karen Caputi, um who's been in Three Village for the last 15 years. And I could say personally speaking for many of us whose offices she's worked in, she certainly made a lasting impression. So, we want to congratulate and recognize all those folks. >> [applause] >> Thank you. Thank you
097so much and congratulations to each of them. All right, do we see a motion to adjourn? All right, and with Dr. Kurman a second. >> [laughter] >> All in favor of adjourning? Nobody is opposed. Have a great night. Thank you.