001Good evening. And welcome to the Monday, April 6th, 2026 special Board of Education meeting. Please join me in 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. Oh. This evening will begin with recognition. Yes. I do want to just recognize our students that are here with us in the audience. I did These are our seniors who are in participation in government, and I did ask one of them, "When is the assignment due?" And I think Thursday? Yes, Thursday. So, we're glad you're here and your assignment is done. I do want to just give some recognition to numerous events that occurred before our spring break. So, this was the week
002before spring break, and just want to recognize the incredible work at from our district choral festival. So, here are a couple photos. And so, this was all of our chorus students in grades five all the way through 12, and it was an extraordinary event. And so, um just a huge thank you to Brian Apples, and Kristen Feenstra, and of course, Katie Burnias just for all of their work and dedication to all of our chorus students. It was a great event. And then our KCH open house, here are just a couple cute photos. One was artwork that was displayed in the cafeteria, and then the other one is from a classroom where parents could write just little notes recognition and proud moments that they were sharing about their kids to the rest of the class. So
003just a simple event all the way around. I stood at the front. Lauren was at the front too and it just seemed like the line just people kept running in and you wondered when it was going to end but just a testament to this community that people show up. And then just a recognition of the fourth grade team who created just some fun the day the Friday before we went on to break when you we walked in that morning our fourth grade teachers were dressed up as Starbucks baristas and they created just a day of math problems so students got to just interact with teachers as if they they were barista and making just math issue like math problems with decimals and then at the end of the day our fourth grade teachers served students
004hot chocolate in Starbucks mugs. So it was just a great event all the way around. So thank you to the fourth grade team for creating fun experiences that were also learning experiences for our students. And then I received today a huge congratulations to Diana Gatlin. I received from Senator Rachel May that Diana has been selected as an educator inspiring a generation for 2026 for her commitment to student success, innovative teaching practices and leadership in educational communities. So just a huge recognition. She will be recognized during teacher appreciation week at the floor of the Senate. Well deserved. And that's And that's it for recognition. All right, at this time we'll move on to presentations. So I do want to just sort of address Don is going to go over shortly just our the specifics of our
005budget. But, I do want to just publicly express that I am keenly aware of the emotional response that occurs when reductions in force need to be made. Making those decisions truly to reduce staff members is not easy at all. In fact, it is a handful for those of us who had to make those decisions. And I I think that the easier course truly for for me would have been let's just keep borrowing from reserves and and roll the dice. And so, as you all know, you don't need to be financial advisers to know that that is not a financially responsible way to operate to keep borrowing from reserves um year after year. So, again, although we did not arrive at the decision lately to to make reductions, we did examine carefully every area including BOCES
006uh services, every area that we could make some reductions um without impacting students or programming. So, um I I do want to just address too cuz I I this typically comes up. Did we consider cutting administrators? We sure did. Um something that people may not realize is probably about 7 years ago, um we had on staff a director of professional development. We had a coordinator for humanities, a coordinator for mathematics. That position was folded into one and the proud owner of that position is Mr. Montgomery. So, those are those are three positions that got folded into one many years ago. Um and another thing just to point out, we have no assistant principal at the high school, which is very unusual. So, we are already a very slim, small administrative team, and again, that was
007certainly under consideration. Um So, I do want to just sort of reiterate that we stood firmly on not increasing our class sizes, specifically at UPK-6. So, those will remain anywhere from 18 to 23, 24 max. Um and then grade 7 through 12, anywhere from 8 to 27. So, that was something that we were committed to, making sure that we kept our class sizes as as low as we possibly could. If you're following the news right now, you will notice that New York State hasn't even passed their budget. So, that budget hasn't even been put forward, and so that is one of the tricks that school districts right now are facing. We have to put forward a balanced budget to our boards, but we don't really have the exact precise numbers from the state. So, that
008is always sort of a complication when it comes to budgets. Um but overall, I mean, I think we felt like we were intentional, very you know, methodical in turning over every stone that we could, so that we did the best we could to put the district in a good position moving forward year after year. And so, Don at this point is going to just review the actual numbers and just give a final overview of the budget. Okay. Um so, I think we've been talking about this for a few months now, but the final budget number that uh we're proposing for 2026-27 is 43.3 million. That represents uh an increase in spending of 2.3% over last year. So, um and that's uh a little under a million dollars total uh increase in spending. Which it sounds
