001Hey everybody, welcome to the Tuesday, April 7th, 2026 how and board of education business meeting. I'm calling the meeting to order. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Yeah. >> Roll call. >> Yeah. Sorry. >> President Clemens >> here. >> Vice President Valentine. Trustee McDall here. >> Trusty Copper >> here. >> Trusty Clemenson >> here. >> Student member Roierro >> here. >> All right. Um, we're going to start the meeting tonight with a moment of silence for Moren D. Rosa. She's a former Haldane Elementary staff member who I guess not just elementary, she was the administrative assistant to the director of pupil personnel services.
002And uh, she passed away on March 30th, 2026. Thank you. Um, so we do not have any additions or changes to the agenda as it's written right now. So, may we have the recommended action to approve the agenda? >> Be it resolved that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the board of education hereby approves the agenda as written. >> May we have a motion, please? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> My teachers feel like you have more things I need to say than I have. But I'm going to say them in a nut. Um so um first thing I just want to note is that we still have um petitions available for anybody interested in running for the school board. There's one seat
003open this um year and that's my seat because I won't be running again. And then just also a reminder that our the budget vote will be on um the third Tuesday in May as it is in every school district in New York State every year. Um and the only other uh really remarks I have is we're really just starting to um kick off the end ofear activities. Um, I was going through the calendar recently, putting all the concerts in my calendar and um knowing that the the trips have happened relatively recently, but in particular on Thursday night, I'll be going with our um Philipstown uh legislator um Nancy Montgomery and I think Dr. Duffy's going to be there and Mrs. Sniffen um for the Putham County Youth Board um youth awards ceremony. And this is
004a an opportunity uh to recognize five Hane students who have been chosen for their outstanding volunteer service to the Putham County um to the to Putham County to the community. Um, and the students are, um, I hope I say some of these names right, Paulina Buslavich, uh, Christine Julus, Corina Mueller, Leah O'Neal, um, and our very own, uh, exeicio student board member, Max Sanders. So, I'm looking forward to getting to do that. Um, and that's really what I have. >> Okay. So, I hope everyone had a relaxing spring break. It's we know it's a very busy and exciting time of year. Believe it or not, we have about 12 weeks left of school, but somehow everything gets done and it's all going to continue on as we go. Um I kicked off my day today
005riding the red bus. So I am looking forward to writing one uh one route um for each of our buses over the next week or two. And that's really kind of a commitment to thinking through our transportation study and for me to get to know students but also better understand the experiences. The kids were hysterical. They're at the bus stop saying, "Is that Dr. Duffy? Why aren't you here?" And of course, I'm letting the bus driver know I'm not observing them per se. I'm more I mean, I'm looking at everything, but I'm really kind of enjoying the time with the students. So, it was great fun to go on that bus and I think I'm on Blue Bus tomorrow afternoon. So, more to follow on the bus uh reporting. So tonight we're going to have
006an update on two different presentations. One on zero emission buses and the other an ongoing budget presentation. So we're excited to have some people in the audience to hear with that. Um traffic pilot begins on Monday. So this is again something part of our district commitment to transportation. We've been studying all things transportation really with an eye on safety and efficiency. And so starting Monday, we're going to be having our traffic pilot. We've sent out a lot of information including a one-pager and a video, but we'll be sending out some more information prior to Monday. And just for any community member uh watching or listening, we will have an opportunity for feedback, and that's really important for everyone to give us feedback on what do you like about it, what's not working. A pilot really
007means to try something new. So, we're testing something out, and we're going to see if this makes sense moving forward. Um over spring break we did have a number of emergency um kind of helpers in the in the community come on campus with their vehicles. So we had a fire truck, we had an ambulance, um we had a bus and we kind of practiced around campus how to make sure two vehicles can pass each other safely at once. So that went really well and that is part of the testing of this new pilot. So more to follow. We look forward to um seeing how it goes and I'm talking to Mr. Asher tomorrow or Thursday about this as well. So there'll be a lot of communication to our community about the purpose of it and
008what we're hoping to gain from it. So that's beginning on Monday. And uh last but not least, we're looking forward to this week. We always have an opportunity for the board of ed to visit each of our schools and then that principal gives that presentation. We're now up to the high school. So thank you to Julia and her staff ahead of time and I believe Maggie and Michelle will be joining us on that visit which is taking place um tomorrow. So looking forward to that. >> Great. And that's all I have for now. >> All right. Um and an update from our exeicio student board member. >> Good evening. Hope everyone's doing good. Um over the past few weeks, students across all grade levels had the opportunity to participate in our school trips that we
009take every year. They were both educational and memorable. seniors traveled down to Boston where they explored the city and visited places like the science beam while also experienced attractions like a Celtics game NBA. Um the juniors went to Washington DC where they visited important historical sites including the Holocaust Museum, the African-American History Museum, and the 9/11 memorial site, making the trip both meaningful and impactful. Freshman and sophomores participated in day trips. Freshman attended a Broadway production of Aladdin where many students got to sit front row and see the amazing special effects and play. The sophomores visited the Bronx Zoo where we got to see the awesome animals and exotic animals especially like the lions, snow leopards, and even peacocks that just roam the area. >> In addition to trips, we have some upcoming events like
010the Rockappella concert on Thursday, April 23rd. Um, many students are looking forward to that, me as well. The SAT will also be held on April 15th with many juniors preparing to take the exam. Shifting over to athletics, it's been an active start to the seasons. Boys lacrosse is currently 2-1 as well as girls lacrosse. Softball and baseball are both one and one as well. Track has its first meet today, marking the beginning of their season. Finally, in terms of student support, scheduling meetings and one-on-one sessions are in full swing as students are preparing for finals season and the next school year. Thank you. Look, am I just only now realizing you're a junior or sophomore? >> Oh, I'm a sophomore. So, just to um I ran in on the train, ran into um Andrew Champkin,
