001Resolved that the Board of Education reconvene to open session. The time is 7:00 p.m. Perfect. I'll make a motion for that. May I have a second? Second. Mr. Main and all in favor. Aye. >> Aye. All right. Will you please stand with me and recite the Pledge to the Flag? to the Flag of the United States of America, to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All righty. So, on to our presentations. Our first presentation this evening is our BOCES 2026-2027 budget presentation. We have Mr. Michael Scarit. Who else is coming up? I'll announce all you. And our BOCES Superintendent, uh Jodi DeLucia. Goodness, Mr. Scarit, didn't realize that I need size 16 font. >> [laughter] >> Good evening, everybody. How are you this evening?
002Good, thank you. >> you. Great. I'm so excited to be here. Thank you for taking the time for letting us join you join you this evening and talk a little bit about our proposed budget for the 2026-2027 school year. We also have, um, a little bit of time to talk about some of the things that we have going on with innovation, partnership, and growth, and we're excited to kind of let you know where we are on that journey. So, it's going to be, um, all of the exciting with me, and then the money with Mike, and then all the exciting with No, I'm just kidding. >> [laughter] >> With me again. Um, you can see that, um, our Board of Education and our our BOCES administrators up there on the board, but what I really
003want to talk about when it comes to, um, the board is just a reminder that we have two open seats on our board, um, this year. Nominations were due on the 20th of March. So, we have our nominations in. Um, we have our annual meeting, which will come up on April 8th, and you're all invited. It's at 4:30 in our conference center. If you're going to join, please let your clerk know so that she can share that with Nancy. Um, and you know, our kiddos from culinary always do a fabulous dinner. So, it's a nice time for all. And then we have the vote. So, you will vote for both our administration budget, our administrative budget, and for the candidates on April 28th. Okay, so that is, um, what you need to know there. Um,
004I think that we have all met, but if I didn't have the opportunity to meet you, I'm Dr. DeLucia. I'm the District Superintendent at Dutchess BOCES, and, um, I guess officially, on March 5th was technically 1 year for me in this role. And I've had a lot of really wonderful opportunities to help grow our agency, and I'm going to talk to you about those a little bit later. But, I want to give Mr. Michael Scarit, our Assistant Superintendent for Business Services and Operations, the chance to talk about the administrative budget and the capital budget, which he'll talk to you a little bit about. And then we'll come back to me. I think. Yep, I'm right. Happy to turn it over to Mike. Thank you, Dr. DeLucia, and thank you to the board for allowing us
005to be here tonight. We know that you have a very busy, um, board meeting, and this is a very, very busy time of the year with the budget and everything else you have going on, and the fact that you made a few minutes for us really means a lot, and I want to thank Karen Berka, one of our Board of Trustees members, for being here as well. So, Karen, thank you for Very similar to a school district, we really start our budget planning in the fall. Um, a little bit difficult for a BOCES because we have to try to project and guess as to what the school districts may need for the following fall, so 10 or 11 months from the time that we really started our process. But, the reality of it is for
006us is that we have to be able to provide rates, service and program rates to the districts so that they can build their budgets. So, by the middle of January, we have to be able to produce a services guide that gives not only the rates, but descriptions of our services and service request forms that the districts can provide back to us and ultimately utilize in their budgets. And what I tell all the business officials and all the superintendents is this is just a preliminary budget. We're going to work with you throughout the year as you need to change service levels, add, decrease, modify, but it allows us to have a starting point. We can start our staffing levels, start looking at vendor contract contracts for different services that you utilize, and I ask for that
007information back by April 3rd. So, that gives me a good month or so to work with the schools, work with our directors and our programs to again try to meet those needs to the best of our ability the following fall. As Jodi mentioned, we have our annual meeting on April 8th. We'll ask our board to approve our budget, which, uh, kind of gives us the official authority to move forward, and then you'll vote on that budget on on April 28th as well as the two nominees that that Dr. DeLucia just By June 10th, I asked our board to accept our overall budget. Again, it's very preliminary, and I tell them, or it is preliminary, and I tell them that 5 minutes after they adopt it, it's outdated because someone has asked for a different service.
