2007-08 Budget
Thank you for
your support!
Voters
approve school district budget
Port Jervis
residents approved the proposed 2007-08 budget of $54,010,666
on May 15. The official tally was 889 yes votes to
746 no votes.
The spending plan will raise taxes by 3.9
percent – the lowest tax increase in eight years.
The budget represents a 7.91 percent increase over this year’s
operating budget. “The administration and school board worked
very hard to keep costs down,” says Superintendent John Xanthis.
“Throughout the budget process, we kept two primary goals in
mind - to limit spending and to make improvements that are
needed to address program deficiencies at all schools.”
“A combination of grants and the governor’s new Foundation
Aid is available to help us reach these goals,” Xanthis
noted. “Our plan will allow us to move the district
forward next year in a way that will enable us to meet all of our
students’ needs – kindergarten through grade 12.”
New program initiatives will include more High School
electives, balanced class sizes at the district’s two elementary
schools; adoption of new math textbooks for students in
kindergarten to grade 6; new computers; restoration of the Anna
S. Kuhl (ASK) Elementary School Library; and the expansion of
evening High School education classes.
The budget also addresses staffing needs. “To help our
students meet the challenges of today’s graduation requirements,
we need to enhance the High School program by adding more
elective choices and providing students with more opportunities
to complete mandatory course requirements,” says Xanthis. This
will be accomplished by adding two new high school teachers.
Additionally, the district will hire a new computer technician,
a school resource officer at the High School, and two elementary
teachers. “A careful review of our elementary schools clearly
shows the need to increase the number of classrooms at ASK
Elementary School,” notes Xanthis. ”This would allow us to
keep the classroom size at both elementary schools to an average
of 21 students.”
A public budget hearing was held on Tuesday,
May 1, at the Port Jervis High School cafeteria. In addition
to the public hearing, the district held a
series of community
presentations to provide residents with detailed information
on the
educational and economic impacts of the proposed
spending plan.
View
presentation schedule
Inside the voting booth
On Tuesday, May 15, district residents voted on five separate
ballot items. The results were as follows:
-
Board of Education
-
Three Board of Education candidates were elected to serve for
three-year terms, starting July 1, 2007, to succeed Steve
Banks, Anne Horsham, and Flo Santini. Incumbents
Anne Horsham and Steve Banks were re-elected and Patrick Witherow was elected to serve
three-year terms.
The Board vote tallies
were as follows:
Anne Horsham - 976
Steve Banks - 903
Patrick Witherow - 763
Lynn Marshall - 714
Nicola Jones -574
Paul Kramer - 378
Three of the propositions on the ballot
passed:
-
Sale of the
Sullivan Avenue Elementary School
- Residents overwhelmingly approved the sale of the Sullivan Avenue
Elementary School for the sum of one dollar and the
consideration that the premises (land and property) will be
refurbished for its continued use as an educational,
charitable, and/or public facility.
Official tally: 1,081
yes; 575 no
Easter Seals
will now spend an estimated $1.5
million dollars to renovate the facility to expand
its Project Discovery Preschool Program. As a result, the district
will no longer have to spend
money every year to maintain the 88-year-old building, which
it was forced to close in 2004 due to structural weaknesses.
And, by expanding the
preschool program, educational services will now be provided to an
additional 70 students at no cost to the district.
-
Removal of fuel
storage tanks at the Route 209 complex
-
Voters also approved the proposition to remove the fuel tanks at the Bus Garage and construct a
fuel island including necessary site work and acquisition of
furnishing, equipment, and machinery to implement the
project at the maximum cost of $645,000.
Official tally: 1,028 yes; 619 no
The Department of Environmental
Conservation (DEC) is requiring the district to remove and
replace the fuel tanks at the Bus Garage. Eighty-five
percent of the project costs are state aided. The resulting
projected annual local share is $13,000 a year for 15 years.
One proposition was defeated:
-
Purchase of six
school buses and vehicles -
Voters did not approved the the proposition to purchase two
65-passenger buses, two 27-passenger wheelchair buses, and
two suburbans at a maximum cost of $446,700.
Official tally: 767 yes; 890 no
Voters asked to take part in exit poll
A voluntary exit poll
of voters was conducted at polling locations throughout the
day on May 15. A short questionnaire was handed out to
voters. All survey results will be anonymous: no names were asked or attached to voters' written responses.
The purpose of the exit poll is to gather feedback from voters
and to gain insight into what residents think about their
schools and the budget. This feedback will be used by the Board
of Education and administration to make future decisions.
View the budget presentation schedule
Click here for
a glossary of budget terms
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