011who's one of our early student uh uh at the the time they weren't really board members there. I forget. They were like something but because it was a little bit different. But anyway, he said he still really remembered being on the board. And so anyway, >> promising. Um, and so you went to the zoo. Yeah. And what did you like about that? >> Um, I've never been to a zoo before, so I didn't really know what to expect, just my experience. >> But, um, yeah, it was it was really cool just seeing like I'd never seen almost like half of those animals. More than half really, ever. >> So, it was awesome really. The bison, there was bison, too. And the peacocks is what made me sleep. Just wander. Just wander. I was like eating
012my food and literally like I kid you not there peacocks standing there. It's like spreading its like feathers. It was really awesome. >> That's good. That's good. I'm glad you had a good experience. >> Wonderful. That's wonderful. Thank you. >> Um just something for you to keep in mind. It would be good as we I know Max might be here in the meeting right after we have the pilot. Maybe if you see him, it will be interesting to hear because the traffic pilot is a >> a pretty big deal. It'll be interesting to know if students have any experience of it or if you hear anything about it, if you what you know as after it happens. I certainly you know don't expect you to necessarily have anything to say tonight, but like after it
013happens like what what what did you you know what did you hear and what was your experience of it? And I think that would be a really valuable thing to know. And actually Luke and Max helped us hand out the onepage flyers to our community around the district, too. >> That's great. Thank you so much. >> So, now we're moving into our presentations. The first is a zero presentation. Oh, actually, sorry. A presentation, sorry, on um planning for zero emissions. But yes, you're out of your way. Oops. Okay. So, originally when we were thinking through sharing this information tonight, we were going to include it as part of our budget presentation because as you know, one of our propositions being proposed is to create a reserved for transportation. But as we were pulling together the
014slides, there's just so much information. And so I thought it was better if we separate, it's still connected to the budget, but I wanted to make sure we just take a couple moments to talk about what our plan has been and what it'll continue to be for zero emission buses and then make that nice alignment to the budget. So that's why it was called out separately. And um there's been a lot of discussion and work already around how to meet this regulation. So the first slide is really just moreformational um thinking through like what is the background information on this regulation. So a little while back a regulation came out from the state that really is saying that beginning July 1st of 2027 all new school buses purchased or leased by the state or any
015district in the state must be are zero emission. And by 2035, the entire fleet operating the state must also follow this regulation. So the two dates there are 2027 and uh 2035. There's something called a fleet electrification plan. That's really the primary study that school districts require to complete in the state and it gives you a lot of information on things like what type of electricity is needed, what type of power, um information on the cost of the cost of charging and maybe updates to infrastructure. So, this is a very important plan that districts need to have in place as they're planning to meet the regulation. There's also something called a waiver. Districts can apply. It's an extension to meet the regulations. It's given out often in two-year increments. And really, a district can apply
016and be approved for a waiver if they can prove a couple different things. Unreasonable costs, lack of infrastructure that's in place, or that buses can't meet specific router performance needs. So, those are just a couple of the background information. And then cost has been a big discussion in districts as well. So, thinking about a diesel bus, it's about $85,000 right now when we purchase a diesel bus >> For a small one, thank you. Um, but when we're thinking through the cost of electric buses, there's a range here depending upon capacity. It could be 350 to 450K for just one bus depending upon size. And then total estimated cost. In addition to districts planning for purchasing the bus, you also have to plan for purchasing and installing chargers and also looking at any upgrades to your
017site for infrastructure. So for us that could be up to a half million dollars depending upon if we're able to get grant funding or not. And I'll talk about that a little bit in the next slide. So just a little bit of background information. There's a lot with this regulation that we want to make sure as a district we're just understanding what it's asking us to do and then as important how can we long range plan uh to meet this regulation. So this is where we are where we've been where we are and where we're going. So thinking through before I started just almost you know a year ago now there's been a lot of good research and planning in the district. So what the district did is started to look at research options, local
018vendors, who can we talk to and better understand this regulation and a couple of presentations came before the board the past couple of years. The first was the EV make ready fleet assessment and that was completed by Central Hudson in May of 2024 and this one really gave the district information on how can we make sure we have the necessary power here in the district to be able to power the buses and also looking at purchasing and installing chargers as well as potential infrastructure updates that are going to be needed. So that was presented to the board in May of 24. One piece of the story so far. The second was a presentation from Highland Electric and that gave us an opportunity to learn a bit about if districts don't want to purchase Bosses, you
019can lease them. So, Highland Electric came in and gave us some information on what would the leasing process be. Additionally, the district has purchased a hybrid minivan. We have applied for EPA federal grants that took place last year and unfortunately there's a pause with those grants. So, some districts received some grant funding a year or two ago. really anyone who applied this year how they included we have not received any funds and they're at a pause now at the federal level. So there might be other grant opportunities that we will explore but the EPA is kind of off the table for now. Something that I think the district and board did that was very smart though is make a goal of transportation. So the transportation goal this year and it'll most likely continue into next
