001Good evening. Today's Tuesday, April 29th, 2025. This is a regular meeting of the board of education. Do I have a motion to open the meeting? Allison, second, Scott. All in favor? All right. We're going to jump right out into executive session and come back out at 7:30. We have some personnel matters discussed. Back out at 7:30 for the regular meeting. I have a motion to go into executive session. Second Alison. All in favor? All right. Speak a little bit. Thank you. All right, good evening again. Today's Tuesday, April 29th, 2025. It's the regular meeting of the board of education. We actually already opened the meeting at 6:45. Went to executive session and now we're back. So, I don't need to open meeting again. Uh we go right to our first order of business, which is
002allegiance. Okay, we're going to roll right into the sort of main event for tonight, which is another review of our proposed budget. So, things are just picking you up. Okay, we're gonna get started. Um, good evening for trustees, faculty, families, and community members. Um, thank you for listening in today. Um, tonight we review the proposed 2526 school budget, continuing the important conversations that we had in the last couple weeks at all these meetings. This plan stays true to our mission, supporting student growth, protecting wellness, and planning responsibility for the future. As I want to thank teachers and staff for their daily work. Their commitment drives the priorities reflected in this budget. Thank you Dr. Kio for his leading the instructional program. I want to thank especially Miss Sparks right here for her careful leadership in
003managing our financial resources with both vision and clear focus on supporting students and staff needs and Miss Bower for her leadership and to our administr in special education and of course to our building administrators. We are also grateful to our PTA, our athletic council, and our families and community for your continued support. And especially, I'd like to thank the board for their steady partnership and guidance. The budget is still around the belief that by investing in education, we invest directly in the success of every school. Our district remains committed to a mission that does everything we do, empowering every student with the knowledge, skills, and opportunities they need to succeed in a constantly evolving world. Miss to life through these three four um goals, academic excellence, community engagement, and fiscal responsibility. This budget is a
004direct reflection of these priorities. Every investment we're making is designed to move us closer to our vision for student success and the continued growth of our district. As you know, at the heart of our proposed budget are three strategic pillars, each rooted in the framework outlined in our district's strategic plan. In our update. We discussed the evolution of professional learning not as a standalone priority but as an essential driver and across all focus areas. Concept is fully integrated into this project. In summary, this updated structure reframes our priorities of how educ educators teach to how students learn and grow. And with professional learning now embedded as a lever across all areas, we are well positioned to deliver meaningful sustainable impact. These are all the points of pride. I've gone over them plenty of times. I,
005you know, you can see it up on your screen so you can also read them at home. But we are just a a school district, as I've always said, with exceptional faculty and staff, and we create a culture where every student is known, supportive, and inspired. From our thriving fine arts and performing arts program, what we do in technology, we prepare students for their futures. Our teachers are leading the way with training in our department of physical intelligence, helping personal life learning while assuring and ethical use. Our students will use the skills to a wide range of extracurricular and community service activities and safety remains the top priority supported by our resource our school resource officer and districtwide security enhancement. We have a plan going forward with that. Our student athletes excel both on and
006off the field with many school scholar athletes honor. We also stand at access to early childhood education for our expanded universal prek program now recognizing how vital these early years are. Tuck stands out because we believe in the limitless potential of every student and we work together every day to help them achieve it. Tuck hosts both in academics and in the athletics course and extracurricular. This slide out the outstanding accomplishments of our students across academics and service. It's true reflection of their hard work, the dedication of our faculty and the supportive environment that we built together. Academically, as I said last time, my students earn nearly 8 million scholarships this year. A testament to the potential and high quality instruction. Our science Olympiad teams at both middle and high school earn very strong results. And
007our debate program, even our new one at the high school, continues to grow, hosting major competitions and Integrated progress projects across technology, science and music and art have further blended creativity with academic excellence. Beyond our academics, our students excel in athletics, the arts and service achieve all conference affection and even state national honors through service plus they spread their both community and character. In the arts, students participate in Visma and the school of theater produ production associate incredible skill and passion. Students continue to expand their horizons in art club have humanity program with purpose and creativity. Each of these milestones reflect the district committed to the whole child education helping students leave their mark on the world. We talked about college acceptances last time and again this the rest of our students is is all
