May 23, 2005

The Board of Education received a copy of the analysis of the Exit Survey results from the May 17 vote. A total of 467 community members - 16.1% of those who voted - completed a survey.
The results are available here.

May 17, 2005

May 5, 2005
More than 8,000 district newsletters were mailed to members of the community. A link to the newsletter and a pdf download of it is here.

May 4, 2005

A public hearing on the $40,059,876 proposed budget for the 2005-06 school year will be held at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 4, at the Middle School. The budget would increase taxes by an estimated 5.95% before savings from the state's STAR program.
The hearing will be followed at 7:30 p.m. by the annual PTA Council's Meet the Candidate's Forum for the four candidates seeking three seats on the Board of Education. The candidates for the three-year unpaid terms are: Kurt Ahnert, Pamela Carbone, Benjamin Conlon and Jerry Moore.
The community vote on the budget and candidates for the Board of Education will be held from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, May 17, at the Senior High School gymnasium.

The Daily Gazette article from Wednesday's Community Forum and Budget Hearing

April 18, 2005

Four candidates filed petitions to seek three, three-year terms on the Board of Education. They are Kurt Ahnert, Pamela Carbone, Benjamin Conlon and Jerry Moore. Here is the press release that was sent to the newspapers.

April 13, 2005

The Board of Education adopted a final budget of $40,059,876, a 7.25% spending increase over this year's budget. The estimated tax increase would be 5.95% or about $164 for the typical Scotia-Glenville home with a $100,000 assessment before reductions from the STAR program.

The approved budget adds a teaching position at Glendaal to keep class sizes small in grade 1 and restores $15,000 in funding for interscholastic athletics to allow for non-league games and scrimmages. That money was cut two years ago. The Sports Boosters had raised the money over the past two years to keep that part of the athletics program in place.

More information aobut the budget will be mailed to the community in the coming weeks.

April 11, 2005

The Board of Education will meet on Wednesday, April 13, to finalize the 2005-06 budget. As it now stands, the spending plan totals $ 40,059,876, a 7.25% increase over this year's $37,348,832.

Taxes would rise by an estimated 5.95% or $164 per year or $13.67 per month for a home assessed at $100,000 before reductions for STAR.

The regular STAR savings would be a reduction of about $49 from that increase and the Enhanced STAR savings would mean a reduction of $82 from that increase. Both estimates are before changes in equalizations rates. Those are not known until August and may change these amounts.

Download the Microsoft Powerpoint presentation of the Preliminary Budget from the Community Budget Forum

Budget down to the wire
Daily Gazette article

March 29, 2005
Computer and technology costs to be included in budget
Daily Gazette article

March 22, 2005
Board of Education members debate costs in budget Daily Gazette article

March 7, 2005
Preliminary budget presentation

School budgets squeezed by higher costs for state-mandated pensions, health insurance and fuel/utilities

Like other school districts across the state, Scotia-Glenville’s 2005-06 budget is being squeezed by new accounting rules and higher rates for the New York State Teacher Retirement System, higher health insurance costs and skyrocketing costs for fuel and utilities.

Superintendent Michael J. Marcelle presented a preliminary 2005-06 budget totaling $39,999,651 to the Board of Education on March 7. That is a 7.1 percent or $2.65 million increase over the current budget of $37,348,832.
Here is the presentation in Microsoft Powerpoint.

He also proposed a $295,000 proposition to purchase equipment for the fine arts, physical education/athletics and computer technology department. That would be paid over five years.

If no additional state aid were received and the budget were unchanged, tax rates would rise by 8 to 9 percent.

• An estimated $1.15 million of the proposed spending increase is for employee benefits such as health and dental insurance (which are partially paid by employees). The bulk of that increase, $945,000, will go for higher, mandatory payments to the Teacher Retirement System (employees with fewer than 10 years contribute as well). Because the TRS has earned less than projected in the stock market and other investments, rates are being increased for all school districts. Without the higher contribution to TRS, the estimated tax rate increase for 2005-06 would be cut in half.
An accounting change and higher TRS rates are also requiring the district to record a one-time $900,000 adjustment from this year’s budget to the TRS system.
As you would expect, the largest increase in the preliminary budget is for instructional costs, $1.36 million. That includes two new special education classes, one in grades K-1 and one in grade 7, that will decrease costs by keeping children at Scotia-Glenville instead of sending them to programs elsewhere. That figure also includes:

• expanded reading services for students at the Middle School and Sacandaga Elementary and additional speech services for students at Glendaal and Lincoln elementary schools;
• additional teachers (1.4 full time) to bring down class sizes in grades 9-12;
• expanded alternative education programs for students in grades 6-12.

Here is the long-range plan developed by administrators. This file is in Microsoft Powerpoint.

• Here is a link to information about the 2004-05 budget process and adoption by the community in May 2005
  
• Here is a link to information about the 2003-04 budget process and adoption by the community in 2003.