020year is looking at all things transportation. How can we be efficient with our transportation? How can we look at our resources, our staffing, our routes, and how can we plan for this regulation? So, this is where we've been in this journey so far. So, where are we this year? We've met with NARTA and we've met with INF Consulting and INF Consulting is the the really the main consultant or one of the main consultants that districts are using to plan for this fleet electrification plan. And again, that plan will give us reliable data on the electric uh infrastructure updates that we need to plan for planning for chargers, any infrastructure updates, that type of thing. We don't have that plan in place just yet. We are partnering with INF. We are waiting to see when they're
021going to be able to start the plan. As soon as we have the plan and that data, then we can better plan to meet this regulation. But in the meantime, we're continuing to review our bus routes and our capacity as part of the transportation study. So, as you know, we presented a little bit on this in January and then we had to pause for a moment to look at our data. So, one thing we're looking since that presentation is what's the software that we're using to make sure we have kids on the right buses and that we're really accurate with our writership. So, that's something that we're continuing to do. As I said, I'm writing the different routes to just get a sense of how many students are on the bus, what exactly is our
022membership, what is our writership because all of this information we need to have as accurate as possible as we're planning to meet this regulation. So, kind of a lot of moving parts as we go and then where we're going. So you'll see on the ballot um in May along with our budget that we are proposing that we have a tra a transportation reserve fund and that's really to start saving toward this mandate regardless of grants or not. We need to start saving as a district to be able to meet the meet the regulations. Um we have a purchase there also will be a purchase of one bus and two mini buses needed for 2627. This will be the last school year that we can purchase diesel if the regulation stays as is. And then we're
023continuing to explore the district, can we be eligible for this two-year waiver or not? So, we're looking to see if we meet the conditions for the waiver. And once we get the FE plan back, we will then go ahead and make an action plan moving forward to how to meet everything that the regulation is asking us to do. So, a little bit about our journey and then just some areas that we're still assessing. I don't I can't stand here before you here before you all tonight and say I know exactly what our infrastructure needs are. We might have to do some upgrades, but we don't fully know that yet. The FBP plan will help us know that staffing. We have one mechanic right now. What I'm hearing from people in the field is you need
024at least two mechanics when you're working on an electric bus. So, right now we have one. So, we'd have to kind of plan for that in future budgets. And then once we have all of the data from the FEP plan, deciding do we want to purchase our own buses or lease. And if we lease, we can then go back to Highland Electric and work with them a little bit. So just a couple things that we're assessing. So before I open the floor to questions from the board, a couple other things that are on my mind. You know, as a district, we do support the state's long-term goal of transitioning to zero emission busing. We believe in this. We believe in having um you know improving air quality. It's better for the community. All of these
025things we believe in and there's still some unknowns with the regulations. So until we have as a district that FE plan, I can't give out all the information that I know we need to have as we're deciding do we want to purchase buses, do we want to lease buses, how many buses might we need. So there is a lot of talk among the state in terms of this regulation and districts are looking through um can they meet it fully now? Do they need a couple years or a little bit more time to kind of process so we certainly as a district want to make sure everyone knows as we believe in the regulation. We believe in what it's trying to offer and we might need a little more time in in meeting the regulations as
026things. So, I just wanted to give the board and the community just a quick update on all things electric buses. I'm certainly not an expert, although I'm kind of one because every time we read something new, we're kind of, you know, going through what we need to. And I just want to thank Katherine as well. She's been a great partner in terms of every time a memo comes out, we're reading it together. We might call Dave or call another district to get a full sense of what it's asking. But, um, it's definitely a learning process for all of us, but something that we're also excited about. So, I'll pause to see if you have any questions at all about all things either. >> I have a question. What um theoretically what hypothetical commitments to updating
027the infrastructure h are currently in the capital project. >> So, we don't have anything in phase one. I'm just saying that >> right not in phase one that touches this. There probably were discussions if I go back to the the big document of the multiple stakeholder groups. I'm sure this would probably discuss >> they talked about in the re rethinking the the patterns of traps. >> Yeah, it's a great question. >> As part of the transportation study, I think uh the bus drivers are going to be collecting numbers. Are they doing ridership numbers? And then also when I'm on the buses, I'm counting as well. So, we are looking at writership to see and we need that information. I might be going where maybe you're thinking as we're looking at what buses to replace. >>
028Yeah, >> we will most likely um Katherine, just sanity check me on this. We'll most likely not start with a large the largest capacity bus. We'll probably start with one of our smaller buses partly because of writership. So, we don't want to commit to purchasing a brand new bus at all, whether it's diesel or electric, until we have our numbers where they need to be. Okay. And I know at least to the north of us in the Beacon District which is larger there's a certain push and move towards incorporating vehicles into their but I'm curious off the top of my head I don't know are there any similarsized districts certainly on Putnham County or even Northern Westchester that have started to make that transition successfully yes that we can identify. >> Not quite yet. So
029districts either just have gotten their plan completed and it took over a year. Right. So there's also almost like a little bit of a backlog with the plans or others are waiting to have their plan completed. There's really two districts. Um so I'm drawing a complete blank to southern Westchester. It'll come to me in a moment. And then one more upstate, but not Putinham Duchess, >> right? >> Not Chel. >> Oh, it'll come to me in an hour. >> Exactly. >> Yeah. So not quite yet. >> Couple questions. So, we'll go down infrastructure ones first. Um, where are buses currently worked on by the mechanics? >> So, that's a great question. Really, it's on site. There isn't a separate place for them. >> Would that need to change for electric buses? >> Most likely. We'd
