001From Stephanie House, seconded. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Motion carries. Then just in motion to recommit the public session and set the Congress will. So we'll repeat in a second. Second. Opposed? All in favor? Aye. Aye. Motion carries. We will stand for the pledge to the flag. And 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. We'll do our budget presentation and then we'll do any public comment here. This is the budget presentation season. You'll notice some similar information, nothing relatively new that's being presented here. For those of you who are joining us on the budget presentation for the first time, hopefully we give you a broad overview of the details, some of our
002revenue and our paper expense drivers as well. So within our review, we want to always make sure we're going over our general call budget, revenues and expenses, and most importantly on our local tax levy, highlight the instructional program as well as some other areas of the budget that support learning and instruction that may not necessarily be directly in the classroom, review our second proposition, which is kind of a capital improvement reserve fund, and then some of this general budget building information. So as always, our goal is to strategically utilize the district's fiscal resources in a manner that allows for quality instructional experience next year, 10 years from now, just like we had this year or 10 years ago. We want to think both short-term and long-term, making sure we're addressing all of these. So our
003first proposition that you'll see when the voters are voting this year is our general fund budget, what we're voting on for what we're able to spend from the general fund. It's proposed to be at $83 million, which is a reduction of $510,000 from last year. The proposed tax levy increase is a 2.749% tax levy increase, which is under the tax cap given to us through the very long formula through New York State. The proposed budget, you might ask why is the levy going up, but the budget itself is going down. The district had $2.2 million less in state building aid that's driven through capital projects. As projects fall off, you receive less building aid. In this case, as a district, we're very fortunate enough our associated debt payment also went down. Our voters last year
004graciously approved of a significant capital improvement project, which that work is going to begin this upcoming summer. So we'll see some of that building aid come back in over the next three to four years as we do the project and close it out and submit it to the state. Not only do our facilities get improved, have the learning experience, but also we have that building aid going back to the district. Some of our challenges, we had significant and mandatory increases in expenses in the area of insurance, employee health insurance costs, and BOCES special education program. One of the largest driving factors in balancing this year's budget was due to the retirement of 41 talented instructional staff members for moving on to the next phase of life and hopefully enjoying a happy retirement after a long
005and successful career in the district. And most importantly, we feel that the budget, while it's visibly responsible, also is considered some of our long-term planning when we look at some of our major expense drivers. A quick overview of large budget revenues. In some of the previous presentations, they are more detailed within each of these categories. Our state foundation aid went up about $600,000, 2%. Some of the what's called categorical or other aids, all in all they went down $2.4 million. The largest driver of that was that building aid we just talked about. About $2.2 million was associated with that. Our creating tax levy at the proposed percent is up $845,000. We are using less appropriate fund balance this year, so our budget is a little bit stabler from year to year, relying less on that
006revenue. And then we are adding in some use of planned reserves that we have planned based on some of the calculations of some of the expenses associated with the teacher retirement that we had with the 41 staff members' retirement. Our budget expenses, what is the bulk of where we're spending our money? You can see that approximately $62 million is being sent on instruction and employee benefits. So year over year that's relatively flat, given some of the other increases seen regionally. Transportation, central office support, a lot of those are driven by BOCES expenses that support the entire district, but just get lumped into central office codes. And then you see the debt service and transfers again, that $2.2 million appearing in there. So that is how we get to the net effect of the budget decreasing
007overall, $510,000. The proposed local tax levy impact. This is the impact on projected and assessed values of houses. It's important to note that an assessed value of a house is not necessarily what a house might go for. If you're purchasing a house, like the local real estate or Zillow, the assessed value is very different. These figures are based on last year's values of assessed properties. Those aren't known yet, so these are our best estimates of what it could be. As development goes on, those tax rates can also go down on the tax levy rate for $1,000, but the entire school levy does not change. So for the majority of the houses within the city of North Conawanda are assessed between $100,000 to $150,000. You can see at $100,000 assessed value. The proposed and projected rate
008of taxes going up on a yearly basis would be approximately $64. This also does not take into consideration star exemptions or the enhancing star exemptions, which is given to us through the state. I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Jack Ducey to talk about some of our highlights of our budget from the academic programming side. From an academic side, our class sizes at the A8 level will virtually remain exactly the same as they are this year. And next year at the high school, the class sizes will go up from about 22 students to 23 or 24 in our regents level classes. At the elementary school, some of our highlights include keeping our STEAM teacher, K6, keeping the gifted and talented program at NTI, and an AIS math specialist at NTI, an expansion of the