009like a lot, but the cost of all the things that we bought last year went up significantly more than that. So, that's the reason we had to make reductions. Uh and again, we're not getting any new revenue really coming in. So, we'll go to the property tax cap. Um and whatever we're getting state aid, that's really it. The hard part about this is deciding we can only control how much money we spend. We don't control how much money we get. So, that's kind of the hard part. So, the budget really was balanced through careful review of programs and expenses. We spent a lot of time uh with all the administrative staff, and I'm very grateful the amount of time the principals spent with me teaching me what they do. Uh and uh I learned a
010lot uh the last it's been almost a year now um uh going through all their departments and trying to figure out where we can save some money. Uh see. So, we started this process with the budget gap of 1. budget gap of 1.46 million dollars. And again, that's the just the difference between how much money we were going to spend and how much we thought was going to come in. Uh increasing costs and reductions in state aid uh really put fiscal pressure on both sides of the budget. We're getting squeezed from both ends. So, price increases in things like utilities, uh gas now is over $4 a gallon. Uh health insurance has gone up much more than it has in previous years. Uh and contractual obligations, which we have really no control of. Those are
011contracts that were signed many years ago that we're obligated to to pay. Um that in combination with the district being what's considered held harmless now, uh school districts that are not on formula, no because that formula is heavily reliant on enrollment, get a minimum of foundation aid from New York State. So, the governor's proposed budget proposed a 1% foundation aid increase for Marcellus. That's you know, $94,000 and change when you know, we're looking or proposing to spend just shy of a million more just to maintain fewer services arguably than we have last year, right? So, if we to get off of hold harmless, we would need about 200 new students. So, we're we're not even at the cusp it will be many years of of growth before we get back on formula. So, this is
012something we're probably going to have to deal with for a while. Just something to note. So, in in 2010, we had 2,000 students just about in the district here. Uh now about 1,400. So, 15 years later, 30% decline in enrollment. So, So, what do we do to close the gap? Um we looked at all of our expenditures, but one of the big places, one of the larger slices of the pie if you remember the budget presentation a few months ago, one of the very few things we have control over is our BOCES services. So, we really all of us dove into the BOCES services to see what you know, what we need, are there redundancies. It's a little bit tricky tricky when you do that because you get aid on those services, so you don't
013want to eliminate something for the sake of eliminating it, but really going through everything and make sure all of it is necessary. Um and almost all of it was. It was very few. We were really trimming around the edges, um but we did uh find some savings there. Uh we're going uh to have two reductions through attrition, retirements, uh positions we're not going to refill, uh second grade teacher and a 7-12 English teacher, and then uh the unfortunate part, the reductions in force, uh six positions. Uh they're listed there. Um so, the last as uh Superintendent Charlotte mentioned, the last official uh state estimate had us receiving a 1% in foundation aid. Um I'm hopeful for two. It was two last year. Um the Senate Assembly proposed two. Mhm. So, we're hopeful that that'll be
014a land uh a a softer landing point. Uh the property tax cap uh is 2.7% this year. That's uh $623,000. Approximately, we're proposing to go to the cap, not over the cap. I think uh we've been very consistent in in steadfast in saying we're not going to try to exceed the property tax cap. And even though and the budget now being balanced, even with uh those reductions, and going to the tax cap, we're still almost $262,000 shy. So, I am proposing to use $262,000 in in reserves to close the gap. Although, we may not actually have to use that money. If we can come in under budget next year, that money will stay right where it is. So, we've done this in the past. Um I think 23-24 was the last time we used about
015$170,000 proposed to use about $170,000 in reserves and wound up not having to. So, if we can be really careful next year, we can keep that money in the bank and uh not have to rely on reserves. Uh and this, just a summary, you can see um a line item of all the addition or subtractions from expenditures from the proposed budget and the changes to revenue. The very top there, the initial proposed uh uh uh expenditures and revenues had a budget gap of 1.4 million, and at the bottom we get down to the the gap being zero. Nice balanced budget. Questions? I was just going to ask, and it's probably hard for you to speculate, but you know, when we look at our held harmless status, and is it you know, there's so many um
016districts in the region that have declining enrollment. It's not unique to to Marcellus, of course, you know. Do you anticipate that they could ever change that or adjust that formula? I think the reason that we see more districts held harmless now than we did last year is because of the Rockefeller study and the change at the state level of the state aid formula in general. I I hate to say it, but I think this is what the state intended. >> Okay. >> It almost seems like they believe that declining enrollment um deserves well, less state aid, although, you know, I don't know that that's necessarily the case because our expenses increase. Yeah. But I I'd be surprised Okay. that changed in short term. Yeah. Any other questions? Well, we certainly appreciate all of your hard