008Reality of it is we offer 80 of our own BOCES courses and another 100 or so cross contracts. So, someone is always asking to come in or out of a service, um, typically on a daily basis, quite honestly. But, that allows me to produce that, send that up to SED. Uh, we will talk primarily about the administrative budget. The administrative budget is the one budget that you vote on. There's also a capital allocation, so I'll weave that in. But, everything else that you purchase from a BOCES, you decide based on the wants, the needs, and the desires of your school district. You can come and go as you please. Um, but I do like to kind of show our what our major lines of businesses are. Um, in the lower left-hand quadrant of that pie
009chart, you see special alternative education services. As you would expect from a BOCES. So, we're about a $125 million budget right now. So, just just shy of $40 million in our special alternative education department. Kind of moving counterclockwise, CTE stands for career and technical education. These are the trade programs, um, that you would or are synonymous with the BOCES, and we're constantly pushing to add programs there that students can ultimately not only enjoy attending, but ultimately, um, that can become profitable once they enter the workforce. And we've seen a dramatic shift in the CTE programming, and Dr. DeLucia will talk about some of our efforts to expand our CTE programs moving into the future. The very top there is administration and and capital, kind of a small sliver, but again, that's where we'll spend most
010of our attention tonight. Cross contracts are contracts that you take out with other BOCES if they have a service that you believe is a better fit for your BOCES or for your district, or, uh, if that BOCES has a service that maybe we don't provide. The biggest one we see here is the Regional Information Center over at Ulster BOCES, so a lot of districts utilize that service, and I know that you also use a lot of Putnam/Northern Westchester BOCES services. Management services would be things like, uh, public information officer, school safety, uh, safety and security services. Learning technologies would be the types of technologies and equipment and and software programs that allow you to run both your instructional and non-instructional programs. And then educational resources is our curriculum professional development brand. Key budget assumptions. So,
011we have to enter this process with a set of assumptions or a set of, uh, guidelines and parameters just like schools do. We have a teachers contract that ends June 30th. It's going to be very important that we negotiate a deal that's not only fair to our staff, um, but also sets us up to have some cost stability and some prudence kind of moving forward as we build our rates into the future. We're we're using a 9.9% health insurance increase, both active and retiree, and there's Medicare and non-Medicare rates, so that's a weighted average for our BOCES. Um, the the we're we're a member of the Dutchess Educational Health Insurance Consortium. We're one of 24 members, so we have a vote, but we're one of 24 members, and we move with the group. Um, I
012believe we've been successful by being a part of DEHIC over the years, um, but we know what's happening in the industry of health care. So, um, a a sizable increase there, and that's particularly important to a BOCES because three quarters of our administrative budget is retiree health insurance, and I'll talk about that more in just a second. So, we're very kind of exposed and variable with that the health insurance increases year over year. We're looking to make strategic investments in cutting-edge CTE technologies and, uh, equipment in our CTE program, and again, we're seeing, you know, tremendous growth there, and, um, if we had more space available, if we had more space available, we could accept more students, so that's going to be one of our our charges moving forward. We're going to focus on on
013meeting the evolving special ed referral needs. I think Dr. DeLucia is going to talk a little bit later on about how many referrals we have versus how many we can actually accept because of our space limitations. So, how are we going to address that into the future? Growth in our early college and dual enrollment programs. We've seen tremendous growth there and how are we going to continue to try to help you through that and navigate through that. We're rolling out a new safety and security service. So, we've had that kind of the health side, the fire inspections and air quality. We're now rolling out and and we're very very happy with the director of safety and security that we've hired and we know that we can provide great service to schools. And then discretionary spending
014controls. So, BOCES is a bit different, right? We typically see our budgets increase over time as we accept more students and districts ask for more service. But, we do have some static areas and where we're static, we need to have the same kind of discretionary cost controls that you would have to utilize in your own school so that again we're being competitive moving forward. Our administrative budget. So again, there's a lot of line items in an administrative budget, but I've really tried to distill it down to kind of two big components. So, the budget year-over-year is an increase of 4.14%. The non-retiree administrative expense, this would be the Board of Education, the Superintendent's Office, the Deputy Superintendent, the Business Office and HR, a 1.09% increase. So, we've really tried to control our controllables. Our retiree
015health insurance and Medicare reimbursements 5.23. So, I mentioned before uh 3/4 of our our administrative budget is retiree health insurance and that's by law. So, regardless of where the employee sits during active employment, upon retirement, if they're eligible for retiree benefits, they must be moved into our administrative budget. So, we have to move them here. There are Medicare rates which are a little bit better than the non-Medicare rates traditionally in Dutchess, so we benefit a little bit from that. So, that increase year-over-year 5.23. You put the two together and weight them, it's 4.14. The revenue side, obviously we have to have a balanced budget, so revenue is the same. Our other revenue really comes from two sources. We're the lead agent for the Dutchess Educational Health Insurance Consortium and we provide all the financial support,
016so we do receive a payment for that. The larger piece though is interest income. >> [snorts] >> Um we've seen interest rates fall. I'm I'm sure all districts are experiencing the same thing. I'm expecting a slight, you know, decrease further from where we are today. So, year-over-year I'm projecting a $30,000 decrease. That $30,000 decrease needs to get made up by the component district charge, so that's why you see a 4.94%. We don't have the the ability to tax, we don't get state aid. So again, the two primary sources are the two sources are component district charges and other income. We then have to allocate those charges and again, the state mandates how we do this. They mandate that we use a measure called RWADA, resident weighted average daily attendance. Probably forget that term until I
017come back here next year, but it's essentially your enrollment. There's some waiting for secondary age students, but in in short, what it tries to do is ensure that everyone's numbers are are fair and and non-arbitrary um across the 13 districts. Yours is actually going up. Um not surprising for Pawling. Um but, your numbers are going up, so you're getting a little bit bigger piece of the pie year-over-year because the county is actually down 50 RWADA points year-over-year. So, um while the the average is 4.94, yours is actually 6.63. Very similar kind of methodology for capital and rental, but our capital and rental um for the last five or six years, we've asked for a million dollar allocation from the schools to allow us to kind of maintain our building outside of our general operating budget.
