School budgeting continues at 7 tonight
The Board of Education will begin a fine-tooth comb examination of Superintendent Leonard Skuggevik’s $11.3 million budget proposal tonight at 7 in the school boardroom.The aim is to determine if there are any places the spending plan could be cut further while assuring there is sufficient money allocated to keep educational programs afloat.
Board members have raised questions in the budget sessions to date, but want to spend two to three more sessions with the superintendent to assure the budget is as tight as reasonably possible.
They’re still awaiting word on state aid they had hoped would be public by now.
As of last week, with the state budget settled and more money allocated to education than Governor Andrew Cuomo had requested in his initial proposal, Mr. Skuggevik said he estimated the district would see between $100,000 and $150,000 more than it received in the current year’s budget.
But in his revenue estimates, he stayed with last year’s number of $590,000. Superintendents traditionally do that to remain prudent until they have actual numbers to insert into their budgets.
In addition to tonight’s meeting, the Board of Education has slated another meeting next Monday, April 13, at 7 p.m. to continue the budget review and tentatively plan to hold still another meeting on Wednesday, April 15, if it’s needed.
The Board of Education needs to adopt a budget at its April 22 meeting to submit to voters at the polls on May 19.
With two incumbent Board members — Dr. Stephen Gessner and Marilynn Pysher — opting not to seek another term, there are two seats on the seven-member Board up for grabs.
Candidate petitions are available on the school website and at the school and must be submitted by 5 p.m. April 20. Candidates must have their petitions signed by at least 25 qualified voters.
