Rye Passes School Budget

Rye City voters overwhelmingly approved the proposed 2015-16 school budget of $82.9 million Tuesday, according to the unofficial tally.

The $82,884,603 budget represents a 4.43 percent increase over the 2014-15 budget, officials said, and the estimated tax rate is $595.28 per $1,000 of assessed value. The increase is $33.95 per thousand dollars of assessed value.

Approximately 70 percent of voters, or 2,418, voted in favor of the budget, while 30 percent, or 1,034 opposed it.

Incumbent board members Nancy Pasquale and Chris Repetto were re-elected to the Board of Education, and Kelly Smith-Powers was elected to the board for the first time.

“On behalf of the Board of Education and the Rye City School District, I’d like to thank the record number of community members who came out to vote today and delivered a clear message of support for our public schools; the administrators and my fellow board members for the tremendous amount of work that went into creating and refining this budget; the Friends of Rye City Schools, the Parent Organizations at all five schools, the Rye Teachers Association, community, parents, students and staff for all their hard work and support for the School District,” said Laura Slack, President of the Board of Education, in a statement.

Added Frank Alvarez, Superintendent of Schools, “On behalf of the Administration, I would like to thank the Rye City School District community for voting in support of the Proposed 2015-16 School Budget. This budget will enable us to maintain the high quality of the educational program that our community has come to value and expect. We deeply appreciate the community’s involvement throughout the budget process and their dedication to the education of our youngest community members.”