018So, this wouldn't be a large capital project, but it allows us to fix a leaky roof if we had one, fix an HVAC unit, repair doors, some windows. Million dollars again doesn't go as far as it used to, but it allows us to kind of keep things in good working order and keep it out of our operating budget so we don't need to spike your rates. Um and then we also get um rental payments for utilize or we we pay rental payments for using some in-district classes. We have three in Spackenkill, one in Red Hook, one in Millbrook. I hope to have a couple more next year. We pay 61,000 or I'm going to project to pay 61,200 for that next year. Add it all up, it's a $1,200 increase. Um so for you it
019would be a $528 year-over-year year-over-year increase or 1.72%. Last chart, last financial chart I I like to show before I hand it back over for some fun stuff is kind of, you know, what did you spend with the BOCES and what did you get back? Um so, you spent just over 4.7 million dollars with with BOCES services or for BOCES services. The surplus that you received back, so BOCES can't maintain a fund balance. Any revenue in excess of our expenditure that we're able to drive and you would typically see this if we're able to add a student to a class, we don't need to hire another teacher, another aid, or pump in any more light or heat, that that revenue that we've generated can typically be returned to the schools. So, that surplus was $374,000
020for services you purchased and then the BOCES aid that you received on that was 1.377 million. Add it all up, it's about 1 and 3/4 million or 37.1%. It's actually understated because special ed services are are aided directly to the schools. I don't have a great line of sight to what those numbers were, so I don't include them here, but it is something north of 37%. Hey, with that we'll actually get back to some student based stuff, which I know make makes Dr. Delucia's heart sing. So, here you go. I'm the lucky one cuz I get to come back and talk about your kiddos and we're so excited to have them and to take good care of them when they're in our care. We like to tell the boards how many of their students are
021where and what they're doing when they come to us. So, we have three students in our special alternative education program and they're all in our Salt Point Center program, which is our K-8 special education center. And you have 34 students in career and technical education. Five of those students are in culinary arts, four in cosmetology, four in our nursing assistant program, four in welding and fabrication, three in automotive technology, three in the electrical trades, and then what Mike likes to call our assorted others. So, those are the ones where I really one student here and one student there throughout the program. >> [snorts] >> Um and you also have two P-TECH students in the program. About a year ago, we really started with the support of our board to take a look at what it
022is that we do as an agency and to take a look at regional, state, and of course local needs for our kiddos and figure out the best ways that we could move forward trying to meet the needs of everybody and all of the the partners that we serve. We did a blueprint for excellence, which is a strategic planning process. We included all stakeholders, we included representation from districts, community, industry, our all of our associations, um our administrative leadership team, and our board. And we came up with four main priority areas. The four main priority areas you see on the presentation. The first is really to continue to develop BOCES as a leadership and central service hub. BOCES really serves at the intersection between state education, district partners, and industry and government, and we really have
023a role in all of that. You know, so for example, I just drove down here from Albany where I've been since Sunday um because once a month as a district superintendent, we meet with the commissioner and state education department to talk about initiatives and the expectations for support. And one of the things that we were really talking about were the ways that we could support state education and support school districts as a BOCES and really creating the parameters for the successful implementation around New York Inspires. Right? Really being clear about what the expectations are, not just here's a task that you can do, here's another task that you can do. The other thing we mean when we say that is we really want to be a district's first call. So, we host all of the
024administrative um meetings. Mr. DeCarlo comes to the Superintendent's meeting once a month. We have our assistant superintendent IRAC meeting, we have our PPS meetings, we have our business official meetings, all of the professional development. We really want to be the first place that a district calls and really being available is something that we try to do and always picking up the phone and and taking that call. Talent management and development really focuses on the work that we do around people and staffing. So, you're going to see some professional development mixed in there, but you're also going to see a lot of internal cuz remember BOCES is also its whole own internal school system. So, we have staff and teachers and unions just like everywhere else. Um so, you know, focus on hiring, recruitment, retention, but
025also helping districts as they do that. We've developed a really close partnership with civil service to try to streamline the process for hiring through civil service. And in fact, uh next month we have our first hopefully annual educators job fair um at Dutchess BOCES that will be both for support positions and certificated positions, which is going to be wonderful. Civil Service is going to be there to offer some training on what it is what civil service means, how people can get involved. We've also partnered with all of the local universities to develop career pathways so that we can help folks get their teaching teaching assistant certifications and help our teaching assistants become teachers to help try to address that shortage. The next where everything else kind of lies for us and to me the biggest
026part of what we do because it's all about student engagement and experience and this is where we can see the innovation really grow. The focus here is really on the development of new programs. A couple examples that we have already started would be um our EMT program at at CTI, um rebranding for next year of our small engine repair program um so that it will also include marine and sports technology so that folks can see that there's a wider application to small engine. They don't have to only have broken lawnmowers outside. Just saying. Um so our we have a fabulous new instructor who has really brought in the marine technology and sports technology for that. We're really looking to expand our welding pro welding and fabrication programs into manufacturing programs. We've developed a fairly close