008of us together. Our parents, our um teachers K12 because we all work together and of course our counselors and then again as you are parents you know how hard it is and in the end our students have really stepped up and we celebrate every student's achievement. We've gotten into some really difficult colleges and the most difficult years that I see um for students the class of 2025 has not has is a lot of kids and a lot of kids that I know have not gotten into selective schools such as our students but we celebrate every student's achievement whether a highly selective school or a college that perfectly fits their goal each acceptance tells the story of hard work growth and the strength of our entire taco community let's now review the key highlights of the
009proposed budget which was also shared during our proposed stamping adjustments for 2526. For the 25 to 26 school year, we are recommending several key staffing updates that strengthen both student support and building safety. First, we propose increasing the current 6 FCE security monitor to listen at the middle school high school to a full-time 1.0 role. This will significantly improve daytime coverage and enhance the safety of the campus due to staffing transition. adjustment will be budget neutral. Additionally, siphons for the elementary principal, assistant principal, and nurse have been incorporated into this year's budget and will continue next year. Their involvement helps us make connections with our UPK students and families, helping create a strong foundation for seamless transition into learning. We know that this daily oversight from our building leadership at our ner is crucial to
010maintaining shared spaces safety protocols and supporting operations for our youngest students. Most significantly, we're excited to add the 1.0 FT teaching initiative in conventional interventionist. This came um during one of our board meetings where the board was expressing could we do this and we did really into our budget and we are able to make this major enhancement which will help by having this other interventionist we'll be able to deliver more targeted researchbased interventions rooted in the science of reading we are trying to ensure that no student falls through the crack the role will strengthen literacy foundation provide early and effective support and help guarantee that every student receive the instruction they need to succeed these staffing updates reflect investments in safety, academic support, and long-term success with students, building on the district's commitment to meeting
011every need. We are also excited to introduce new courses that are budget neutral for staffing and align with our district academic priorities. One such addition is research skills and civics, a middle school course which will be led by our middle school high school librarian. This course will serve as the foundation for our students civic pathway in high school, ultimately preparing them to earn the seal of civic readiness for the conclusion of high school. As you know, the board of regions is in the process of transforming New York State diploma requirements with a strong emphasis on academic fields that recognize rigor and student commitment to learning. In addition, we are thrilled to expand our advanced placement offering with AP cyber security. This course provides valuable opportunities for our students in distinct ways that are really important
012as we see um in our country and also in the world. Cyber security is very important um field for students to get ready for and this will equip students with essential digital security in this growing field. These thoughtful additions reflect our district's ongoing commitment to academic excellence, innovation, student success beyond high school while maintaining school responsibility. Last year, we invested in professional learning with universal design for learning and multi inclusive support. This year, we are proposing funding to continuous supporting and expanding training in these areas at both the elementary and secondary level. Our goal is to strengthen differentiated and responsive instructional practices that address diverse needs of learners while enhancing academics and behavioral support systems districtwide. Additionally, we are continuing our partnership with music education consultants who brings extensive experience with them. This year the
013initiative has helped us do a bit of vertical alignment between our elementary school and high school trying to ensure a seamless and progressive music experience from elementary to high school. To support this work we are allocating funds that will allow him to be on campus twice a month to further align curriculum instructional practices and student development. These strategic investments in professional learning and programs development largely is covered by grants ensuring that continue advancing key district initiatives while remaining responsible. This slide outlines key curriculum updates. The father math license is up for renewal and we are doing that. We're um renewing it building the renewal now pays cost and secures access to interactive resources assessment and differentiated practice material. Um breakout edu is a new interactive platform that builds critical thinking collaboration and problem solving skills
014through based learning breakout edu supports inquiry based instruction of course subjects engages with those learners and promotes perseverance and higher order thinking make music is an interactive music program that enhances instruction with tools for music theory composition and performance it includes a library of classical and level music to support a growing music program highlights two other key initiatives and curriculum kit is a learning platform that is quickly gaining momentum at the middle high school. GI kit uses interactive quizzes and strategy based games to support collaborative study, increase engagement, and reinforce key academic subjects. Now, we're also having an open civics partnership. We are allocating funds to partner with open civics to support the launch of the civics field readiness program. This partnership will provide professional development, curriculum support, and a customized dashboard to track students
