School Budget & Tax Levy
Active
31 meetings ·
2024-01-11 to 2026-07-16
Annual CHUFSD budget development, state aid projections, tax levy cap calculations, and fund balance management. Covers revenue sources, expenditure categories, and the tension between rising costs and the state tax cap.
Timeline (31 meetings)
Jan 11, 2024
Board of Education
Report: 7.2 Board Reports Board Trustee Anamika Bhatnagar reported on the Advocacy committee: a letter was submitted on behalf of the Board of Education in support of the Village's grant application to improve pedestrian walkways. Board Trustee Omar …
Feb 1, 2024
Board of Education
Village Police Advisory Committee
SELC Parent University
Boys' Volleyball Team's Section 1 Sportsmanship Award
Christine Drago's Appointment as Director of Health, Wellness, Physical Education and Athletics
The new Self-Defense Phys Ed Elective a…
Feb 15, 2024
Board of Education
Action (Consent), Minutes: 5.10 Minutes - February 1, 2024
Motion by Omar Mayyasi, second by Neal Haber.
Final Resolution: Motion Carried
Yes: Sarah Carrier, Joshua Diamond, Neal Haber, Omar Mayyasi, Ana Teague, Theo Oshiro, Anamika Bhatnagar
6. …
Mar 7, 2024
Board of Education
Reports
Information, Report: 3.1 President's Report
Board President Sarah Carrier reported on the following topics:
Budget presentation updates
Early Mail Ballot applications
BOE Trustee elections
Kindergarten registration
Spring sports
PVC p…
Student Trustee Ex Officio Amelia Sackman reported on the following topics:
Band performed at Universal Studios
Sophomores to visit Holocaust museum
SFC update
National Hispanic Club fair in April
Interact Club raising money by duct taping princ…
Motion by Ana Teague, second by Joshua Diamond.
On the question: Board Trustee Joshua Diamond asked if the First Light agreement was a renewal or new contract. Per Asst. Supt. for Business, Denise Harrington-Cohen, it is a renewal.
Final Resoluti…
WHEREAS, Croton-Harmon Union Free School District (hereinafter, the "School District") asked the Board of Elections of Westchester County if the School District could use two (2) Optical Scan Voting Machines, one (1) Ballot Marking Device, and three …
Supt. Walker is working on two presentations: Vision Map and Collaboration/APPR.
Board Trustee Ana Teague wanted to address concerns of the public that think the work may not be being done on the DEI policy just because it has taken so long. The urg…
Mar 21, 2024
Board of Education
Work Session
Information: 2.1 2024-2025 Budget Reports: Building-Level and Pupil Personnel Budgets
Superintendent Stephen Walker introduced the budget reports of the evening.
CET Principal Kerri Bianchi and Assistant Principal Craig Campanaro pres…
Assistant Superintendent for Pupil Personnel Services Rachel DePaul presented the proposed PPS budget for 2024-25. Highlights included specialized programs, embedded therapeutic services and the new community family liaison, multi-tiered system of su…
CHHS Principal Dr. Laura Dubak, Assistant Principal Mark Maxam, and Dean of Students Erica Fiorini presented the high school's proposed budget for 2024-25. Highlights included interdisciplinary courses, passion-based classes, concentrations, schedule…
1. The annual budget of the School District for the fiscal year 2024-2025, and to authorize the amount thereof to be raised by taxation on the taxable property of the District.
2. The Croton Free Library tax levy in the amount …
AND FURTHER NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that applications for absentee or early mail ballots must be received by the District Clerk no earlier than thirty (30) days before the Annual Election. Applications for absentee or early mail ballots may be obtaine…
Apr 4, 2024
Board of Education
Reports
Report: 2.1 President's Report
Board President Sarah Carrier reported on the following topics:
Repair Reserve on tonight's agenda
April 16 (Tuesday) BOCES budget vote and work session with new teachers
April 17 Parent University on picky…
Report: 2.3 Superintendent's Report
Superintendent Stephen Walker spoke on the following topics:
Passion Pursuit Pageant at PVC
Color Wars at CHHS
Cultural Dinner at CHHS
PVC Production of Newsies Jr.
Visit by Board of Regents member Fran Wills…
Superintendent Stephen Walker and Assistant Superintendent for Business Denise Harrington-Cohen presented a summary of the 2024-2025 budget.
Topics included:
Budget development timeline
Budget priorities
Vision Map goals
Making systemic change
…
CHHS Building Planning Council met today and discussed the academic honesty policy. Board Vice President Neal Haber attended the PVC passion project pageant, as did Board President Sarah Carrier where it was rewarding to see students' transformation …
May 9, 2024
Board of Education
Business Meeting & Budget Public Hearing (Thursday, May 9, 2024)
Generated by Denise Bisaccia on Friday, May 10, 2024
Members present
Joshua Diamond, Neal Haber, Ana Teague, Theo Oshiro, Anamika Bhatnagar
Meeting called to order at 7:33 PM
1. Op…
Library Budget
Discussion: 2.1 Croton Free Library Budget Presentation
Jesse Bourdon, Director of the Croton Free Library, presented the library's proposed budget of $962,222.