009special education program at Ohio to have another self-contained class there, an expansion of our UPK program and adding a class at Spruce Elementary School for UPK, and the establishment of a series of kindergarten screening opportunities throughout the summer. At the secondary level, maintaining our STEAM TOSA, maintaining our academic learning center at the high school, and our reading plus opportunities at the high school as well, and an expansion of in-district alternative education programming at the middle school, and maintaining the work-based learning program at our high school, and district-wide maintaining the K-12 Fine Arts TOSAs and Family Resource Center positions. For facilities, the annual capital outlay project will focus on K-3 fencing for all the playgrounds. Transportation will be reducing the mileage that students can be picked up from 2 miles to 1.7 miles so we can
010transport more students to school on buses. Also, purchasing six new buses to replace older fleet. Food service with what we serve with breakfast and lunch, that will support purchasing new cafeteria tables at NTI. For athletics, establishment of annual allotments for air murals before school K-6, and continuing weight room opportunities for 7-12 students. For music, dedicated set-aside funds for annual instrumental purchases and student competitions, and for field trips, continuing the allotted amount to continue field trips district-wide. The second proposition is the creation of a capital improvement reserve fund. So this is going to be marrying the capital improvement reserve fund that the voters voted on in 2019 with the caveat that that one had a 10-year term. This one by legal statute could extend to 15 years, so it gives the district more flexibility. The reason
011for a capital reserve is it allows the district to do capital improvement projects in a way that's tax neutral to the community over time based on how capital projects are aided, making sure that we have those dedicated set-aside savings accounts that reduce interest earnings or interest expenses on capital projects. Anytime we're doing the capital improvement project, in order to utilize those funds, the district still has to go out to the community to have that project approved like we did last night. Also, some of the purpose of these capital improvement projects is to focus on that longer-term horizon of what could be coming down all public schools. So recently we've heard about temperature controls in school, we've heard about electrification of bus fleets. The reality is you don't necessarily know if that will or will not
012happen. I think that's a wonderful question all school districts are asking. The creation of reserves such as this and the reserves that we already have established help put the district in a position to be able to respond to those demands that are placed on the district and on the community to support that's doing so in a fiscally neutral way over time. And again, any use of these reserves requires community voter approval through a proposition where there's advertising of what the project will entail redirect the community. So with that, our annual budget vote will be here at the Fine Arts Center on Tuesday, May 20th. So we encourage everyone to tell those that you know to come out to please exercise your board right to vote that we are wanting everyone to be here as much
013as we can. I know there's also a lot of activities going on that day between athletics and there's some dinner sales as well with the fundraisers for the team so you don't even have to meet dinner actors. At that point we're entering over questions from Board of Education. Devin Scarlin, 238 Tremont. I just wanted to know are the buses going to be electric or gas or do you not know yet? The ones in the proposed budget. The proposed budget we're still able to purchase what's known as traditional buses through right now January of 2027. So it's a replacement. At that point as it reads right now there would be a moratorium on purchasing traditional buses to allow what's proposed by the state a full electrification conversion in 2035. Just so happens that the anticipated useful
014life of a bus is approximately 8 to 10 years and given that our buses drive about 12,000 miles a year generally buses will be replaced around 100,000 miles. It's going to be planning us out for that after the conversion if those timelines still stay. Thank you. Any other questions? We have a list of all of the candidates. Do we just need to announce who they are? Nope. They are going to come up and have three to five minutes to introduce themselves and talk a little bit about their plan. Okay. Do you want to start with people that are currently on the board? Do you want to do the order that you know the order? Yes. The first person was Dr. Dennis Garland. Dennis if you come down here please to the microphone that will get
015the screening that's going on. And if you can move that where you need it to please. Hello. I'm Dennis Garland. My wife Krista and I have lived in North Tonawanna with our dogs for 10 years. We're originally from the Central Florida area. I began my career as a middle school special education teacher there and eventually earned my PhD in education from the University of Central Florida. I'm now an associate professor and share of the special education department at Niagara University. I coordinate our partnerships associated with special Olympics coaching and games management course that I teach there. I have served in many leadership capacities and am currently serving on the executive committee of the Niagara University Lay Teachers Association and University Technology Committee. Since Krista and I bought our home in 2015, I've invested energy into
016our community in several ways. I facilitated a grant through Niagara University that helped launch the Little Free Pantry North Tonawanna project in 2018. I've also served on the advisory board for the Salvation Army Tonawanna Corps and currently serve on the North Tonawanna Historic Preservation Commission. I participated in the community build of the accessible playground at Mayor's Park. During 2020, Krista and I coordinated with Western New York Peacemakers, North Tonawanna Police Department, the school district, Niagara, NT Parks and Rec, and Victory Sports Global Outreach to distribute sports equipment to NTPD officers to have in their cars for engaging with kids in order to have positive activities during a stressful summer. We also managed several bins with sports equipment stationed at NT Parks and its Bruce Elementary. Kids in our cities should feel safe and be able