015progress, strengthening skill of learning and preparing students for active participation in democracy. And it seems like with the um with the governor's changing, we will have to do that as a course. Um right now, we we're going to do it because we think it's important and we're planning for this already this year. We started collaborating with our social studies department, our school librarian leadership, more emerging programs and partnerships. So because of again the AP cyber security is right here and we are going to have some materials ordered for that course. We are also investing in support for teachers trained and generative AI tools such as magic school bus AI and chat TV using resources like enhanced lesson design differentiation and universal design for learning. Continued funding will help educators engage AI and instruction making learning
016more personalized and engaging. Finally, we are introducing a partnership with the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Principal bringing teaching arts artists into our ethnic class. This collaboration will strengthen our Shakespeare units by focusing on characterization, improvisation, and public speaking to deepen student understanding and engagement. Other curriculum investments, we are strengthening the alignment of reading intervention between the elementary and middle school. Teachers have been trained in visualizing and verbalizing program. And next year, we will be allocating funds for key literary resources. Wilson Academy weight assessments are ebooks and OG star reading life. These schools work together to create a comprehensive literacy system. Wilson Academy provides structured research strategies found methods. Wade assessments identify decoding and coding skills for targeting instruction. RC books, reinforce and support early instruction readers and OG star licenses of multiensory interactive digital instruction with
017structured literary practices. Together they will strengthen different instruction and students especially those with those with reading challenges with strong foundational skills. We are also investing in bio license for a environmental science offering visually risk globally focused materials that integrate case studies data analysis investigate investigations with the age. In total, our proposed curriculum investments total $134,000 enhancing reading science and social studies and math district. These projects also support the introduction of six peer programming at the secondary level and of civics initiative at the high school level. These strategic investments reflect our district commitment to continuous growth, innovation, and student success. Oh, no. I have one more slide, so two more. Okay. Okay. This is athletics. You see how much athletics we have here. Um, Tahoe offers 24 sports with 45 teams across three seasons for our
018scholar athletes to choose from. We have to explore creative ways to expand our teams and programming through building for Lift and House while also exploring mergers and having mergers with our neighboring school districts. We'll now take a look at the proposed changes and additions in the athletic department. So the update that we talked about last week was this last week is the addition of the strength and conditioning coach and this will ensure that all student athletes have consistent access to high level training and overall development. This will be year round support. It provides safe structured training during offseason increasing season periods as per performance um enhancements and also also the trainer will work on health and wellness education. Um we also are increasing the section one official budget officials budget to reflect the newly set
019contract with the official association. This agreement includes a 6.35% increase this year with a 2.75 annual increase moving forward. These costs applied across all sports and seasons require an adjustment for us to remain full participants in section competition filing. Okay. Proposed changes in extracurriculars. So we got this last week too. um and including code poetry pal at codle but also we are also able to offer a poetry club for middle school and high school codle's news stand a student news club where students will write a school newspaper interview edit and sign and use the club at codle providing additional opportunities for music and collaboration now face will talk about the proposed changes in technology As part of the proposed 202526 budget, we are including funding for a new installment purchase agreement through Southern Westchester Boseies
020in the amount of $425,000 which will be spread over five years. This IPA will allow us to address several critical technology needs across the district. The first major component is almost all the desktop computers in the district will be replaced. These devices are at their end of life and most importantly they are not capable of being upgraded to Windows 11. This creates a significant security risk because Microsoft will eventually end support for Windows 10 meaning we would have no longer receive important security updates. Replacing these desktops is essential to ensuring both the functionality and security of our network and data. In addition to desktops, we also be replacing all of the district's network switches. Network switches are a key component of our technology infrastructure. They allow devices across the district to communicate with each other