027partnership with both IBM and their quantum mechanics labs and with um Dutchess Community College who is expanding their Fishkill campus pretty significantly to include a lot of um trades programs and we're trying to um find ways where we can expand our CTE programming into those sites. Right? So quantum mechanics, quantum programming makes you think everything related to computers, but it's really a lot of work in the trades. That's really important [snorts] to be able to sustain those types of programs, right? You need plumbers, you need electricians. Um so these partnerships keep expanding and they keep creating new opportunities for students and we're hoping to have you know, some additional sites um built into which is our next goal our operations plan. The other thing I want to talk to you about under student engagement and
028and experiences is that we're really at a critical need for special education services predominantly for our youngest babies. So we just did a study recently. When I say recently, I mean about 2 weeks ago. Um of the number of referrals right out of after COVID 2022 um for kindergarten students for special education programs and then up to current. In 2022, we had 65 referrals. No, I'm sorry. We had 85 referrals for kindergarten students only in that year. Okay? 85. A referral means, you know, the district has requested a placement at our BOCES. We then review it and then determine if we can place them. In 2025, last year, we had 185. We just surpassed that number for this school year. We're able to accept 40 approximately 40 kindergarten students into our current space. So that's
029a lot of babies that have no programming. A lot of those referrals are coming to us even from out of district because our surrounding BOCES have no space for the babies or programming for them either. >> [snorts] >> It's really important that we focus on this and that we find a way to provide the services. So we are doing a space utilization study right now. We're about to close it in about a week. Um I might be tempted to keep it open a little bit longer, but in about a week it is right on our BOCES website at dcboces.org. It asks one question. It's a thought exchange. So if you're willing to go on and provide some thoughts around what programming we should focus our efforts on, we would really appreciate the stakeholder input. Um
030operations really has to do with everything that I just said. We're out of space in our current technical building. We're out of space in our new high school that um we just completed and we're completely out of space in our Salt Point Center. If we opened our classrooms next year the same way in our Salt Point Center that we've opened them this year, we would have to accept three less kindergarten classrooms just to maintain the students that we have. Um we don't have any office space to move people into. So we really need to start thinking deeply about how we're going to continue to expand and what partnerships um we can continue to grow to meet the needs of our kiddos. That's all we have for you guys tonight. We really appreciate your time and
031we're happy to take any questions that you might have. Thank you guys so much and I thought you both had a fun time presenting. I don't think anyone was more fun than the other. I was going to say I thought the numbers were fun. I thought the numbers were fun. Anybody have a question? I liked the numbers until I realized how good he was at them. He makes [laughter] it fun, right? That's I know someone like that. So Mr. President, we met um actually today. We had a a meeting with with Mike and his team and talked about the needs for Pawling moving forward and what we thought are some of the programs that, you know, may benefit what's happening and I think Jody kind of echoed some of the issues and um Principal Callan
032really talked about, you know, uh in education there's flows and what we're learning and about is that we have more and more of our high school students who want to take the trades. Right? And what I don't want to see happen and we talk about, you know, a lot of times the state has these great ideas with a portrait of a graduate. I don't want the high school experience to be like UPK where kids have to be in a lottery to decide whether or not they get to BOCES or not. That concerns me, right? Very much so. So a lot of times you're up in Albany and they have, you know, these great ideas which is wonderful, right? But how practical is it? So as and I I compliment you that you're looking at these
033spaces, but what needs to also be understood is getting people to teach it. That's the issue. So the need is getting more and more that students want to take the, as you mentioned Jody, the trades, but then getting qualified people to come out and want to teach is also a big part of that discussion. So I mean I think there's a lot going on, um a lot of good stuff, but um you know, education everything comes around full circle. Right? [snorts] And so what students are realizing and parents is that guess what? You can make a really nice living in the trades and all of these new facilities that are going to for AI are going to need to be built and they need all these trades people to come and do the work. So
034I commend you for looking at spaces. Um you know, as these malls become obsolete, you know, that's a way to look I'm being honest, right? That's a way to look at buildings and possibilities to be able to do that. Um but, you know, to your point it's it's coming. So I thank you for your thoughts and vision in doing that because the needs are there. And I want to commend you and your programs because, you know, um again, Principal Callan talked about the quality of of kids really feeling good about those trades programs, really wanting to be a part of it, expanding it because we have more and more students now going to Dutchess and not going to PNW BOCES. So I just wanted to compliment you on the work that you're doing and foresight
035moving forward because it's the reality, you know, and so thank you. Thank you so much and I just just a reminder that we house the regional certification center. So as we help folks find these pathways, um finding people to teach is really, particularly in the trades, a unique skill set. Thank you for your presentation. I just wondered at the high school level if you're seeing any type of trends in the trades. I mean it looked like the Pawling representation was pretty diverse in the different programs and are you seeing any changes with AI in terms of what areas students are interested in or aren't interested in? I would say that it's still pretty diverse actually. We don't really even some of the programs that I would have said to you, I probably wouldn't have said
036it this way to you, but that I would have said a couple years ago were kind of like petering off, um really have re blossomed as something new, right? So um our video production program for example is getting completely revamped because we had to really put a full social media kind of thread onto that program. Um of course the medical field is always something that it's you know, it's a really a catch-22 because finding um the unicorn nurses out there with their masters in nursing who want to teach for a teacher's salary um right now when there's such a desperate need in the field is not the easiest thing, but we were able to open some adult programs for um certified home health aides, um things like that and we were able to expand. So
