www.taconichills.k12.ny.us MAY 2019 INSIDE THIS ISSUE: } Second Annual Success Fest } STEAM to STREAM Lab } Capital Improvement Update Budget Plan Maintains and Improves Programs and Services TACONIC HILLS CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT On Tuesday, May 21, voters in the Tac- onic Hills Central School District will vote on a proposed budget for the 2019-2020 school year, as well as one other proposi- tion and the Board of Education election. The $38,112,618 proposed budget was developed through a process of cooper- ation and collaboration by the Board of Education and the District’s administra- tion. The primary goals of the proposed budget are to strengthen academic pro- grams by maintaining small class sizes and include initiatives that support teach- ing and learning. The proposed budget is a decrease of 1.62% over last year’s budget rep- resented by the removal of prior year, one-time spending initiatives, as well as savings in the areas of special education programming and personnel costs due to retirements. Increases in the budget reflect con- tractual payroll and health insurance costs, one-time spending initiatives, and increases in facility maintenance costs due to aging mechanical systems that will be replaced during the voter-approved capital project over the next two years. The proposed budget maintains funding for full-day Pre-Kindergarten, a full-time School Resource Deputy pro- vided by the Columbia County Sheriff’s Department, replacement of Elementary Cafeteria and other classroom furniture, a new reading series for students and teachers in grades 3 & 4, acoustical shells for the music department, and con- tinued upgrades to the 1:1 Instructional Technology program, providing technol- ogy devices for all students in grades 1-12. The district is also implementing a Career and College Readiness platform which will help our district align student strengths and interests to postsecondary goals, improving student outcomes and connecting learning to life. The Board of Education is pleased to present the spending proposal contained on the following pages for your consid- eration. The school district budget vote will be held on May 21st from Noon to 9:00 p.m. in the Veterans Community Room at Taconic Hills. We encourage everyone to vote. — Sincerely, Dr. Neil L. Howard, Jr., Superintendent of Schools 2019–2020 BUDGET SUMMARY Proposed Budget: $38,112,618 Budget-to-Budget Decrease: $626,773 Estimated Tax Levy Increase: 3.31% (Meets NYS Tax Limit) School Board Election Voters will also be asked to elect three candidates to the Board of Education. (Two 5-year terms, & one 2-year unexpired term) Linda L. Lee, Lynn Brandt, Craig Bender, Joseph Costa, Nadine Gazzola VOTE Tuesday May 21, 2019 Noon – 9 p.m. Taconic Hills Veterans Community Room Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ TaconicHillsCSD www.taconichills.k12.ny.us Winners of the 7th grade Science Fair. Top entries competed in the Twin County Science Fair Expo.
Transcript
www.taconichills.k12.ny.us MAY 2019
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:} Second Annual Success Fest} STEAM to STREAM Lab} Capital Improvement Update
Budget Plan Maintains and Improves Programs and Services
T A C O N I C H I L L S C E N T R A L S C H O O L D I S T R I C T
On Tuesday, May 21, voters in the Tac-onic Hills Central School District will vote on a proposed budget for the 2019-2020 school year, as well as one other proposi-tion and the Board of Education election.
The $38,112,618 proposed budget was developed through a process of cooper-ation and collaboration by the Board of Education and the District’s administra-tion. The primary goals of the proposed budget are to strengthen academic pro-grams by maintaining small class sizes and include initiatives that support teach-ing and learning.
The proposed budget is a decrease of 1.62% over last year’s budget rep-resented by the removal of prior year, one-time spending initiatives, as well as savings in the areas of special education programming and personnel costs due to retirements.
Increases in the budget reflect con-tractual payroll and health insurance costs, one-time spending initiatives, and increases in facility maintenance costs due to aging mechanical systems that will be replaced during the voter-approved capital project over the next two years.
The proposed budget maintains funding for full-day Pre-Kindergarten, a full-time School Resource Deputy pro-vided by the Columbia County Sheriff’s Department, replacement of Elementary Cafeteria and other classroom furniture, a new reading series for students and teachers in grades 3 & 4, acoustical shells for the music department, and con-tinued upgrades to the 1:1 Instructional Technology program, providing technol-ogy devices for all students in grades 1-12. The district is also implementing a Career and College Readiness platform which will help our district align student strengths and interests to postsecondary goals, improving student outcomes and connecting learning to life.
The Board of Education is pleased to present the spending proposal contained on the following pages for your consid-eration. The school district budget vote will be held on May 21st from Noon to 9:00 p.m. in the Veterans Community Room at Taconic Hills. We encourage everyone to vote.
— Sincerely, Dr. Neil L. Howard, Jr., Superintendent of Schools
2019–2020BUDGET SUMMARY
Proposed Budget:$38,112,618
Budget-to-Budget Decrease:$626,773
Estimated Tax Levy Increase: 3.31%
(Meets NYS Tax Limit)
School Board ElectionVoters will also be asked to elect three candidates to the Board of Education.
(Two 5-year terms, & one 2-year unexpired term)Linda L. Lee, Lynn Brandt, Craig Bender, Joseph Costa, Nadine Gazzola
VOTETuesday
May 21, 2019Noon – 9 p.m.