017to have access to fun in our city even during a pandemic. After NTPD provided a community response workshop from live attacker scenarios here in 2020, I asked Lieutenant Nick Iwunike if he would facilitate a professional development for my special education teacher candidates about live attacker preparedness for them as teachers, because everybody goes through it as students when you're in high school and younger. He has since generously provided PD to several cohorts of mine. And I only mention this to emphasize that we have wealth of resources here in North Tonawanna and making the most of our strengths will be critical as we face the financial and structural uncertainty within our educational system and the implications for our district and community. I'm running for school board because as a first generation college graduate, I've experienced the transformative
018power of how an education can facilitate the possibilities of the imagination. My experience has prepared me to do my part in contributing toward making important decisions about providing the most meaningful educational opportunities for our kids in the district, despite financial and uncertain circumstances that affect all of us. I'm grateful for the opportunity to compete to serve as a trustee for North Tonawanna City School District. I will serve with dignity if elected in the best interest of all students and their families who live here. I have a Facebook page, Dennis Garland for NT School District. You can be reached there if you have any questions or look forward to talking to you. Thanks. Thank you. Next will be Mr. James Hutt. Next will be Mrs. Melissa King. It's rare that I have to turn up the
019mic down today. Normally I'm like, cool. Hi, my name is Melissa Kimbrell. I didn't write anything today because I was afraid I'd be so nervous the paper would shake. So I appreciate you listening, being here. I am a current resident of North Tonawanna. I've lived here for seven years and I've really, really enjoyed creating roots in this community. I'm married to a lumberjack alum and I am now the mother of a kindergartner who's over at Spruce Elementary. And I feel very invested in his future and his education. And it's part of the reason that we moved back because we really, my husband had a wonderful experience at North Tonawanna. I'm originally from South Carolina, but I've been working in public health for 15 years, had a variety of journeys through that. And my career has
020led me to some community programming where I've implemented programs, I've evaluated programs. I've handled some pretty crazy budgets, some complex budgets that had a lot of barriers, not dissimilar to some of the things that you're hearing Josh talk about here today. Excuse me, Mr. Janisse talk about here today. And so I'm hoping to leverage some of those experiences that I've had to really work hard for our students, for our school staff and teachers. And, you know, work with the superintendent to make the best student centered decisions we can make for the community. I'd say if I had priorities, one of the top ones would be amplifying community and student voice. That's really important to me. Sometimes students get lost in the mix when these big decisions are made. And I think that they should always
021be centered and, you know, it's a very personal experience for them. The second thing that I would talk about is communication. I think that a lot of times things get siloed and get kind of internal, especially the more complicated the decision is. But I think it's really important for us. And I'm not saying that Tana Wanda has not done a good job of this. I just want to be a part of the team that continues to do a good job with this. But I want to make sure we have as much buy in as possible for the decision making with all the different groups that decisions affect. Right. And making sure they understand why those decisions were made after the fact as well. So that's really important to me. And then, you know, I think
022the last thing that I would want you to know when you think about like who is, you know, when you're looking at this list of people and you don't really know any of their names, I really care. I really care about students. I care about North Tana Wanda. And I think this is going to be a hard gig. I've been serving in a temporary role just since February. All I know is that I have a lot to learn, but I'm here to do it. I'm here to do the hard work. And I promise you that I'll, you know, be there, be reliable and be committed to the task. So again, I'm Melissa. It's truly an honor to be, you know, one of the candidates that you all are considering. And I hope that even if
023you don't vote for me, that you show up and vote because we all need to be a proactive part of our community. So thank you for your time. I did prepare, so you'll probably see a shake because I do get nervous. But I've been serving on the North Tana Wanda School Board for about three years now. I lived in NT for about eight. I have a daughter who is moving on to middle school next year. I'm also a nurse. I've held my nursing license for nine years now. I've worked in a couple different facets. Right now I am a school nurse in Canton. Over the past three years, I've been a strong voice for school safety, which includes increasing our numbers of SROs, fiscal responsibility and social-emotional learning, bringing fresh ideas and a commitment to
024always being available to listen to parents and community members. If you did reach out and made sure your concerns were heard, whether it was bringing it to the board superintendent or admit at the particular school. I've always had the opportunity to grow and learn as a board member by attending two New York State school board conventions and two leadership conferences. And I currently sit on the city school board committee. You've probably seen me at many school events, including the first day of school, invention conventions, trunker treats, concerts, sporting events, celebrating all of our amazing students and staff. If I have the honor of being reelected, I want to focus on elevating the voices that don't feel heard. The last couple months have shown me that there's always room for improvement, especially for that. Hearing the