017work. We know it was a tough position to be in, and you know, to be able to kind of dig into all the numbers, look at the BOCES, look at, you know, every area, and and come up with a balanced budget. Yeah. I appreciate it. It was very much a team effort. So, you know, really a lot of people deserve credit. Thank you. Well, I don't have any other slides or so I'll try to stand and help paint the picture here, but just some happenings around the high school. I have five things for you today. This first our cell phone update. Overall the law banning the school has been pretty effective. I think the base thing just separating the past years I've been in high school is there's no gray area for students to kind
018of exploit. Obviously there's going to be some some work grounds, but on a consistent basis that's pretty hard to obtain. And then the communication between kids and parents has been satisfactory enough to where hopefully there haven't been too many complaints at least on my end. It's been pretty nice. Still able to have the back and forth with my parents. And then next towards the beginning of March we had a guest speaker by the name of Maryanne Angelillo. Some of you guys may know her book sharing her story. Her son Matthew was killed in a drunk driving crash and she did a great job coming to our auditorium speaking to all grades 9 through 12 and the conversation is very timely about decision making and with junior prom this month and senior ball next month is
019a great time for students to kind of reflect and learn more about those decisions. Next we have our March Madness competition which I was pretty pumped about. The champion will be crowned tonight for the national championship in men's basketball and Mrs. Willis spearheads that across student government and practice we were able to fill out lunches. It's a great chance to up the student engagement across the school. Unfortunately Mr. Seavey has taken home the last couple of years so it's taken a lot of fun out of it, but this year he's he's out of the running which is nice. Next in the in the gym our teachers we had a student teacher by the name of Mr. Colley from Portland who kind of started a trend that the gym teachers have continued of doing a daily
020question whether it's a would you rather or a what do you prefer more? That's kind of been a great way to get kids when they walk into class or walk out of class. Kind of the little things and engagement that make our school special and the PE department does a great job of when you walk in just always greeting you and things like that. And then lastly is a personal project of mine that I'm working on. I'm hoping to bring like a new way for past students and current students to bridge the gap and connection there. So I'm hoping to work on an alumni network. Uh alongside of Mr. Cooper and the professional pathways program, hoping to make make sure our upperclassmen are prepared for the real world and the professionals. Hopefully more to come
021on this in the future, but that's where I'm at right now. Thank you. You're so welcome. Any questions? I forgot to I have a question. UConn or Michigan? Who are you rooting for? >> I I like the antics of Danny Hurley on the UConn side. Same. All right. Okay, and that's it for presentations. So at this time we'll move on to residents comments. Public expression at the Board of Education meetings is encouraged and a specific portion of the agenda shall provide for this privilege. In most instances, the Board shall reserve judgment regarding questions and concerns that are brought to the Board's attention at a Board meeting. As it is typically not prudent for the Board to make instantaneous determinations. In addition, many issues that are brought to the Board's attention do not require a formal
022determination by the Board, but instead are most appropriately addressed by the Superintendent of Schools or persons designated by the Superintendent without further Board action in accordance with Board policy 3220 Community Relations. Do we have any residents comments at this time? All right, now we'll move on to the business portion of the meeting. Um Item 5.1 adoption of the 2026-2027 Marcellus School Budget. Whereas the Marcellus Central School District Board of Education has developed a budget for the operations of the district for the 2026-2027 school year. Whereas the annual budget hearing meeting is scheduled for May 11th, 2026. Resolved that the board hereby adopts the budget developed in the amount of 43,330,431. Be it further resolved that the following proposition be placed before the voters on May 19th, 2026. Shall the Board of Education of the Marcellus
023Central School District be authorized to expend the sums set forth in the total amount of 43,330,431 for the 2026-2027 school year and to levy the necessary tax therefore. Can I have a motion? Motion, Justin. Justin. Second, Jen. Second, Jen. Questions or comments before we vote. All those in favor? I. Opposed? Carried. Item 5.2 approval of 2026-2027 SRO agreement. Resolved that the Board of Education approves the 2026-2027 School Resource Officer agreement with the Village of Marcellus. Can I have a motion? Motion, Amy. Amy. Second, Kelly. Questions or comments before we vote. So, we have had this agreement in place for many years. In fact, Marcellus schools was one of the first districts who had resource officers placed in every one of their schools and um we have really been a model for many other districts to
024follow in this regard and this is really what you're voting on to renew and extend that. Give us the background. All those in favor? I. right. Opposed? Carried. Now, we'll move on to personnel. Approval of personnel items. Resolved that the Board of Education approves the following personnel items. You can see them listed there before you. 6.1 through 6.6. May I have a motion? Motion, Sean. >> Sean. Second. Second, Erica. Questions or comments before we vote about any of those items. All those in favor? I. Opposed? Carried. Moving on to consent agenda. Approval of consent agenda items. Resolved that the Board of Education approves the following consent agenda items. You can see them listed there before you. 7.1 through 7.2. May I have a motion? Motion, Jen. Jen. Second, Justin. Second, Justin. Questions or comments about