Taconic Hills Veterans Community Room
Follow us on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/TaconicHillsCSD
www.taconichills.k12.ny.us Winners of the 7th grade Science Fair. Top entries competed in the Twin County Science Fair Expo.
TACONIC HILLS CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT
Second Annual Success FestThe Second Annual Success Fest was held on Saturday,
March 9 with 160 students, parents, teachers, adminis-trators, board members and community members partic-ipating in activities, workshops, breakfast, lunch and student performances. The day provided opportunities for all ages includ-ing cooking classes, what you need to know as a parent of an athlete participating in school sports, use of therapy dogs in school, how to access and use the parent portal, K9 State Police bomb disposal dog, Zumba classes, animation, cyber safety, show dogs and preparations prior to showtime, escape room, how to make slime, a Girl Scout sampler and how to navigate the world after High School. Guests were also treated to rehearsals of the musical performance “Bye Bye Birdie”.
Especially rewarding were the student led workshops including Michael Banyard explaining how to train a hunt-ing dog, Jack Hilliard and Ella Yang informing homeown-ers on what invasive plant species they will find on their properties and how to handle them, and Hunter Gardner leading workshops on flower arranging.
The main hallway was filled with presentations from community organizations and local businesses that ben-efit our community. Food was provided throughout the
day cooked by our amazing food services crew.
Success Fest provided two cooking classes for students and parents; one led by Chef Polenz, an instructor at the CIA and the other by the Sylvia Learn-ing Center, who has come into the school providing cooking classes for both fourth and first grade students. Many teachers and board members led work-shops with everyone enjoying hands-on activities.
Several students were mem-bers of the committee and pro-vided excellent ideas and insight on how to have the event move smoothly. Members of National Honor Society and Key Club vol-
unteered the day of the event to assist guests and partic-ipants. Plans are underway for the Third Annual Success Fest to be held on Saturday March 14, 2020. Circle the date on your calendar so you won’t miss this great opportunity to participate together as a family and community.
—Jane Case, Family School Liaison
Taconic Hills is pleased to announce our eligibility for a new meal program. CEP, or the Community Eligibility Program is a non-pricing meal service option for schools and school districts in low-income areas. CEP allows the
nation’s highest poverty schools and districts to serve breakfast and lunch at no cost to all enrolled students.
All students will be eligible to receive a healthy break-fast and lunch at school at no charge to your household regardless of income. A Household Income Eligibility Form is requested to be used for reporting purposes and to deter-mine if the district and/or your child(ren) may be eligible to receive additional funding as part of federal programs.
The CEP program will allow access to free nutritious meals for all students.
Students receiving free breakfast/lunch through CEP will not need additional funds deposited to MySchool-Bucks, however individual student accounts will continue to be maintained allowing parents/guardians to prepay for additional breakfast/lunch purchases such as à la carte items, milk, ice cream, extra snacks, a second meal, etc.
We will provide more information to parents and the community as the next school year gets closer.
New Program Provides Free Meals for All Students
FREE BREAKFAST AND LUNCH FOR ALL STUDENTS
Beginning in 2019-20 School Year
Qualifying meals MUST have at least 3 items including a fruit or veggie
1 in 5 children live in households that do not have enough nutritionally adequate food
THREE-PART BUDGETBy law, school districts must divide their budget into three components - Adminis-trative, Program and Capital. Taconic Hills Central School District’s three-part budget breakdown is as follows:
Administrative 2018-2019 2019-2020Amount $2,635,073 $2,518,662% of total 6.80% 6.61%
Administrative costs include the salaries and benefits of administrators, supervisors and clerical staff; public information and print-ing, insurance, legal, auditing, management software, and Board of Education expenses.
Program 2018-2019 2019-2020Amount $29,242,875 $29,086,470% of total 75.49% 76.32%
Program costs include salaries and benefits of all teachers and staff delivering instruc-tional services including special education, intervention, library, counseling, health, social work, speech therapy, technology, and athletics; textbooks, supplies and mate-rials, equipment, extra-curricular activities, BOCES programming, transportation, and support for the Community Eligibility Pro-gram to fund meals for all students.
Capital 2018-2019 2019-2020Amount $6,861,444 $6,507,486% of total 17.71% 17.07%
Capital costs include salaries and benefits of maintenance and custodial staff, operations and maintenance activities, utilities, facili-ties materials and supplies, debt service, real property tax refunds, and the transfer of money to the Capital Fund for the purchase of two (2) new buses.
Grand Totals $38,739,392 $38,112,618 $(626,774) -1.62%
EXPENSES:How is money spent at Taconic Hills?
REVENUES:
Tax Levy65%
NYS Aid 33%
Other Revenues 2%
Program Expenses 76.32%
Capital Expenses 17.07%
Administrative Expenses 6.61%
EXPENSES:
Instruction 47%
Employee Benefits 25.65%
General Support
12%
Transportation 8%
Debt Service 6%
Interfund Transfers 1%
Community Services .35%
TACONIC HILLS CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET NOTICE
STEAM to STREAM LabThe STEAM lab started the year with Science, Technology, Engineering, Art
and Math. Recently, a new letter was added to the title Research. Research has always been a part of what we do, but it is a reminder that it is the foundation of Science and Engineering.