030have to at least either look at our existing infrastructure, and this is what the FE plan will tell us what type of upgrades. We do probably have to make some upgrades to our current site. Yeah, >> despite us going out right now to the community asking for upgrades, you know, significantly around our, you know, around our school. Um, on the owned buses versus leasing buses, um, obviously you're going to you're not looking just at wrership, but you're looking at miles, right? Average miles that we put on. >> Uh, leases always mean mileages, right? >> Right. Right. Um, and so and when looking at mileage, knowing from my own car, um, we, you know, electric cars lose a lot in the winter. >> Okay, it's just the nature of the beast currently right now, right? It's
031just kind of how it is. Um, so how do we how are we going to understand um, you know, the impact of basically lost mileage that we have, you So that's part of the FD plan. They will be going through the different options there. Um and that is an area just in talking with other superintendents. It's a concern like more of the rural districts, but there's concern with >> with some types of buses, how far can they travel before they need to be charged? >> Yeah. >> And will they be able to actually meet the routing needs within this? So these are all some of the unknowns. So just like an engineering thing which is interesting about it the you know how Garrison had that problem with their heat pumps doesn't you know AC is
032great >> heat's not so great >> well that same heat pump is basically how you run your AC and your heat in electric car my AC is dynamite >> my heat's garbage >> right and so it pulls it it's not just the cold as soon as you turn the heat off >> you're you're really drawing down a good amount of power on those things. So, it's something for us to really >> I appreciate that. Yeah, there's there's so much more than than meets the eye >> and the topography, you know, just going up um hilly terrain takes a lot more energy. I and I mean my understanding is that the the push for the mandate there was an expectation that the need for said buses would go up and therefore there'd be certain competition in
033the marketplace so that the overall cost of these buses would go down. That's certainly not something we're seeing and we don't expect to see which >> I haven't seen it yet. Yes. Yeah. That's a good point though. Yeah. Um, and the other thing I'll mention, and you probably did not have a chance to read it yet, which is okay. We did receive an email today from the Lower Hudson Education Coalition. And just a as a reminder, this is a coalition of school districts in the lower Hudson Valley of the state. And so what they're asking us to consider is there's a petition that's going out to the state, not to get rid of the regulation, but to pause it a little bit. And so I just would encourage the board to read that email and
034then perhaps at our next board meeting we could talk through maybe next steps with that. Um but there has just been there's a lot of discussion within the districts locally right now about this regulation and how are we handling it and should it be paused and so I just want to make sure that our board and our community has all the information that we need to as we're continuing to plan to move forward. Could I ask that when we do discuss it that having read that appeal we've re some we've also we've received other appeals from Putnham legislator we we've we've received a couple of appeals to advocate and I'm curious to know uh in asking for the pause it seems to me that the justifications for said pause kind of align with everything that's
035in the request for waiverss >> and I'd be curious to know what the difference between asking for >> you know the waiver is versus pause on said program. Sure. >> Just just so I have a sense of it because it seemed to be the rationale, >> you know, we live we're in a very strange area and it's diff, you know, all the things that we've been discussing are laid out there just just for >> Yeah. So, we'll be looking at the we looked at the waiver once, we'll look at it again. We'll make sure we have that kind of looked at before the next meeting so we can maybe do a crosswalk >> between the two. I >> think so too. >> Yeah. other thoughts or >> I mean I think the only thing just
036to really point out and it's in the slide but I mean just to draw attention to it is the well I think there's two things one is just the we've talked about four but the massive differential between you know the cost of a diesel bus and the cost of an electric bus I mean it's hundreds of thousands of dollars and that really represents um a lot of money to a school district district like ours. Um, and then the other thing and I'm thinking I really appreciate that you included that we had already purchased one hybrid minivan and I know there are other ways in making different decisions that you know we are thinking about how to be how to support the same goals of the zero emissions bus law. Right? So, you know, um and
037uh yeah, anyway, I I um I just think it's going to be in our best interest just to be cognizant of those things. And I hold myself very much accountable, you know, and I I also really want to say that it's it's a complicated issue. It's had a lot of steps and I have asked Dr. Duffy to make like a cheat sheet for the board so that we can follow along because it really it really um you know and I understand why you would have wanted to pull it out. It it it's a it's a there's a lot that's gone on but there's really actually still a a lot that really needs to happen as well. >> Yes. This will be an ongoing really goal for the many years to come. >> Yeah. And you
038know, at the same time that we're also really thinking about our own need to be as efficient as possible and safe as possible in our transportation route. So, it's a lot. I mean, it's a lot. >> And I I know that we currently have a proposition moving towards the budget for a new vehicle. When is the next when is the next large bus sort of up for um >> we're so for 2627 we have a proposition for a small bus for 2728 it would likely be if we needed anything it would be another small bus >> small bus >> and then we'll probably need another large bus >> 29 >> 2730 >> but that can change at a moment's notice based on when you have a bus inspected or something but that's based on our
039um schedule placement. >> Mhm. >> But by fleet that's actually I mean I guess I've always sort of assumed >> I feel like this is something I should know. But by fleet do they mean does it apply only to the large buses or it's large and small buses? That's what I thought. Okay. For some reason yeah that makes >> it's any vehicle that transports students. >> So that also then starts to mean like minivans. >> It could go to that but they have not. Yeah. So it >> they have not clarified to that level right now. It's the it's the actual bus, you know, actual bus >> bus. But um Okay, that's right. Because that's how >> they have they have said it will be >> and that said fleet. Yeah. >> Okay. All right.
