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Putnam Valley School District Cuts $150,000 from 2007-8 Budget Proposal
Putnam Valley PTA introduces reading initiative
by Margaret Sternberg
During the March 29, 2007 meeting of the Putnam Valley Board of Education, Superintendent Gary Tutty announced that the proposed 2007-8 district budget has been further reduced by $150,000. The budget to budget spending increase from 2006-7 to 2007-8 falls from 5.46 to 5.08 percent.
The reduction is reflected in the estimated tax increases as well, with the tax rate per thousand of assessed value for Putnam Valley decreasing from 2.49 to 2.03 percent. The rate for Cortlandt is reduced from 3.93 to 2.17 percent per thousand, and Carmel's rate falls from 6.52 to 4.69 percent per thousand. Tutty noted that the school tax rate increases for Putnam Valley are some of the lowest in the region and in the state.
The $150,000 savings, Tutty explained, will come from "pay[ing] for some things for next year out of this year's budget" and by finding they were able to move some special education expenses to payment by the federal government.
Board President Tina Mackay said that she thought the district has a "terrific" budget that addresses educational needs in a fiscally sound and responsible manner.
On another positive note Superintendent Tutty said there had been recent news that the State had "come to a deal" on state aid that "right now sounds more generous than the governor originally had. If we get more aid, that'll help us."
Tutty also touched briefly upon the ramifications should the district be forced to go to a contingency budget, discussing possible cuts that would affect the students, the district and the use of facilities. The adoption of a contingency budget would require that an additional $560,000 in cuts be made.
Possible cut considerations affecting the students might include in modified sports, in the number of athletic games and transportation for games, the late bus, non-mandated classroom aides, an elementary school teacher and in high school electives.
Possible contingency cuts affecting the district might include the restructuring of the Athletic Director position, no summer help, no work on the "5-year plan" projects and a related reduction in the appropriated fund balance.
Under a contingency budget no outside use of the school's facilities would be permitted and there would be more limited use of the facilities by the school athletic teams.
Tutty said that one of the biggest issues coming out of a contingency budget is the possible cutback of teachers, a situation, he added, that generally leads to cutbacks in other areas in the subsequent year in order to re-hire for the open position. He said that over his tenure he has tried to keep the staff numbers as steady as possible.
In the other presentation of the evening Roberta Valichko, who chairs the ELA Subcommittee of the Education Enhancement Committee of the Putnam Valley PTA discussed "Putnam Valley Reads - The Standard is 25," a recently launched initiative designed to inspire children to read 25 books or their equivalent per year.
The program seeks to have parents become actively involved and participate in various activities that help the children attain the 25-book reading goal. A monthly newsletter will include information on the value and importance of reading, why audio books are good, positive strategies families are using, information on comprehension and why understanding why what you are reading is important and websites about reading.
Other programs offering encouragement include PARP (Parents as Reading Partners,) monthly book clubs, teachers' recommended book picks, "Books and Bagels with that Special Someone, the Putnam Valley Parent Book Club, Grandparents' Tea and the Barnes and Noble Book Fair.
Valichko said the strongest and most important alliance in the effort is between the home and the school and thanked the administrators and the building steering committees for their support through the initiative.
The next meeting of the Putnam Valley Board of Education will be Thursday, April 19, at 7pm.
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