The Clarkstown Board of Education passed the proposed 2013-2014 by a unanimous vote on Tuesday night. The proposed spending plan totals $195,142,980. The proposed tax levy increases 2.9 percent over the current tax levy. The increase is less than the allowed tax cap levy cap permitted by the state.
The district is receiving about $800,000 more in state aid than originally expected due to the state legislature restoring funds. It will need to use approximately $11 to $12 million from its reserve funds to close the budget gap.
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The budget includes about $600,000 for security and safety projects and $1 million of reserve funds to start the process of roof replacements.
If voters pass the proposed budget on Tuesday, May 21 Clarkstown may be sending its $600,000 worth of safety and security projects to the state Education Department for review. Assistant Superintendent for Business John LaNave said although submitting it to SED could slow the projects down, there is the potential of getting state aid of 55 cents for each dollar spent.
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“It’s worth a try,” he said. “We’d like to have them see it as one district wide project.”
Board members will discuss how to proceed after the public budget vote.
About $20,000 is potentially earmarked to help the PTA fingerprint and conduct background checks of its members such as class parents, people who teach after school classes and volunteers, basically anyone who will be working with students. It costs about $100 for fingerprinting and background checks per person.
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