021and connect to the internet. These switches are also at their end of life, meaning they are no longer supported by the manufacturer. They cannot be updated and this increases the risk of network failure and security vulnerabilities. The third major piece of the IPA is the purchase of 300 new Chromebooks. These are part of our ongoing device placement cycle to ensure students and staff have staff have access to up-to-date learning devices that can support instructional programs and online learning tools. It's important to note that in the current 202425 school year, we were able to avoid the need for an IPA because we received $175,000 in -ate emergency connectivity funding which allowed us to purchase 500 500 new crow books. Um, this one funding allowed us to keep our technology budget neutral in the current year while
022still completing an important technology infrastructure upgrade. We we upgraded um we're still in the process of this upgrade um to a 10 gig fiber line and transitioning our server server hosting over to the lower Hudson Regional Information Center. For the 2526 school year, this proposed IPA will represent a budget addition of approximately $98,000. However, it's partially offset by the retirement of an older IPA which will reduce the budget by approx approximately $20,575. The net cost of this IPA for this year is 77,425. The projected cost for the 202526 transfer to our special aid fund is increasing $5,000 over the current year. This adjustment is necessary to cover the district. Oh, yeah. It's $50,000, which is a $5,000 increase from the current year. Um, this adjustment is necessary to cover the district's portion of mandated extended
023school year expenses. Um, the the extended school year is programs for eligible students with disabilities. Approximately 80% of the cost of the extended the special ed extended school year program is reimbursed by New York State while the remaining 20% responsibility and this budget increase reflects our anticipated share for the upcoming year. We are reducing the budget for the transfer to school loans fund by $15,000 bringing it down to 5,000. This transfer is intended to cover the outstanding deficit balance balances on student meal accounts. Security remains a top priority in the development of the 2526 budget. And one of the key investments that um we are able to support this year is a 50 continuing our $50,000 transfer to the capital fund. This year for the 2526 year, it will be used for the first phase
024of a three-year plan to upgrade and expand the security system at the middle high school. This multi-year plan allows us to take a strategic phased approach ensuring we can enhance armor coverage, place outdated equipment, and significantly improve the overall quality, functionality, and reliability of our security system system. This investment is part of our broader commitment to strengthening safety measures across the district and ensuring we're using model modern tools to keep our students safe and our buildings safe and our staff safe. The summary of projected costs that Dr. Goodman and I just presented is 468,649. And now to summarize the total proposed budget, the 2526 proposed budget is [Music] 44,22,385. This is an increase of 5.33% or $2,227,085. The proposed tax levy is 32,660,950 um which is tax cap compliant. It equates to a 2.57% increase
025or $818,818. This chart provides a summary of the proposed budget by function. Construction is our largest share of the budget followed by integrated benefits, general support, debt service and transportation and transfers to other funds. We then can break down the budget by object. The object codes are a key part of our accounting structure. They classify expenditures based on what is being purchased or paid for, identifying the specific goods, services, or obligations involved in each transaction. Every function in the budget is then further detailed by using these object codes. As shown here, the largest object codes are salaries and benefits. This is typical for school districts as our core mission which is teaching and supporting students is carried out primarily by people. Salaries reflect the cost of our instructional and support staff while benefits include health
026insurance, retirement contributions and other employee related benefits. This slide presents the budget by object in the form of a pie chart. And as you can see, the largest portions of this pie chart are salaries in blue and benefits in green. This visually reinforces how much of our budget is dedicated to the people who directly support student learning and keeping our schools running. This chart outlines our revenue sources line by line. Our proposed tax levy 32,660,915 is a 2.5% increase over the current school year and remains fully compliant with the state tax cut. As of last night, Governor Hogal announced that she had has reached a general agreement with the legislature on the 202526 state budget. However, no new bills have been released as of this morning. During the press conference, we indicated that final details
027are still being negotiated and the legislature will be voting on budget bills in the coming days. Based on previous years, it's likely this will conclude by the end of this week with the education budget bill, typically one of the last ones to be released still pending. In the meantime, the legislature is expected to pass a ninth budget extender today, which will continue funding state operations through Thursday, May 1st. While the governor shared some high level details, specific information on school aid remains limited and we are using her original budget proposal as um a tool in projecting our revenues for next year. The key points made in the agreement are $340 million to fund preschool breakfast and lunch for all K12 students, a built ban on student use of smart devices in schools beginning in September,
028and a reported 37 billion in school aid. So no breakdown was provided, changes to how poverty me poverty is measured within the foundation aid formula and an assurance that schools will receive more funding than they would have under the previous foundation aid formula. This chart illustrates um it shows that a significant portion of our revenue 74% has come from real property taxes while state aid contribute state aid contributes close to 14%. Both of these sources are regulated and capped by New York State. We have minimal flexibility in our remaining revenue streams. Our capacity to create new revenue sources is extremely constrained. I don't like this chart, but it's important to show. Um, this chart shows what our funding would be under a contingent budget. If the budget is defeated and the district had to go