040>> To Sean's point and he made he made a good one. How many companies are actually in the market producing these that New York state school districts are buying from? Well, well, a handy dandy report for you. Um, I don't know if there So, this is from two years ago at that point. >> Well, there's a big backlog, too. >> Yeah, there was, you know, maybe at least five, but I don't know currently how many, you know, and there is a big backlog too as far as that goes. And what we there was a presentation from the leasing company kind of discussing all the benefits of leasing over purchasing right you know just that u the software programming is all included >> right right so again I'm sure as >> the deadline draws nearer you
041know just the weighing of the cost benefit analysis interesting >> that presentation was predicated on EPA grants We Katherine and I did meet with them this year. So, they're still doing that as an option if you choose to. Um, they have other grant funding opportunities. Um, but we still need the FE plan done first before we say yes to because they don't have all the information yet >> and they're busy >> working with all the schools. >> Yeah, it's a backlog to get that done. So, more to follow on all things buses when we have more information. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> I'm gonna turn things over to Catherine, but I want to just publicly thank her and a lot of our administrators just for ongoing discussions that we have on a weekly basis
042about the budget, about our needs, about planning for the future. And tonight, Katherine has the honor of presenting all of the slides, but I'm here for backup and support. >> Okay, so we are down to the wire pretty much with the budget proposal. Uh, as we spoke about last time, uh, nothing has changed in our numbers from last time from the rollover budget to what our increases are for this year. So, the $175,000 for special education funding, $40,000 to increase our athletic budget, $16,000 for light rentals so that each fall and spring varsity sport can have one game under the lights next season. I'm sorry, my little under the weather. Um, a $10,000 increase for our steam. As you know, we're uh we have in the budget plans to hire a steam teacher and this
043will give us some professional development, some supplies, and some curriculum materials as we start to build a robust steam program for the district. Um $10,000 for any uh middle school transition costs, $25,000 in increased salary to for the school transportation assistant. As you'll remember, that is part of the transportation study to add another level um of a position in the transportation department to handle some day-to-day operations for that department. And some of that is offset by some retirement breakage of $185,000, which brings us to our target budget proposal of 31 almost $9 million or 2627. Um, our revenue has right now, this is where it looks. As you might have heard today, the um, House and Assembly passed another extender, a second extender. So, we do not have the unofficial budget coming out of New
044York State yet. The extender goes through, I believe, April 17th or 19th. Um, so we will likely be adopting a budget without possibly without our final state aid numbers. So hopefully, but what we have right now is um the 5.53% increase in our tax levy, a 2.66% increase in state aid this year, and then we have do have a large it, you know, 20 because our numbers are sometimes smaller. The the percentage always feels a little larger, but it is a 22% increase in our other revenue. That's primarily driven by um tu income tuition for students who uh tuition into housing. Um we have had uh besides our Garrison students who join us for grades 9 through 12, we have had some middle school interest as well as students who have uh tuitioned into our
045special class in the um elementary school. And then I have kept our uh appropriated fund balance and use of reserves flat as year-over-year which brings us to a 5.77% budget over budget for next year. And we're now to the part where we have to start breaking it down for everyone into the three components. There's an administrative component, a capital component, and a programmatic pro programmatic component. So, what this shows you is year-over-year through the district from back from 22 23 all the way through to our proposed for our administrative component which you'll see includes the board of education expenses, superintendent, finance staff, um special items, that's like lawyers and uh central printing and things. Um administrative salaries and any related employee benefits that come with the salaries that are included in this component. And as
046you'll see, we stay pretty consistent year-over-year. In 25 26, we did have a, you know, very small increase in the percent of the budget in in relation to the total budget, but you know, right back down to about, you know, it's usually around 11 12% of the budget comes from our administrative component. Um, in this you'll see we have a few categories that are coming in a little for this year a little bit over budget and a few that are coming in a little bit under budget. And you know that's just the nature of it. You you know with um insurance increases and some changes that happened after we adopted the budget last year. There's just some little bit of flex flexing between some of the categories. The next category normally comes in pretty much
047on target each year. Um, and that's our capital component, which is our operations and maintenance staff, as well as their related employee benefits and our debt service. And as you know, we've talked a lot about debt service. You'll see in the f column the from the projected this year to the proposed for next year. That's the significant increase in our debt service payment, which is the primary driver of our large tax levy increase this year. But we do are are still coming in you know somewhere in the of the same range of about 15% of our total budget is for our capital components and then our largest component which it should be is for the programs in the district. So everything from the teaching of the uh regular schools, special services, um instructional media, pupil
048services which include guidance, health services, uh social work, athletics, co uh curricul co-curricular um as well as our transportation costs and then the related employee benefits that come along there. You'll see as the years go by, we're actually um pretty steadily increasing. this year. So show shows a slight decrease. Um but I would uh say that it you know it comes in about 75% of our budget each year is for the program programs of the district. Like I said as it should be. So again just to summarize it into the three different components. Our administrative component is um 3.7 million for next year. Our capital is 4.7 and our program is 23.3 million to bring us up to that 31.892. Looking at our year-over-year, our budget versus our um our budget to budget versus our
049levy to levy. Again, you're just seeing the large increase this year due to the um debt service payments that we need to make for the capital component. We will likely see that again next year and then we'll start to see it hopefully decrease in the the in year three. So it's a 5.77% budget to budget and a 5.53% levy to levy. For the budget vote this year we have the five propositions as well as the trustee seat. Proposition one is our is our budget vote. Proposition two is the school bus purchase. Again, we're planning to purchase one 24 passenger diesel bus along with two minivans for a cost of $175,000 that is tax neutral to the district because as that falls out or falls off from previous um bonds, we add the amount in for
050the new purchases. We also have the proposition for the replacement of the tennis courts. I'm sorry, excuse me, for $275,000. That is also tax neutral because we have the money sitting in our capital reserve to be able to do this project, but use the use of capital reserve does require voter approval. And then proposition four is the transportation reserve where we are hoping to get permission from the voters to set up a new capital reserve for up to $5 million over the next 10 years to help us offset some of the costs that you we were just discussing with Dr. Duffy for the um electric bus mandates. Again, that's tax neutral. This would come from budget transfers, excess use of fund balance, or other ways that we could put money into a capital reserve. We
