Two Forums on 2015-16 School Spending Plan Coming Up March 10

The Chappaqua PTA is sponsoring two budget forums Tuesday—one in the morning, one in the evening—so community members can learn more about the Administration’s proposed 2015-16 school budget.

The March 10 forums are scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. in the Robert E. Bell Middle School auditorium and will feature presentations by Superintendent Lyn McKay and Assistant Superintendent for Business John Chow as well as time for questions from the audience.

Here are highlights of the spending plan:

• Total spending: $117,901,688
• Spending increase over current budget: $ 1,044,700 or 0.89 percent
• Tax Levy increase: $1,118,891 or 1.07 percent
• Tax rate: N/A. The current tax rate for property owners in New Castle is $104.29 per thousand dollars of assessed value; for Mount Pleasant property owners the school tax rates is $1,370.08 per thousand dollars of assessed value.
• State aid: In the plan, district officials are assuming state aid will remain the same—$7,608,572.
• Spending: The largest areas of increase are in operations and maintenance and in technology.
• Enrollment: District officials predict enrollments to drop slightly for the seventh year. (Projections are that the trend will reverse itself starting in 2016-17.)

The district’s Board of Education is scheduled to adopt a budget plan April 15 to present to voters May 19.

Community Q&As on the Adopted Budget will be held at 9:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. April 29 at Seven Bridges Middle School.