TIMES
SOUTHERN
ULSTER
Vol. 13, No 16
3
APRIL 20 - 26, 2016
At a special budget meeting of the
Highland School Board last week,
teachers, counselors and school specialists
asked the board to fully fund the courses
and electives in the 2016-17 budget.
They indicated that the wide variety of
courses that Highland now provides gives
students a strong background and equips
them with the essential tools they need to
be successful in their academic life. The
board approved a budget of $41,719,868
for the 2016-17 school year with board
member Sue Gilmore the sole no vote.
ONE DOLLAR
Alice@
Wonderland
Page 25
HIGHLAND, MARLBOROUGH & PLATTEKILL
Highland pierces tax cap
By MARK REYNOLDS
[email protected]
3
This budget represents a 2.83% increase
from the current school year and has a
tax levy of 1.98%, which pierces the tax
cap. For the budget to pass, a minimum of
60% of the residents must vote to approve
it.
Continued on page 4
They’re all together ooky!
Marlboro
board set
to adopt
budget
By MARK REYNOLDS
[email protected]
Emma Friedrich
Morticia (Ciara Clark) and Alice Beineke (Megan Jeter) try to bond in the Wallkill Senior High School Production of “The Addams Family,” which
hits the stage this weekend. Story, photos on pages 30-31.
WWW.SOUTHERNULSTERTIMES.COM
On Thursday, April 21 the Marlboro
school board is set to vote on the 201617 school budget of $53,661,131 with an
accompanying tax levy of $34,225,463.
Though this is a budget-to-budget increase
of 2.85%, there is an actual decrease in the
tax levy of -0.11% because the district
is proposing to tax $37,506 less than this
year. This is the second consecutive levy
reduction for taxpayers.
Superintendent Michael Brooks said
when building next year’s budget the
main focus was to ensure support for
academic performance and program
growth while also promoting short and
long-term economic stability.
Brooks said the proposed budget
includes the addition of three fulltime teachers in Skills, Grade 5 and
a Technology Specialist each earning
$100,000 and a half-time Spanish teacher
for $70,000. The budget also includes
more than $60,000 for a late bus run,
additional student clubs, lacrosse support,
a K-5 Special Education Coordinator,
a 6-8 Special Education Department
chairperson, a K-12 Art Coordinator; a
K-12 Music Coordinator and a Foreign
Language Chairperson.
Continued on page 5