051do have one three-year term seat up. And then proposition five is the Butterfield Library budget. And again, this is not a component of the housing budget, but when your local library brings a um budget to increase to the school district, it is required to be put on our ballot. And um it's a small increase for them and as we discussed last time it's primarily due to the fact that they have lost their um ability to do passport services which was a huge source of income for them at the library. We then take last year's tax rate and we come up with an an assump a uh calculation of what we think the tax levy increase will be um at 5.53% based on the market value of our home. You'll see it goes, you know, starting
052with a home value of $300,000. This will cause a $222 tax increase over the year up to a million-doll home having an annual tax increase of $740,000. Um, I did try to make this chart based on how much of it is the regular school bud, you know, the reg, you know, what we would have the standard school budget increase and how much of it is related to the capital project. And it's approximately 50/50. So, you know, if you took those numbers and divided it by half, half of that would be for um what we would have had if it wasn't for the debt service payments for the capital project. And then in uh very exciting news, we are planning our groundbreaking for June. It's officially happening. So, um it's it's very exciting. And then not
053that we want to talk about bad things happening on the for the budget, but we do need to start planning for if the budget didn't pass. Um if the voters reject the budget um in May, the first vote, the board has two uh has options. You can call for a revote of the exact same budget. You can put forth a modified budget um to go for a revote or you can go um and directly to a contingency budget. Um I would imagine that we would go forth with either the same budget or a modified budget first to try again. Um the thing is with a 5.53% tax increase, it's we would still have a high number to you know to even with our modified budget to cover all the expenses that are required for next
054year between debt service payments and our um mandatory expenses uh for uh increases. Um, if we did have to, if the if we went to a contingency budget or if the budget went was voted down a second time, we would have to enact a contingency budget, and that would require a reduction of $1.2 million, which means our levy has to get set to zero. You can have no tax levy increase in a contingency budget. Um, that's that's a that's a large number for a school district the size of how it's for any district. Um, a contingency budget includes only those expenditures that are necessary to provide the minimum services that were legally required to operate and maintain the school buildings in the educational program, preserve the property of the district, and ensure the health and
055safety of our staff and students. Um, we would work with the board of education, with the superintendent and the administration to determine what expenses must be removed from the budget to meet this requirement. Um, there are certain every expense that goes through a school district is either a contingent expense or a non-contingent expense. If it's classified as a contingent expense, we can include it in a contingency budget. If it's classified as a non-contingent expense, you cannot include that number in your contingency budget. Examples of non-contingent expenses are equipment uh funds. So, we would have to take down all all equipment funds. There are certain positions that their um salary increases are non-contingent. So, you wouldn't be able to um give salary increases. There's lots of different ones. It would take a lot of work to
056come up with what we would need to do. But even if we removed all the non-contingent expenses, we would not hit the 1.29 Yeah. million dollars that we would need to. So, but just so everyone knows what's really at stake with the budget. And then we have a few more meetings before the big day. Uh in the April 21st, we'll do the budget adoption. We'll go we'll present our line by line budget that night. And then on May 5th, we will have our public hearing and the three-part component budget um broken down into additional detail. And then of course the budget vote on May 19th. Well, that you know I we've never really talked or I don't remember having conversations as much about what exactly is in a contingency budget, right? This notion of contingent
057versus non-contingent. I've always sort of thought about it as just involving like massive, you know, like really big cuts. Um but it sounds like it's actually it is really big cuts, but it's even more complicated than that. There's some things that you have there's some things that right off the bat you have to get rid of, right? and you know and just the way things go. But also there's a complication with that with like so for ex forget example the big one of the biggest ones is equipment funds but the little clarification on that though is you can spend up to the amount that you receive on your hardware aid for state you know so it is it's really a complex calculation of what we would have to come up with but again what we
058have in our budget as non-contingent expenses is nowhere near the almost 1.3 million. So it it would it would be painful cuts. Um, yeah, and I'm sure that you all are working on this, but I mean, I think one of the things just to continue to remind the community is that, you know, half of this increase is is something that, you know, as a community in terms of the the the overall vote like that, you know, the community um, you know, endorsed the the capital project. >> Absolutely. And you know in the capital vote in 2024 um we did say that this would happen in 2026 and right you know here we are and it and it is happening. So um it's just it's it's a funny thing about the way that you do a
059capital referendum where you know they approve the tax increase at that time but then they have to reapprove the budget that now includes that >> right at city. >> Yeah. And I think that's where there might be confusion right. So is this what exactly is this? So >> yeah, >> they merely approve that we could ask them. >> Yes. >> Well, but it's more than that. You can but it's more than that because it's it's >> it's happening regardless, right? Like it's um it is it is it's it's happening. It's it's happening regardless, right? Um and and the but it's sort of like which I don't know exactly how to put it but um it's not like you can now vote and not have the capital project. The capital project is is a it's a
060done deal right it's just you know how do we pay for it do we pay for it well you know maintaining >> our curtain programming you know as well with some minimal enhancements or um or not. So, >> excuse my misunderstanding. Then that would if we went to contingency budget, we would still go forth and start the capital project. >> Absolutely. >> Okay. Because it was approved. >> But if the budget is not passed, meaning that we can spend the money. Well, because we already approved that we could spend the money. I'm just doing like the gymnastics in there, but so that money we've we've committed to that project. And so >> and so borrowing has begun. So >> yeah. And so then what would be cut would not be the capital project. >> It
061would be the program >> program would be cut program >> and if it's helpful from a communication standpoint. So we will be meeting next week with our community partners to go over um the budget and also asking for their perspective in the boards as well other ways to continue to communicate the budget out. And so one thing that Katherine and I have been talking about is do we offer perhaps a virtual um other evening or budget form and maybe community members can RS50 ahead of time so we know who might be joining us and then just working with the community partners >> what questions might they have and do you need any other information from us as everyone is talking the budget. We'll also be doing our optional faculty meetings for our faculty and certainly