What is STREAM? The lab services students in grades K-6. The STREAM Lab provides hands on, problem and inquiry based learning for students. The stu-dents have the opportunity to solve problems, take risks, apply critical thinking and innovate while exploring concepts in Science, Math and Engineering. The motto of the STREAM lab is “I CAN”.
In the lab students design, create, study and build things. Students work independently, in pairs and as a group. The key is to learn by doing. The lab services about 100 to 140 students a day. In STREAM students experience firsthand skills that apply to different careers. For example, students are introduced to a CPR class, design solutions to problems, work with science, engineering and math tools, and apply the engineering design process and scientific method. Students learn about concepts with hands-on experiences.
I have learned that students will amaze us with their ability to solve problems and apply critical thinking at an early age. This current kindergarten has designed boats, tested animal adaptations in cold weather, built structures, learned how to use multiple science tools, and applied the scientific method. The proper use of microscopes has been successfully implemented with students as young as the second grade.
Stem, Steam and Stream labs started as a maker’s lab. There is famous quote by Arthur O’Shaughnessy. “We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of tomorrow.” In the lab, we are the makers, we are the creators of tomorrow.
— Sharon Foster, Taconic Hills Elementary Teacher
Capital Improvement Project UpdateOn May 15, 2018 the voters of the Taconic Hills Central
School District voted yes on proposition 3 which encom-passes a $11,542,917 capital improvement project. The scope of this project includes tennis court reconstruction, parking and driveway improvements, site accessibility upgrades, flooring replacements throughout the facility, a greenhouse addition, and heating ventilation and cooling upgrades. The project will have a zero local tax impact after New York State building aid and utilization of capital and cash reserves.
Capital projects are like home improvements for schools. New York State law requires school districts to inspect district property and facilities regularly. The District works with an architect to maintain a five-year capital improve-ment plan. The items in this plan are then analyzed by the District and the architect. Some issues require immediate attention, while other repairs and upgrades can be spread out over time. Capital projects are done in much the same way a homeowner utilizes savings and obtains an improve-ment loan to fund major repairs. The main advantage to utilizing the capital project approach to construction versus including these improvement items in the annual budget is the District receives 41.6 cents back on every dollar spent on a capital project. Without the reimbursement from NY State, the entire cost would rest with taxpayers.
The capital project will commence in the summer of 2019. A majority of the site work will be addressed in this
timeframe such as tennis court reconstruction, the foun-dation for the greenhouse addition, playground asphalt repairs, and parking lot asphalt replacement or repairs. At the same time we will also address the heating ventilation and cooling work on the elementary side of the building while simultaneously working on the flooring on the high school side of the building. Utilizing this strategy we will minimize work space scheduling conflicts. In the summer of 2020 the contractors will switch their work areas to address heating ventilation and cooling work and flooring work on the opposite sides of the building.
The HVAC upgrades will bring air conditioning to the entire building to facilitate a more comfortable learning environment for our students. This work also requires replacement of the existing chiller plant, which has reached the end of its useful life-cycle. The new plant will have an increased capacity to handle the additional cooling demand in the building. We will also be installing a new energy efficient condensing boiler unit to handle the heat-ing demand in the spring and fall.
We are very excited about the improvements that we will be making to the campus and facility. It is important to note that while work is being done on the campus at certain times areas may be unavailable for functions. Please bear with us and pardon the appearance while we make these important facilities upgrades.
What You’ll Vote OnPROPOSITION #1 – Adoption of the 2019-2020 BudgetShall the Board of Education of the Taconic Hills Central School District be authorized to expend the sums set forth in the budget, for the 2019-2020 school year, in the amount of $38,112,618 and to levy the necessary tax therefore?
PROPOSITION #2 – Board Member Election(Two 5-year terms, & one 2-year unexpired term)Linda L. Lee, Lynn Brandt, Craig Bender, Joseph Costa, Nadine Gazzola
PROPOSITION #3 – Purchase of School BusesShall the Board of Education be authorized to: (a) acquire two (2) buses at a maximum aggregate cost of $250,000; (b) expend such sums for such purpose from unallocated fund balance; and (c) levy the necessary tax therefore, to be levied and collected in such amounts as may be determined by the Board of Education taking into account state aid received?
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERSEligible voters in the Towns of Copake and Hillsdale, the Village of Philmont, and parts of the Towns of Ancram, Austerlitz, Claverack, Gallatin, Ghent, Livingston, Tagh-kanic, and Northeast (Dutchess County) will be permitted to vote on the propositions.
QUALIFIED VOTERS• A citizen of the United States• At least eighteen (18) years of age• A resident of the District for a period of at least
thirty (30) days prior to the day of the vote
VOTETuesday
May 21, 2019Noon – 9 p.m.
Taconic Hills Veterans Community Room
View Budget information online at www.taconichills.k12.ny.us. Or call (518) 325-2810 for more information.
TH Students participated in Battle of the Belts at Sean’s Run in Chatham.