037next year we'll have EMT 2. They'll finish EMT 1 and they just last week, Thursday? Thursday put in a um Q and ambulance simulator. So there's like literally an ambulance in the middle of the classroom and they won't let me push any of the buttons. So >> [laughter] >> um so the that's one that's there. Um but I would say the classes that continue to really blossom um would be welding and fabrication with an eye towards manufacturing. Um the construction trades, our electrical trades, HVAC as we move towards more green technologies and what is what's available now. Um always have, you know, wait lists. We have two welding classes sharing one lab which is not ideal and we could probably fill a third classroom. So um yeah, are there trades right now where you're seeing
038that? >> Thank you. I had a question on the um kindergarten numbers. Yeah. You said you have 40 available spaces, correct? Has that been consistent over the last few years or have you been trying to >> opened three classrooms this year. Remember though, our numbers are little, right? Because when you send the students to us and we're predominantly talking about peace students. So students on the autism spectrum with limited verbal um or no verbal capacity. Um so they might be in an 811 class. So, our classes are capped at those very, you know, those lower numbers. So, when I say we have three classrooms, we're talking about 24 students. Don't mind me asking you, how are you deciding if there's students that do they fit the do these 185 students fit the program? Would they
039if you had space, they'd be able to be in the program? Yes. So, if they fit the profile, right? So, there are some student programs that right now we can't support, and that's something else we're looking for in the space utilization study. So, for example, we don't have a medically fragile program, and not our components, like our JMT, also doesn't. So, there are students who are traveling, you know, hours on buses to if they have if they have medically fragile needs, and there's really not a lot of residential programs out there anymore. So, I always say, and like my administrators will mouth it back to me cuz I say it so often, but I always say if not us, then who? Right? And you can see that because we're serving 32 districts in our Salt
040Point Center right now. We have 13 component districts. So, the numbers are really, you know, kind of staggering. So, it's a review of the IEP to see if it matches the programs we have. If it's more restrictive than a classroom or a program we're able to host, for example, we don't have any 412 programs, then they we would not be able to accept that student. If they are a profile we would serve, then we would see if we had a space and which program they would go into. We have in-district classrooms, as Mike said. We have our PEACE classrooms, and then we have our special ed self-contained classrooms. So, it just really depends. Thank you both for coming tonight. We appreciate it. You. Thank you guys so much. Thank you. I hope you have a
041wonderful evening. As well. Okay. So, we're on to our second presentation of the night, which is our 2026-2027 budget recap from Mimi Hassan, our assistant superintendent for finance. Good evening, everyone. Thank you. So, at our last meeting, we had a pretty long >> [laughter] >> explanation of everything that's in the budget. So, but tonight really is going to be a recap. Um, So, first happened. First and foremost, um, as always, um, our budget is developed so that we can empower student success. And uh, the 26-27 budget, um, it increases student and staff supports at all levels really in a variety of ways. Um, we're really focusing on strengthening our early literacy instruction. We're doing that through the, um, the rollout of the Benchmark Literacy program that of course we piloted this year, be in full
042implementation next year. Um, and that program of course is aligned with science of reading and focuses really on foundational reading skills. Um, we're also supporting literacy, um, with our proposal to increase our half-time assistant principal at the elementary school to a full-time position. Um, the budget also, of course, we're always, uh, conscious to make sure that we're maintaining, um, our strong academic, extracurricular, and athletic programming. Um, and, um, support for individual instruction. So, really, this is around our MT our continuation of our MTSS efforts, um, and also strengthening our special ed continuum. Um, and as we discussed last time, uh, we're looking at the addition of a middle school special education teacher focusing on science and social studies in grade 7 and 8. And we're proposing an increase, um, uh, for our half-time CSE chair
043to a full-time position. And we are doing all of this while we maintain below uh, our tax levy limit below our Sorry. Maintain our levy below the allowable tax levy limit. So, those again, the total appropriations for next year's budget is $51,209,737. That is a budget dollar, uh, increase of 1. $1,400,300 over the current year, and percent increase of 2.81. Um, and just a reminder, when we did our rollout, we illustrated that of course the instructional component of the budget is the largest portion. And we also mentioned that 70.4% of the total budget is directed toward personnel costs, which includes salaries and employee benefits. And this is just another look at the three-part budget, which as we said is, uh, a way that we're required to present the budget. Um, didn't didn't really get questions,
044so I hope that means that you got enough information in the last meeting to kind of answer your questions in advance. Um, but one thing that we have been saying each year, um, and I think it's important to bring it up again, is where can the community view detailed information regarding the budget. So, um, on our website, we do have, um, a page that's dedicated to the budget. Um, and there's a tab uh, for community at the top of the of the website, and if people hover on the community tab, they'll see the drop-down for the budget, and that's got all kinds of information on it. And we also at our last meeting talked about our sources of revenue, and of course our largest source of revenue for the budget is the tax levy. And
045our budgeted levy is $33,024,931, which represents a levy-to-levy increase of 2.48%, which is below our allowable levy increase of 2.49%. And we also talked about the fact that the capital portion of the tax levy remains below our 2020 baseline. So, as far as the New York State budget is concerned, um, our lawmakers state lawmakers are, uh, continuing to negotiate. We do hope that they'll have, um, an adopted budget by the deadline of April 1st. Didn't happen last year, we'll have to see what happens this year. Um, but just a couple of the things that are currently being negotiated that, um, could impact our budget is that the, um, both the Senate and the Assembly are proposing a minimum increase of, um, to foundation aid of 2%, whereas the governor's proposal is only a 1% minimum.