062for anyone who works in the district and lives in the district. It's always important to be mindful of the budget, but this year certainly moving into 26 27, we want to make sure everyone is informed and have the information they they need so they can make an informed. >> I'm I'm gonna ask a numbers question, but I don't think it's a big one. Could you go back to the breakdown where you had transportation >> and to me it looked like transportation represented 3% roughly? And does that include staff? So people >> transportation does that include staff? >> Staff. >> Okay. So that includes staff. So that's number is somewhere around 3%. Correct. One >> is. Oh yeah, right. 31 million. >> 31 million. >> 33%. >> So um to me that seems good, right? There
063are neighboring districts that spend far more than 3% on of their budget on transportation. Um, seeking electrification, your estimate would would suggest that that number would go up. >> Yes. >> Right. >> And so, you know, budgets as pieces of pie and all that type of stuff that that number would definitely go up beyond numbers, right? the numbers that would go in there that would immediately increase it would be the another mechanic their um salary would go in there the electric usage that is you know because we that would have its own electric bill that comes through that we would post to those uh general electric codes so yeah you would start to see a large increase in there >> but your diesel and gas cost >> would go down >> right well but that's
064also part of your transportation >> yes absolutely >> that's all that's all part of that section so where Yeah. >> Yeah. >> You know, are in there, >> right? Okay. >> Would you say what >> bus repairs are in there? I um you know supplies for debt services in there too for buses or No, >> no. Debt services its own line that comes in our it's in our capital. >> It is capital. Okay. >> Okay. >> So, you'd actually have increases in two places potentially >> if Yes. >> If we were borrowing for them. >> If we right if we end up doing that. Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> That wasn't bad. That was not good. >> That was Thank you so much. >> Thanks. Thank you. >> Thank you. >>
065Sorry. >> You're not feeling well. >> I'm glad you weren't choking up about something. I thought deeply about Um we will now part of the meeting where there are opportunities for communication from the public. Uh the housing board of education desires and values input from the entire school community. The first public comment session is reserved for comments on any special presentations or active agenda items. For those who wish to address the board, we'd ask you to state your name for the record and sign in. Um, and to avoid disparaging remarks and dis or discussion about district personnel. Um, even though the board would not engage in dialogue, we'd be listening. And one of the reasons we asked for contact information is so that we could follow up with either the superintendent or the board. So,
066next on the agenda are our information reports which we'll um consider at our next business meeting. Um and then the we'll move into our consent agenda starting with the consent agenda minutes for the minutes from our March 17th meeting. May we have a motion please? So >> move second. >> All those in favor. >> Any opposed? Next are committee minutes um from the wellness committee. So thanks very much to that committee for um sharing their minutes with us and meeting um and uh really a lot going on and continued like even with the cell phone ban. um really still a lot of concern around um or conversation about phone usage and behavior on phones and I guess there's a big event coming next guest speaker in um to speak to all grades um you know
067who will be able to offer resources to students >> um regarding negative cell phone behavior, internet safety, AI and social media. So just sort of depending on you know age appropriate messaging with that. So, um yeah, and just it's again, just to reiterate from the last time that that we had the meeting as well, it's a lot of um our professional staff keeping a close eye on on students um in the hallways, you know, um with the with the holidays coming up, even in the springtime. I mean, any kind of holiday, they're just sort of keeping their eyes on kids who um you know, may not find the joy in a certain holiday. Mother's Day for instance. So, it's just a really perceptive and it's >> Oh, that's great. >> Yeah, that's good. Oh, yeah.
068keeping good eye on students. That's that's good. Um, next we have the consent agenda financial. Um, maybe we have a motion, please. >> Second. There's anything we need to call out. Um, all those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? And next is consent agenda personnel. May we have a motion, please? >> So moved. Second. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Now moving into new business, we have the committee for special education and the committee for school special education recommendations. May we have the recommended action, please? It resolved that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the board of education hereby approves the recommendations of the committees on special education and preschool special education as presented. May we have a motion, please? >> So moved. Second. >> All those in
069favor? >> I. Any opposed? Um, and it may seem far away, but there's we're going to have a discussion about the annual reorganization meeting date. And I'm going to hand it over to Dr. Duffy. >> Sure. So, the rework meeting will be held on the first Tuesday in July each year in the event it will be held on if there's a unless it's a legal holiday in which event in which event it will be held on the first Wednesday in July. But the board may be able to pass a resolution if we'd like to hold it anytime within the first 15 days of July. So in looking at summer thinking through capital project and a couple of commitments that I have going on, I wanted us to try to start to think through possible dates
070and potential times. And so in looking with district first to see who from district needs to be um at this meeting, we picked a couple dates that we wanted to just share with the board to see if there happens to be one that we might be able to start to think through. So PDO proposed dates could be July 1st, July 2nd, or July 9th. Um and we offer also at 9:00 a.m. because my understanding is at times this meeting has taken place in the morning and not also at night. Um I'll just offer my first day here. We had the reorg meeting and while it was only my first day, it's nice to have the meeting. It kind of kicks off the school year and it really kicks off the summer. So, I'm open to
071these three dates or others if we need to look at, but I wanted to just bring it forward to see if the board had any thoughts initially on those couple of dates. Thinking about your I keep looking at Peggy. We'll be just calling her in July. Um, thinking about vacation plans and other family obligations that you might already might already have. >> Peggy does that to check her calendar. >> Wouldn't be good. >> Look at that. Huh? >> What? >> The first is a good day for me. Rather late nights around that time. Mania is is also good for me. >> Okay. >> I'll put that out there. I mean, I could do this >> the second for sure. >> First and second for me. >> Okay. Yeah. >> First. >> Okay. >> Uh, I
072can do the first. >> You can do the first. >> Okay. And we're okay with the 9:00 a.m. time? >> Yes. Yeah. Excellent. That was easy. Let's see if the next one's going to be just as easy. >> So, the other thing I'm working through is our board retreat date. And so, we know that we've worked very closely and nicely with Putinham Northern Westchester Boseies for a couple of years with the retreats um and getting to know superintendents across the state. I've gotten to know a superintendent uh by the name of Jason Andrews and he is superintendent in Windsor, but he's done a lot of board retreats through the school board's association and I just really think he would be a perfect fit for our board here, especially thinking through the transition that we have