029to a contingent budget, the lev the levy would be held at the current 2425 school year level, which would mean $818,818 in cuts. So, want to point that out. Okay. We will also continue talking about our the proposition that will appear on the ballot along with the um budget. It's the proposition to fund the repair reserve. This proposal does not proposal does not request any additional funds from taxpayers. Instead, we're asking voters to approve the transfer of money from unreserved unappropriated fund balance into the repair reserve fund which was established by the board last year. Um there's a graphic up there that just shows it it's just a reallocation of funds. However, we do need voter approval in order to move this money. As part of our commitment to responsible financial planning, we are asking
030voters to approve the funding of the repair reserve in the amount of 650,000 from our unreserved unappropriated fund balance. In other words, we're asking voters to approve the transfer of funds from one reserve to another. The repair reserve was established last year to set aside funds specifically for future capital repairs and this allows us to proactively plan for necessary repairs rather than reacting to unexpected issues which can often be more costly. So I just want to emphasize that no new taxpayer money was required. We did post frequently asked questions on our website. Um, it's also going to be in our budget newsletter that's going out and our budget book, which should be on our website, which is a very comprehensive and detailed version of our budget explaining in detail each function um, and going through
031what has changed, what staffing is in each function. It really provides a lot of detail. It talks about debt service, talks about boies. There's a lot more information than we put out in the past in this budget document along with required information that we're required to put in by the state. A proposed budget for the outcome of school year strikes a capital balance between providing a high quality education and remaining fiscally responsible. We've worked through a range of revenue limitations and rising costs focusing on how to make the most of every dollar for our students staff and community. Even with ongoing uncertainty, this budget reflects a thoughtful strategic approach that keeps our commitment to education. Tonight's presentation reflects more than just a financial plan. It represents the powerful investment of our students and staff in
032the future community. We especially excited about adding a dedicated reading intervention as giving our learners to strong foundation they need to go role to strengthen literacy development and other students receive support. This project family opportunities, high school courses, enriching our students experience programs like schools and readiness and deepening our commitment to the arts, technology, athletics. We'll continue to invest in our teachers, provide professional development in areas of AI, innovation and innovative instructional practices so that they can create classroom and prepare students for ever changing world. At the same time, we are reinforcing our technology infrastructure and safety systems. has tools and environment they need to succeed. This budget reflects the heart of our district leaders and the boundless potential of every student and works every day to support their success. Thank you to our board
033of education, our faculty and staff, our families and our entire community for your partnership and dedication. Together we are building something extraordinary for our children and the future of important dates. Look how many we did already. So we have we started in January. We have one, two, three, four, six budget um presentations like this. They are getting shorter and I promise next week I'm doing it live and um so next week May 5th is the budget hearing and then May 20th mark your calendars. We want everybody to come out is the annual budget vote and we have trustees new trustees running also. Please make sure that you vote. And of course, the proposition that will cost no new taxpayer dollars. It's just a transfer like the way you transfer things between bank accounts. But we
034still need your approval to do it. Thank you for being with us this evening. And again, I thank our board of education, administration, and faculty for their assistance in development and our student success. Thank you. Okay, look at that. Yeah. So, that was my comment. I know we've already talked about the budget quite a bit. I don't have any comments or questions, but I was going to comment on this book really. I was coming through it during the presentation not just about it has classizes all kinds of really good Excellent. I really appreciate this. That goes out to the community. This is on our website. It'll be available at the public library. It'll be available at each building on our website. On our website form on our website. So for those I know it's a
035that sometimes accuses not being transparent no matter how much work. It has a lot of information. I really think it's proud. I'm proud of it. Yeah, I think it provides a lot of information and you know, we'll only just keep providing more. Yeah. Thank you for that and as always, thank you for the budget. I know we make a lot of jokes about the budget, but it's it's really it's really important. We just Anybody else comments or questions about questions? Um, first of all again, excellent job and I just want to say that when I initially even met with you before I was trustee and we talked about being more transparent, you already had this idea and um, I love seeing it. Um, your is clearly evident and again for anybody who thinks that we're