046Uh, if the 2% goes through, that would increase our foundation aid by about $63,000. Um, both houses at this point have accepted the governor's proposal for statewide universal pre-K. So, there's a pretty good chance that that's going to go through. Uh, the Senate is also proposing to allow pre-K transportation costs to be eligible for transportation aid. So, that would be a good thing for us. We'll have to see where that lands. Um, and then the Assembly is suggesting $100 million for electric buses and related infrastructure, uh, via the Environmental Bond Act. So, this would not have any impact on us for next year, but it could impact future years, um, if that was to pass. I will say though that, um, that sounds like a lot of money, um, but that type of that level
047of funding has been provided in the past towards electric vehicles. We have applied for grants under those, uh, those proposals and have not received them. So, not sure how much that will mean to us. Um, so, one question that may rise from the foundation aid increase, right? So, if that was to go through, if it won't goes to the 2% instead of the 1%, um, how would that impact our budget? And, um, really it depends on the timing. So, if we know before the the board adopts our budget, which is planned for April 7th, um, we could reduce the amount of assigned reserves if the board chooses to. If we don't know until after the board adopts on April 7th, then we'll just have savings next year in that amount. So, either way, we're we're
048covered. Um, Okay. So, as far as, um, different things that people will can find now and will find as we move forward around the budget, um, again, I explained that we have the the page on the website, um, and some of the things that in addition to the budget detail, there's the budget calendar, there's copies of all of the budget presentations that have been done this year, um, and and of course the detailed budget information. There's also, um, a couple of resources out there, um, with general information, like there's a glossary of budget uh, budget terms, things like that, and some uh, in- historical information about the tax levy and and where the cap came from. Um, also, uh, after the board adopts the budget, um, we create what's called our budget book, and, um,
049that's going to have all of the financial information in it. It's also going to have our demograph- demographic information and our student achievement information Um, and that will be posted on our website once that's complete and then of course we mail out the budget newsletter to every household in the district at the beginning of May. And as usual here are the the dates for the budget process coming up as we said April 7th is our targeted date for budget adoption. We originally we do have a board meeting scheduled for April 21st. We originally thought that was the budget the BOCES budget vote date. We found out it's actually April 28th. So the board has decided to hold a special meeting on April 28th. So we will be in compliance with the voting requirements. And then
050on May 5th we'll hold the public hearing for the adopted budget and on May 19th again all of this will culminate in the annual meeting budget vote and Board of Education election. Questions? Thank you so much. Does anybody want to start with a question? Mimi. Okay, so that concludes our presentations for the evening on to item number seven administrative reports. I just always like to make a call out here. A lot of our district team puts a lot of time and effort into giving admin updates as far as building as departments. So definitely take a look at those attached to the agenda online with this meeting. On to item number eight the agenda order I'll turn it over to our district clerk Mrs. Stephanie Jordan. So tonight we have two addendums. The first is rescinding
051an appointment for food service helper and the second is an appointment for non-certified substitute teacher / teaching teaching assistant. Great. Thank you so much. As a reminder the items with an asterisk the items the superintendent recommends for the consent agenda. If any board member wishes to remove an item from the consent agenda please do so at this time. Consent agenda is one vote which approves all asterisk items which have not previously been removed. So seeing none I'll read out the resolution. Be it resolved to approve the following additions deletions changes and order of the agenda as presented. I will make a motion. May I have a second? Dr. Walsh second and all in favor. I that's everybody that's here. Okay. On to item number nine which is visitors comments related to agenda items only. And
052there are none there. On to number 10 which is board remarks and I like to start with our student member Bailey. Would you like to make any remarks this evening? Hello. Good evening. I'm going to keep it short tonight. The only thing I want to say is for any senior students or parents just a reminder that our senior dues are due on April 24th and if you have any questions about prices at all you could just shoot an email right over to Mrs. Bigley see. Thank you. Thank you so much. Is there any board member that would like to make remarks this evening? See group. All right, so turn over to item number 11 which is board vice president comments. So I'll turn over to Dr. Walsh. Good evening everybody. Despite all the crazy weather
053spring sports are well underway. Varsity baseball played two scrimmages this weekend and they won their first game of the season yesterday away at Blind Brook with a big win 15 to 5. They play tomorrow in Rye Neck and they look to have their home opener on Wednesday April 8th which I'm told is going to be a big event open to the community. So stay tuned for details. Girls varsity lacrosse heads to Brewster on Thursday after a big win over Carmel. Varsity golf will have their first match after break at Centennial. The varsity outdoor track team is heading to Somers on Friday for their first meet of the season the Somers Tusker Twilight. Girls varsity softball got rained out earlier this week but they'll host their home opener at the elementary school on Thursday April 8th.
