Letter To The Editor: School Trustees Urge Residents To Vote

To the Editor:

We hope you and your families are safe and well during these unprecedented times. As a board, we encourage all eligible district residents to exercise their right to vote on the 2020-21 school budget and board candidates.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, voting will take place by absentee ballot only this year. All registered voters will receive an absentee ballot in the mail with a postage-paid return envelope. The District Clerk’s Office must receive the ballots by 5 p.m. on June 9.

This year, the Board of Education is proposing a $137 million budget that balances the needs of our students with those of our community as we weather the pandemic, a weakened economy and the potential for mid-year state funding cuts. The plan would raise the property tax levy by 0.75%, below the state’s cap of 1.51% this year. In order to limit the impact on taxpayers, the budget would use $4.59 million in appropriated fund balance and $256,333 in capital reserves.

Despite the challenges we face this year, we are pleased to report that our proposed budget maintains teacher-student ratios that are within district guidelines.

The 2020-21 spending plan continues our arts, athletics, extracurricular and enrichment programs; and preserves valuable programs like Science Research and Dual Language. It also includes funding for space and maintenance needs at our schools. Ossining schools will continue to prioritize social and emotional supports for our students and professional learning for faculty and staff.

Our district has been successful in finding efficiencies and saving money on utilities, health insurance and transportation. Ossining has secured $2.7 million in continuing and competitive grants in recent years for innovative school initiatives, and we work closely with many community partners to provide additional programming, resources and services to children and families.

In addition to the budget proposition, residents will vote on candidates running for the Board of Education.

For more information about the budget, board candidates and the voting process, please visit the district website to view the details of the budget. We are looking forward to our students and school personnel being back together in our schools.

Ossining Board of Education

Lisa Rudley, President
Graig Galef, Vice President
Melissa M. Banta
Katherin Crossling
Diana E. Lemon
Frank Schnecker
Aaron Spring