025parents come and talk to us at the board meeting was emotional, to say the least. So we definitely want to make sure all of our kids are heard. Also, increasing transparency within the community and the board. I think Jeff has done a really great job at keeping all of us up to date on what's going on in the district, as well as all of the parents, but there's always room for improvement on that as well. And then expanding social-emotional learning with a focus on mental health. Mental health has become a huge factor, especially with our students, so we would like to move forward with that and any ideas we will definitely take into consideration. It would be a true privilege to continue serving this incredible community. Thank you for your support, and let's keep working
026together to make our schools the best that they can be. And Mr. Jeff Zellner. Regular board meeting, so I hereby close the budget hearing in the public session at 7.24 to see a motion. From Stephanie and I'll second it. All in favor? Aye. Motion carries. Is there anyone in the public who would like to speak on any issue the board will be voting on tonight? Seeing any, we will jump right into our agenda, which is 9.1. It's recommended the Board of Education approves the agenda order as presented. Are there any additions, solutions, or changes? Now hearing any, I will make the motion to see a second. Second. From Stephanie, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. We will go to 10.20. It's recommended the Board of Education approves the consent agenda as recommended by
027the Superintendent of Schools. Just seeing a motion. Second. From Pete, a second? From Melissa, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Oh, sorry, Chloe. All in favor? Aye. Motion carries. All right. We will jump on down to 12.35. It's recommended the Board of Education approves all personnel items in section 12. I will make the motion to see a second. Second. From Stephanie, all in favor? Aye. Motion carries. All right. 13.1. It's recommended the Board of Education accepts the letter of resignation for the purpose of retirement from Christina Quinn from her position as an English teacher effective at the end of business on June 30th, 2025. Christina has been an employee of the district since 1997. Just seeing a motion. So moved. From Pete, in a second? Second. From Chloe, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion
028carries. We do want to thank Mrs. Quinn for her service of many years to the district. If anyone has anything they want to talk about, this is the time for any school business, if anyone has any comments. If you have a question, you can use the microphone that is up by the stairs here. Seeing any, I will turn it over. Dr. Day, anything from your side you wanted to cover up? Just encourage everyone to exercise your right to vote next week. A lot of great things have been happening around the school district, especially the last couple of weeks we've had our unified basketball games starting and if you've never attended those games, it is such a special experience that everyone really, I would highly encourage you to go. Also, next week we have our May
029mile on May 19th and everyone is welcome to attend that as well. So, a lot of good things happening around the district. Congratulations to the retirement and just make sure you tell people to come out and vote. Yeah, so I'll just say the fact that the board didn't have a lot of questions about the budget, I just want to point out we've been working on the budget for a few months now, so if you have questions you can ask at any point, it doesn't have to be so formal and we're happy to help you work through it because it's a lot and definitely go vote a week from today, the 20th, 11th to 8th at the Fine Arts Center. You have to be at least 18 years old, you actually do not have to be
030registered to vote if you're at least 18 and you've lived in the district for 30 days, so it's a really good opportunity for this to be your first voting experience maybe, if you talk about this with your friends and you know, you guys could grab a coffee and go vote, it can be very, you know, I'm serious though, and it doesn't matter who you vote for, just come out and... It's hard to follow that up, but I, sort of like not related to the school, but sort of, I live not far, I live actually right behind the school, and I just want to say I saw the Stallions game the other day, so I happened to like come in to my house at like halftime and I was very confused about the large crowd that
031was out there for like the little tiny children that were playing, and then I realized that they had just invited like a local like sports camp to like play during halftime, but the crowd was really excited, it seemed like a really great game, and so I'm just glad that that's something that North Carolina has now, that it's something that the school agreed to host, and if you have the opportunity to go to the games, they, like I said, they look really fun, and you get to see little kids play soccer during halftime, it's very cute. Yeah, if you're coming out, make sure you come out to vote, like everybody said, and we'll rehash that. There is a concert that night, so if you time it right, you can come in and listen to some great
032music from our students, and while exercising, you can write the vote, so I encourage everybody to do so. Awesome. Yeah, and from my side, I just wanted to thank the Remember Ryan Foundation, Dr. George, his team for their wonderful donations to our fine arts program, I thought that was really nice to see, and he always goes above and beyond for us. So with no further visits coming for the Board of Education, just seeing a motion to adjourn at 729. So moved. Stephanie and I'll second that, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Motion carries. And for anyone that needs their sheet signed, we can meet you at the end of the stairs there to sign your sheets. Thank you, everyone.