054Modified sports are also well underway. So check the athletic calendar it really is up to date and changes throughout the day but the students love to see you there. As the weather starts to cooperate we can expect the return of the snack shack at our stadium. So come out and support the teams and the tiger club. At the elementary school team communities hosting a yoga night on Thursday night from 5:30 to 6:30. Team communities a great program that gives a variety of students throughout the year leadership opportunities and chances to showcase their talents and work with their peers. At the middle school the intersession is happening this week. This is a wonderful week for our 8th graders to explore college and career readiness with field trips and speakers. At the high school our spring musical
055Once Upon a Mattress will take place when we return from break April 16th, 17th and 18th. I saw some sneak sneak peek pictures of the set. It looks like it's going to be another great show. So tickets will be on sale. Mark your calendars for May 30th the PTSA the PTA and the tiger club will be hosting the annual color run at Lakeside Park in conjunction with community day. Usually in the afternoon at 4:00 p.m. They get staff to come and spray you as you run. So it's a great experience for everyone and have a great rest of your week. Thank you so much and I get to turn over number 12 to our superintendent Mr. DeCarlo. Thank you very much Mr. President. Just a quick couple of updates. So as I mentioned to the
056board a couple of months ago we have begun our process on both the principal search at Folling Elementary School. We will be conducting our second round of interviews this coming Thursday. We're excited about the process moving forward and you know we're looking forward to hopefully at the end of April be able to appoint somebody down at the elementary school. Concurrently we are also doing a search for our assistant superintendent for business. Mimi has this position. Again we are in that process of second round coming up when we get back from the break. And we are hopeful that the same time more or less we'll be able to appoint an individual. Both these positions start July of this coming school year and I think it's a very thorough process and we'll be presenting finalists to the
057board and then the board along with the new superintendent. So I just want to make that really clear right that you know the new superintendent once he or she is named will be involved in this process towards the end so that again he or she has an understanding who's in front of them can ask questions so that when the appointment is made because new superintendent will be working closely with those individuals. So it's I think a very comprehensive and clear process and we're looking forward to moving it forward. And then last but not least I wish everybody hopefully a nice spring break coming up next week. Hopefully the weather gets to be a little bit warmer so those who are out and about that are staying home and enjoy those of you who may be
058going out and visiting family and friends or just relaxing on a trip. Be well and have have a safe time and then once you get back we're in the home stretch. So again all the best to everybody and enjoy either whatever holiday you're celebrating whether it be Passover and Easter and best to all to you and your families. Back to you Mr. President. Thank you very much. All right, so we go to item 13 which is the consent agenda as it reads be it resolved that the Board of Education approves all asterisk items as the consent agenda. I'll make a motion for that. May I have a second? Shell and all in favor. I and that's everybody that's here. Now we're on to item 14 which is the minutes. I'll do these separately. So we'll
059start with be it resolved that the Board of Education approve the minutes of the following meeting. First we'll start with the Monday March 9th 2026 special meeting of the Board of Education. I will make a motion for that. May I have a second? Liz second and all in favor of the March 9th. I that's everybody that's here. And now second be it resolved that the Board of Education approve the minutes of the following meeting. Now the Tuesday March 10th 2026 business meeting. I will make a motion for that. May I have a second for the March 10th? Okay. Michelle second Michelle. She said if you didn't hear she said I can give it to you. So Michelle second and all in favor. I and that's everybody that's here. Okay, so now we flip ahead to
060item number 18 which is the Board of Education. I don't believe there's any items that are there. So we go to item [snorts] number 19 which is unfinished business. Likewise I don't know if there's anything there. So we'll move on from there. Number 20 new business. One thing I wanted to ask that came up in the BOCES presentation. They spoke about a new security and safety thing. I know we currently contract out. I didn't know if there was interest for us to look into maybe what that new service safety and security that they offer and maybe that's something we can just compare to our current contract we utilize and I don't know how the district team or how the board felt about that. I can answer it. So, um yeah, they are um Mr. President,
061they're they're they're starting to begin this process as a BOCES. Um and I think there was a conversation amongst the team, meaning not only district office, but building administration, and a lot of time and effort went into the work that was done with Alturas. Um and the feeling was that um we would like to continue with Alturas. You have a new superintendent coming in, um and really looking at Alturas moving forward. And then after BOCES kind of establishing this program, then taking a look at it and do a comparison for you for the following school year. But at present, that you know, the a lot of time and effort's gone into it with Alturas and the leadership of the buildings felt that it was important to stay with them and then take a look next
062year at what BOCES is looking at. Well, I mean that sounds fine to me, so. Thank you for sharing that. >> I I did look into the financial aspect and they are exactly the same. Great. Okay, great. Thank you guys for for answering that. Anybody else in new business? Any items that want to bring up? Okay. So, we go to item number 21, which is our second visitor comments pertaining to the district and 3 minutes per person. I'll read uh public comment guidelines, which is consistent with policy uh 1230. So, at this time, we'll move into the portion of the meeting reserved comment. Board of Education greatly values hearing from our community and we appreciate your willingness to share your thoughts on school-related matters. Before we begin, I'd like to review a few important guidelines.