073with Peggy stepping down and a brand new member coming on and so um would love to offer him the opportunity to come and work with us during the board retreat. He is very highly sought after and so he gave me a couple of dates. So, we might not work as well with these dates, but these are the couple that he would be free. And this would be a nighttime, probably a 6 p.m. start. He offered July 27th or July 28th or August 3rd, 4th or 24th. So, I maybe won't hit gold with these couple dates, but I figured I would at least offer to see if any of those might work. >> So, August. So, I'm gone. >> Okay. >> So, July works for you. >> July works. July date. Right. >> They all work
074for me except August 24th. >> So the earlier ones, the two July and the two early August. >> Okay. >> So far out there, I don't know. >> I'm sorry. >> No, I have to go check the >> all the all the calendars, >> the things that we have not been planned yet. >> But we're usually here in July. I think July would >> July might be okay. >> Tuesdays are always good for me. So I think that >> that would be the 28th of July. Yeah, the 28th would work for me. >> Okay, that seems okay then for all for now. How did that work out? Two for two. Okay. >> And what time would that be at? >> Um 6 unless we wanted to start a little bit earlier. We'll have dinner. >>
075Cool. >> And we'll work on the agenda ahead of time and everything as well. Okay. So just to recap then we're saying July 28th for the retreat and July >> 1st for I didn't start with that. Thank you. July 1st for the rework meeting. Okay. Thank you all. >> Right. Um so next I just we're coming as I said my comments at the very very beginning of the year. It's early April, but still the end of the school year certainly is at least in sight. And so that brings up um the opportunity for the superintendent and the board to engage in um the superintendent's evaluation process. Um this is the timeline. I gave everybody a little piece of paper that I printed out that we worked on at the beginning of the year just to
076remind folks about dates. there's actually a lot of space between these dates. So, there is the opportunity for some flexibility, right? So, one of the things we did do um we gave um it needs to we need to be finished by the 15th. Um but the plan right now is for Gail to show share her written self-ealuation and all of the documents that go along with that by a week from tonight. then for the board to review those and complete thus the evaluation instrument with scores and ring comments. Uh about 10 days after that that then gives a couple of weeks before we meet together then to go over the sort of collective um written comments. Um, and then this is where I feel like there's so much time in it and I don't know
077if we want to leave it like this, but then um then really a month later, not until June 2nd, the board meets with um the superintendent to to go over the you know to engage in the collective conversation around the evaluation process. though. I think part of it is that I think the reason why we got to this is because that because of the budget vote like it's it's kind of hectic to do it all in the middle of the month and that gives us plenty of time to like well for me and whoever is else wants to help me sort of go through it all and pull it all together um and then and then share it with the superintendent. So, but we can I mean, I think we should just leave it like
078this, but I wanted people to know what it is. Okay. >> Yeah. I think we're lining up with board meetings, too. So, >> I think that's it, too. Yeah. >> There's no separate meetings. It's >> so that we don't have to meet on a separate night. Okay. So, you're good. >> Good. Okay. Just a reminder. >> That looks good. >> Um, yeah, this will be Michelle's first time doing this. >> Woohoo. It's a good it's a very I mean evaluation has all these connotations but it's a very um historically in this district it's been a very positive collaborative >> um opportunity to reflect on the year. So I expect that to be the case this year. >> All right. Um, so now we're moving to the second opportunity for communication from the public, which is
079really open to any district related people want to talk about. All right. Any board reflections? Well, I don't think we've met since Miz, so got a shout out to the cast and crew on the phenomenal performance. I was blown away, completely enraptured, cried several times. The talent is astounding. Um, also just want to shout out to all the parents who like it's a huge lift. The parent volunteers who built the set, all the costumes, just amazing. I was talking to um just highlights the school as a community hub. Like there were so many people in the audience who didn't have students on the stage, right? Like but you know, people from the community come to see it. And I was talking to this couple from I think it's Canada who just like to go travel
080and see all the productions of lay that they possibly can. So and they were like this is so good. They were wearing their t-shirts that had like the prisoner number eight. What is it? >> 24601. >> I'm like somebody knows it. So yeah, just really just congratulations. It was wonderful. >> Wow. >> Yeah. Pretty cool. >> Canadians. >> Canadian. >> Very cool. >> Yes. Oh yeah, >> uh just wanted to mention nice to be out there uh in the spring starting to see all the spring sports and all the sports fields coming alive and all the kids and the coaches and the parents and the community around behind all these new, you know, all these reborn sports, you know, which is great. You know, a lot of time goes into that by all the staff
081and the uh and the players and obviously the ground screws that do all the work. So just another nice you know one of the wheel I guess right >> sort of on the lay miz but lay miz adjacent is one I went on the Friday evening and I would say a half a dozen of the students who were in the last production of lay miz so you're Jean Bel Jean there Ean was there a lot of kids that I know they were there and I was sitting behind them and I have I know all of them fairly well. Some of them are still here. Some of them are >> kind of scattered about the Northeast, but they couldn't have been more beautifully supportive of everybody. The joy that they brought into being together and seeing,
082you know, seeing the successful production was >> um just really beautiful to kind of be able to be there near them while they celebrated. >> Thanks for that. That's a cool moment, >> right? >> All right, >> Dr. Jeffy, >> I'll go on the L delay miz bandwagon as well. >> I was there Saturday night and I said I was close to tears, like most of it. And I'm like, why am I so emotional? It was amazing. But it also hit me, this was the very first play I saw on Broadway in high school. >> And I emailed the directors the next day and I said, this was hands down >> far better than the Broadway production. I'm so I mean I've been in awe of our students of our teachers and thank you to
083Julia for all the work you've done just keeping it afloat because it's a lot as you said a lot of moving parts but our kids are amazing whether they're on the field or doing their music art. I mean it's just a magical place here but the show was just I I mean I'm still talking about it to people. It was just phenomenal. >> Um I'm speaking out of turn here but we have middle school coming up. Middle school. Yes we do. put on my phone. >> I think it is on there already. All right. >> Okay. So, the board is actually going to and I think if I can do me a favor. >> Yes. Um the board is going to convene into executive sessions for the purposes of discussing collective negotiation pursuant to article
08414 of civil service law. Um we'll adjourn from that meeting. we won't be making any um taking any action. Um and so I move to adjourn into executive sessions. May we have second, please? >> Second. >> All those in favor? Hi. >> Hi.