036not transparent I mean it does I don't know another district that doesn't so thank you um okay so just my two questions one is I noticed that the AP English class is no longer right now yes so we were looked at yeah so I said this last time that we're doing two honors classes we did not have we didn't have these enough students No, I think that's not doing two honors classes. Okay. And then also I just noticed the music. Okay. All right. That was my only question. Okay. Excellent. Thanks again for that. Appreciate it. We can move on to the rest of our agenda. Comments. So, next up is first recognition of the audience for agenda items only. No. Okay. So, we can move we can move on to visit the board. We have
037a couple. It's a pretty short agenda tonight, so it should be pretty quick. So, first up is to approve a professional services agreement. Resolve the board of education approve professional services for the 2024 2025 school year provided by and company for GS87 leasing and GS 96 strictly based IT standard reporting on behalf of the district in an amount not to exceed $5,000. Any discussion on this? All in favor taxation note resolution of Dr. School District New York New York adopted April 30th, 2024 authorizing the issuance of of not to exceed $3 million taxision notes anticipation of the receipt of taxes to be levied for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2026. Any discussion on this? This is this is so mean this funds the budget ahead of this is for cash flow. So we get
038our school tax our first payment through town taxes comes in October and we have a lot of um expenses that happen over the summer especially with debt service um well over a million dollars in debt service. So yeah it it's just um short-term spending till we get the the money from the tax in favor. Okay. Fund balance. Whereas for a resolution of the board under section 36511 the education law school district established a reserve fund known as a tax reserve fund to be used for the purpose of paying judgments and planning from past proceedings. In accordance with seven of the real property tax law is hereby resolved union school district board of education hereby authorizes and directs the business manager to transfer $950,000 from the tax reserve to the unassigned fund balance for fiscal year
039ending June something anary reserve And we separate when we ever we put money in, we separate it by year. And so when we compare the amount of money that was related to 2015 versus what's outstanding and we spoke with our attorney about this um we do have an excess. So that's being liquidated into a sign balance and that's what we're asking the voters. And then the the balance of the 650 um will cover the um increase to Okay. All in favor? Approve the budget amendment. First off, the board of education approved the budget amendment related to the transfer of the premium and interest from the 2024 bond anticipation note from the debt service fund to the general fund to lower interest payment to the note. The amendment is to increase the revenue budget code A5130
040into fund transfers by $16,34963 and to increase the appropriate appropriation budget code A9750 700 ban interest by $16,349 motion second discussion on this um explain this is the last year when we sold We received a premium. So when we get that premium, we can only use it to pay down the interest on that ban. So it gets restricted in our debt service fund. We have to pay it now. So it's just transferring it from debt service into and it earned interest. So our premium was 103,000. We interested. All right. And we have two second readings of two policies. first second reading of policy 5605 voter registration for students. This is again I'm not going to read the policy. It's on board docs. This is a change um that stems from lawyer law and it has
041something to do with or has to do with um kids not being required to actually do. Yeah. And and it's now law that we walk and we Right. It's just that stipulation. And the second one is another reading of policy 5420 and 5420R student health services. Again, I'm not going to read it, but these are also changes that just make us compliant with recent law changes in health services. Okay. So, we'll do that again next time. Next up is a point any Caribbean substitute teacher resolve the board of education on the recommendation the superintendent appoint Victoria as substitute teacher at Tahoe Middle School and Tahoe High School effective April 30 2025 through June 30 2025 at a rate of $140 per day motion second discussion on this in favor Okay, brings us to our second
042question from the audience. Yeah, great. Uh, super quick, I just want to echo what Pete and Allison already shared, gratitude, faith and team. I'm fortunate to serve on the finance committee with Alison, Laura, and others. And so, I got to see firsthand how much thought and time went into to really making the budget digestible to everybody in the community and transparency. So, I really just wanted to say it to the community that it's not just board members saying, you know, there's a commitment from this district to financial transparency. I have seen it as a community member in my service on the finance committee and in particular just gratitude for your leadership there. Thank you. I also want to say we have an absolutely incredible business office team. you know really remarkable our treasurs my assistant
043Karen Barrows Linda and Jennifer and the council table everybody is really outstanding in that office and you know make a lot of this easy to do and they're they're truly amazing. I echo that but also Faith really you are very incredible and one thing about Faith is she cares about every single student also. So I just just say thank you. Great team. Yeah. Okay. All right. Great. Just motion to second. Allison. All in favor? All right. Thank you very much. May 20th is the vote. So thank you.