As voters in the Roslyn School District were set to go to the polls on May 19, the Roslyn Board of Education had their final budget hearing on Thursday, May 7. The meeting was an overview of every aspect of the budget process.
The final 2015–16 proposed budget number is $103,851,841, which is a budget-to-budget increase of 1.09 percent over the previous year.
“It is the seventh consecutive year that Roslyn’s budget has been well below the state target, which is three years longer than the budget cap has been required by law,” said Superintendent Dr. Dan Brenner.
The tax levy will rise .93 percent to a proposed figure of $92,481,169, which is well within the limit mandated by New York State. No staff or program reductions in the budget and new curriculum initiatives in the areas of literacy, technology and engineering are being proposed as a result of low-budget numbers.
Approximately $2 million remains in the Capital Reserve fund, which was established by voters in 2011. The district is entitled to $1.3 million to spend for the purpose of completing capital-improvement projects. These projects include a needed renovation of the parking lot and athletic fields at East Hills Elementary School. This project is a result of the termination of the district’s lease of the Roslyn Annex at the end of the school year. It would accommodate additional field and parking space for both Roslyn High School and East Hills School.
Program initiatives that were highlighted in the 2014–15 school year include the introduction of iPads to elementary school students, the Gateway to Technology engineering curriculum sequence that was introduced to middle and high school students and Roslyn’s second Challenge Day. The Challenge Day is a daylong program that is designed to build a sense of school community and is an extension of the district’s commitment to social and emotional learning.
Next week’s issue of The Roslyn News will have extensive coverage of the May 19 vote.