063First, please introduce yourself by stating your name and address and let us know if you're representing an organization. Second, each speaker will have up to 3 minutes. Please note, unused time cannot be transferred to another speaker. Number three, we respectfully ask that you direct your comments to the board president. Number four, the board's role during this time is to listen. While we may not respond immediately this evening, follow-up may occur afterward if needed. And finally, in order to respect everyone's privacy in the law, please avoid mentioning uh specific names that can be identified. So, uh with that said, uh Kathleen Beckley, would you please stand and we'd hear from you. Thank you for having me. My name's um Katie Beckley. I live at 73 West Deer Trail. Um I'm a parent of a 10th, eighth,
064and fifth-grade students here at Pawling. I've been a Pawling resident for the past 17 years, and I'm also a proud Pawling graduate. I came to speak today as a concerned parent. My concern arises over the fact that all students are required to take high school Regents level biology in eighth grade, and that there's not an option for students to take eighth-grade physical science. As a teacher myself with over 20 years of experience teaching both high school and middle school math, I would never imagine pushing all students to take algebra in eighth grade. Pawling even offers an algebra um course for eighth graders, but does not require all students to take it. We would be setting students up for failure if we did that. However, I feel that's exactly what we are doing um to eighth
065graders, forcing them to take biology. Here are a few of my concerns about the biology. This new biology exam, which was first administered last June, is a test of reading endurance at as as it is heavily reading comprehension um and a a reading comprehension assessment. The reading level of the text in the exam itself are at a high school level, and not all eighth graders are able to comprehend material at that grade level. According to New York State um school data, Pawling had 66% of their students in 2025 who were considered proficient on that biology exam. Of those 66%, 32% um were in a level three. And according to New York State, and I quote, "Students that received a level three minimally um meet those requirements or expectations of the science learning standards for life
066science biology. They meet the content area requirements for the Regents diploma, but may need additional support to succeed at the next level of coursework." Sorry. I don't need my glasses. Um I also think that Pawling's not a one-size-fits-all school. In high school, students have the opportunity to pursue either a Regents diploma or an advanced Regents diploma, allowing for different academic pathways. However, all eighth-grade students are currently required to take a high school level course. On a personal note, my son, who has an IEP, will be unable to read some of the text on the biology assessment. Therefore, his reading comprehension will be affected. It was reported to New York State by Pawling that our school district had 10 students with disabilities take the June 2025 Regents exam for biology. Of those 10 students, only three
067of them scored a level three, a 65% or above. The rest, 70%, failed the exam. I understand that students with IEPs need a score of a 55% on the exam to count as passing, but what does that low score do to a student's self-esteem? Are we a district that finds these scores and their consequences acceptable? I hope not. However, my hope is to start a discussion, if it hasn't happened yet, about rethinking biology in eighth grade for every student. I believe this would continue to make Pawling a wonderful place for all students to learn, grow, and flourish. Thank you for giving me the time to speak. I appreciate it. Thank you very much. Okay. Um that's it for speakers for this evening. So, we go to item number 22, which is the board president comments.
068And I'm just going to read the information as mentioned before about the Board of Education candidates. Just remember, there are two seats available for three for 3-year terms expiring on June 30th, 2029 for the election of school board member. Packets of information for your use in seeking election to a seat on the Board of Education of the Pawling Central School District may be picked up at the district office from the district clerk. If you have any questions, please see Stephanie Giordano, our district clerk, or send her an email at [email protected]. The board board member election will be held on Tuesday, May 19th, 2026, the same time as the district's vote on the '26-'27 school budget at the Pawling Elementary School. All right. And that's going to be my comments this evening, keep them very short,
069very sweet. And we're on to item number three uh 23, which is adjourn the meeting. So, be resolved that the Board of Education adjourn this meeting. The time is 7:55. 7:55. I'll make a motion for that. May I have a second? Second. Mr. Maine second, and all in favor? Aye. Aye. And that's it. Thank you. Have a good night, everybody.