025any of those items before we vote? >> So, just to be clear, you see these health and welfare service agreements every now and then. James filled away too. When one of our students in Marcellus attends a private school, like fully family, and this is what this is for in the West Genesee School District, what happens is West Genesee bills the school the various school districts for really their nursing services and so that we we take on a portion of that. Yeah. All those in favor? I. Opposed? Carried. Okay, now we'll move on to item number eight, informational items. Yes, so just to let everyone know, we did run our UPK lottery the week um before break and um we had a a total of 72 students who wanted a spot. Right now we have three
026UPK classrooms, um so a total of 54, um and we have 18 students currently on the wait list. Um and so again, sometimes what happens is people decide to go other places and um some of the the people on the wait list could get a a spot. Um also, just a a heads-up on the zero-emission bus um mandate. Um a few weeks ago there was a senator um Borrello from the Western New York area who put forward um really a legislation to ease the mandate on schools for zero-emission buses. Now, as it stands, after 2027, school districts cannot purchase diesel or gas buses. And by 2035, their entire fleets have to turn to electric. Um we all know, especially with our budget constraints, that that is just unattainable. And so the the hope was that
027this legislation would just ease schools in the the pressures that, you know, quite honestly, Donna and I are facing in um completing waivers for the state to to just show that we're trying to do our due diligence, but we have other things that we need to be able to take care of at this point. So, um that legislation failed. It did get voted down. I suspect there probably will be more legislation. You You may probably have heard as well that even the governor has acknowledged that their climate initiative was aggressive. So, I think, you know, as a as a a group of school districts across central New York, we're hopeful that this mandate um does get It's not that we're We're not saying don't do it, but can we push it out a little bit
028here, um especially considering I don't I don't know how it's going to get funded. Um so I will keep you know everyone up to date right now. Um we have to still show to the state that we're doing our due diligence. So we have a study running right now that Don is overseeing just about the electrical grid here and the feasibility and so all of those hoops we're still jumping through. Um absent putting a vote forward to our voters because I I I personally can't put something forward that I don't agree will pass. So we are we are holding that. We do not plan to put anything forward at this time. So I will keep everybody updated on that. But those are some of the confines that districts are under right now. Okay. They articulated
029a penalty for not complying. Is there a general Well, and that's that's what the question is. This is Senator Borrello said these school districts all across Central New York, not even Central New York, New York State, will not be able to meet this mandate. They don't even have the funding to do so. What's the what's the plan? So I you know we're we're doing our due diligence as far as completing the waiver on time to and and that gives us a little bit of time. Um Yeah, I mean I think that's that's going to come into a clearer picture in the next probably year because I I think it's obvious to everybody it's just not feasible the timeline. Yeah, I remember when we first started talking about it we knew it was an aggressive um
030deadline and then there's so much more to it than just purchasing the buses. You know, you have to change your infrastructure, you have to make sure that you have you know, train your mechanic and it's just so involved. >> Yeah. I mean honestly, I mean some of the I know some of the issues with the recent voting last January was you know, even traffic patterns they were trying to solve. But some of that is really potentially an initiative for creating a new bus garage that can handle electric buses and you saw how that went. So, I think Yeah, and the the expense of loan to to create a bus garage that will do all the things that we needed to do, not to mention just the weather and New York. So, more to come. I
031just I guess I want to assure you one, Don and I are doing all the things that we need to to jump through the hoops. It just would be very nice to have that pressure released because, you know, we we're feeling that right now. All of the labors and the time that it takes us to to demonstrate to the state that we are trying to do all the right things. Um the other item I I just want to mention because it's pretty obvious if you've come to an event at the high school auditorium, the stairs in at the high school auditorium have just really fallen apart essentially. Um a few years ago we did have a coating put on them to preserve them and it really has failed. Um Brian Reefler has been in contact
032with the original vendor and they are coming out and recognize and are doing what they can to help us because it really they didn't last what they should have. So, we are on it. We know, we're aware that it needs to be fixed and we are in the in the process of getting that done especially before graduation season. That's it. And that's it. All right. At this time we will move into executive session. Resolve that the meeting in public be adjourned and executive session be convened for the purpose of contract negotiations. Can I have a motion? Motion Sean. Sean. Second. Kelly. All those in favor? I. All right. Opposed? Carried.