School Budget Vote on TUESDAY, May 19

From the school district's web site:

Budget Vote: May 19, 2009 7:00am -9:00pm

Tarrytown Location: Washington Irving School
Sleepy Hollow Location: Morse School

Proposed Budget 2009 - 2010
The Board of Education adopted their proposed 2009-10 school budget on April 2. The budget represents a 3.89% increase in spending and will require an estimated increase in the property tax levy of 2.35%.

The spending plan reflects a reduction of about $2 million in expenditures below the level that would be necessary to support a typical operating budget for next year. Spending reductions were achieved by reducing discretionary spending categories, such as materials and supplies, contracted services, and textbooks, below this year’s level, eliminating 8.5 instructional and 10 non-instructional positions, and reconfiguring school bus runs.

The district was able to reduce the tax rate without having to pursue further staff reductions through a voluntary employee contribution commitment in excess of $150,000 for the 2009-10 school year. The goal of the administration's approach has been to employ a multi-year budget perspective designed to position the district for an eventual "soft landing" by reserving some options for reducing growth in future spending beyond the coming year while avoiding wholesale elimination of programs and services.

Go to the district's website at www.tufsd.org for a copy of the proposed budget.