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RFH 2010, News

School Board Discusses Arts; Gets First Look at Preliminary Budget

Wed, Feb 24, 2010

The HCS Board of Education got its first look at the first draft of a preliminary 2010/2011 budget Tuesday night, and learned it contains a modest 1.45 percent increase in expenditures over the current spending plan and a 4.97 percent increase in the tax levy. The current budget is $11,276,499.

The board discussed a variety of budget issues Tuesday, and in a public discussion before the meeting gave district residents an opportunity to ask questions and make suggestions about spending on the arts. About 25 people attended the discussion of the arts, many of whom agreed to create an organization to support and raise funds to support HCS music, theater and art programs.

District Superintendent Dr. Diana Bowers and Business Manager Matt Crumb emphasized that the budget process will be unusually difficult the next two years because of state aid cuts forced by Albany's $2 billion deficit. Both stressed the need to find unique strategies to reduce spending without diminishing the education district students receive.

Crumb said that while budget work is still in an early stage, he expects the district will be able to eliminate one bus run. The district makes transportation service available to every child in the district. However, by state law, it need only provide bus service to kindergarten through eighth grade students who live more than two miles from the school and ninth through 12th graders if they live three miles or more from the school.

However, Crumb and Bowers said the district is not considering cutting back service to those distances. Instead, they are looking at pushing the busing boundaries to one-third or one-half mile.

Bowers told the board and the residents attending the meeting that the only personnel cuts are the positions of a teacher and an administrator who have already left the district and two teachers who will retire at the end of this school year. These positions will not be refilled.

Crumb said the district will benefit from having locked in a price for fuel oil for the coming year. The contract was awarded to Paul Oil.

The next budget discussion will be March 8. During the session that begins at 5 p.m. and continues through the evening, departments will present their budget requests.

The budget issue of considerable concern to the people who attended a special meeting Tuesday was spending on the arts. Many questions were asked about possible faculty cuts (there will be none this budget year, said Bowers) and spending on arts courses compared to the budgets of extra-curricular programs, especially sports.

Donna Moren, a secondary school English teacher, is also the faculty adviser and director for the fall drama and the spring musical, currently in rehearsals. She said the drama program has become self-sufficient and that last fall's presentation, "Harvey", actually made a modest amount of money.

Moren said she has a variety of volunteers who help reduce the costs of staging performances such as this spring's "Into the Woods". She said HCS is able to borrow costumes and set pieces instead of rent them, saving money. Moren said the theater program also does fund-raising of its own.

The topic of "pay to play" was discussed at length Tuesday. Bowers explained that parents of hockey players this year were asked to contribute to the cost of ice time for the sport. In response to a question, she said that while the district, by state law, cannot require students to pay for private musical lessons, the district can accept donations.

During the meeting it was discussed that the number of private lessons might be reduced.

By the end of the meeting there was significant support for forming an organization - like the Sports Boosters -- to help raise funds for and support the arts at HCS.    

Also on Tuesday, the board:

+ learned it will be losing the services of the school resource officer provided by the State Police; the governor had eliminated that program to save money;

+ was told the village's Municipal Utility will be providing a wind turbine that will generate power for the school and also be used as part of a new course on renewable energy and conservation;

+ agreed to approve non-resident tuition rates for 2010/2011 at its April meeting; the current rate is $2,550;

+ announced it was considering five new elective course offerings that include

-          digital art

-          digital media in society

-          science research

-          music keyboard and guitar instruction

-          and renewable energy and conservation and environmental technology.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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