School budget vote, trustee election set for May 16th

From page 1 get for the 2023/24 school year totals $130,282,491. That’s a budget-to-budget increase of 4.58%, or $5,703,042. It falls within the allowable tax cap levy of 2.32%. The budget is categorized by capital (13.43%), administrative (11.38%) and program (or instructional) costs (75.19%).

According to the district, the budget was designed was intended to align with the district’s goals, respect that property taxes from individual homeowners remain the major source of revenue for the budget, utilize district reserves, utilize enrollment-driven criteria to analyze staffing needs and promote transparency and long-term district fiscal health.

What’s driving the budget most for next year? For the Garden City school district, that would be salaries and benefits, state and federal mandate, enrollment and class sizes, school security and safety, cyber security, cleaning and maintenance, the tax levy and state aid.

The District has dedicated a landing page of its website (Board of Education Budget Information) to serve as a resource for all community members ahead of the vote. There you can find all prior budget presentations, spending priorities categorized by building, fact sheets, newsletters, FAQs and more.

What if the Budget Fails?

If the budget fails to earn community approval at next week’s vote, the Board has three choices: to present the same proposal for a revote, present a modified proposal for a vote or adopt a contingency budget.

The contingency budget is reduced by more than $4,000,000. Since the tax levy cannot be greater than the prior year actual tax levy, no increase in the tax levy is allowed. All non-contingent items of expenditure must be removed from a contingency budget; the BOE determines which items fall under “ordinary contingent expenses.”

All contractual and debt service obligations for 2023-24 would remain in effect.

The Vacant Trustee Seat

Also on the ballot, voters will have the opportunity to elect one member to the Board of Education. Since no residents returned petitions signaling their intent to run for the Board this year, the individual elected to the Board will be determined by write-in ballot.

Vice President Tom Pinou added, “Anyone can serve who wants to serve. They’ll just have to write their name in on election day.”

One declared candidate is Liz Gaffney, who is running as a write in. She is a mother of three children enrolled in GC schools, and a graduate of Columbia University and Notre Dame Law School. As a former college soccer player, Liz’s goals are to enable the students of Garden City School District to compete at the highest levels both in the classroom and on the athletic fields.

Community Concerns

A parent from Sunset Lane asked about the writing program. “I was going through the writing portion of the budget. I noticed strengths were categorized at 50%. Anything below is considered an area for growth. That’s a low bar. And I don’t know if anyone’s read the New York Times lately but the state has banned many of the programs we still have listed, like Teachers College and affiliated people. I’m not seeing how we’re shifting to improve.”

“We’ve had some workshops on writing in the past few weeks with the full team,” Sileo replied. “It’s still evolving, the goal is a September rollout and we’re making progress towards that, but a lot of work needs to be done. All those questions are being raised and addressed by the people here tonight and it’s a goal of ours. We want to make the goal higher than 50%.”

“Another thing,” they continued, “I don’t think my son in 7th grade has read a single book this year.” Administrators requested she clarify that on the classroom teacher level as it’s most likely a miscommunication.

A community member from Cherry Valley Avenue requested that the Board “be creative and think about ways to reduce the rate of health care.”

President Sileo responded. “In our discussions, both in public and other forums, we discuss this in great detail. Many issues are not specific to Garden City or school districts, but we are doing our best to be creative under limitations.”

Vice President Tom Pinou added, “We’d love it if you’d volunteer on our audit committee. Meetings are conducted with internal and external auditors. Please send an email to the Board and we’ll send over that information.”

How To Vote on May 16

The election will take place on Tuesday May 16 from 6 a.m. until 9 p.m. at the Garden City High School gym. The Board of Education will be holding its next meeting at the same building on the same night beginning at 8:15 p.m.