3. Public Budget Hearing
Action, Discussion: 3.1 Open Public Budget He…
Jun 6, 2024
Board of Education
Work Session (Thursday, June 6, 2024)
Generated by Denise Bisaccia on Friday, June 7, 2024
Members present
Sarah Carrier, Joshua Diamond, Neal Haber, Omar Mayyasi, Ana Teague, Anamika Bhatnagar
Meeting called to order at 7:37 PM
1. Opening of Me…
Baseball team won Section 1 championship
Friday Night Stripes at PVC
CET incoming Kindergarten family orientation
CET Field Day
District Wide Chess Tournament
CHHS Seal of Biliteracy
Spencer Field Groundbreaking
3. New Business
Action: 3.1 Re…
Aug 8, 2024
Board of Education
New Business
Action: 4.1 Tax Warrant - Croton-Harmon Union Free School District 2024-2025
RESOLVED: That the Board of Education approves the 2024-2025 Tax Warrant for the Croton-Harmon Union Free School District as presented.
WHEREAS, the voters o…
WHEREAS, the Board of Education authorizes applying $2,917,126 from the Undesignated Fund Balance, $400,000 from the Employees' Retirement Reserve, $200,000 from the Teachers' Retirement Reserve, and $200,000 from the Workers' Compensation Reserve to…
Jan 9, 2025
Board of Education
It's not just my. I was telling Suzanne as well. Sure. Thank you, Isabelle, and we hope you do come back and get some I will. Definitely for that. Definitely for that. And definitely for this board meeting, I'm sure. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you so much. An…
Not a significant amount, but it's it's a very small amount in our tax levy, as you'll see on our next budget presentation. Westchester County sales tax and income. So Westchester County provides districts with a percentage of their sales tax revenue…
So as a public employer, we're obligated to contribute a percentage of their salaries to the retirement fund. That information usually comes out in February. We also at that point, we usually issue a spending moratorium to our staff so that we could …
And to for our district, we're expecting that foundation aid will remain stable for this year, and it would anticipate increases in our building aid and transportation aid based on projects being finalized and also just increased expenditures in tran…
Next steps, we are going to analyze and update state aid projections, implement our collective bargaining agreements, and project our salaries out into our budget to see where we stand, review and update enrollment projections, assess staffing needs …
In April, the superintendent will present a proposed budget, followed by the budget adoption and our property report card adoption, and we'll also be approving BOCES administrative budget. In May, we'll have our public budget hearing on the eighth, f…
So this year, we have one pilot from the previous year's development, which is about 41,000. That pilot was implemented to last year. The housing developments themselves, next year, the it will not increase the revenue that the district receives. The…
No. I understand that, but it is a 1% increase in the tax levy each year, plus or minus whatever if however it changes, but that is still a growth versus the prior year. Yes? Yes. Right. So if the allowable growth levy factor is 2% capped at 2%, whic…
I I have two questions. The first is in terms of potential development in the community, it's my understanding where I've been told that having an anchor property, which would then increase brick and mortar, could some protect could somehow offset. I…
Say that again? You know? That's what Well Yeah. I let me just say we I know that that's what we were told. If if in fact, this board decided to ask when voters to approve a a tax levy of exceeding the tax levy cap on the rationale that new construct…
I will say that, historically, probably, Tanner, when the tax levy cap legislation was first enacted, and we were going through this analysis with one of your predecessors, we, as a board, did talk about whether it might be necessary at some point to…
I will also add that the, the 2% tax cap does not only equate to two percent. K. And the lagging projection is the prescribed formula. And if you are within that formula, the percentage can vary. There were some districts, I think, that their tax cap…
Assistant Superintendent for Business Denise Harrington-Cohen gave a 2025-26 budget development update including:
Budget Timeline
Revenue Assumptions
Expenditure Assumptions
Next Steps
Budget Presentation Schedule
Board Trustee Neal Haber a…
Board Joshua Diamond asked if the tax-based growth factor account for increases in the supply of housing and its value? Ms. Cohen responded that that is a portion of it, but that number rarely moves.
Mr. Diamond as if there would be an increase in …
Feb 13, 2025
Board of Education
sure I can't use it? I think it's coming. Okay. No worries. Feel a little safety in it. Yeah. So tonight, put our agenda for this evening, first, we're going to review the executive proposal and state aid proposal. We're gonna look at a state aid com…
So we have the just as some some lay down, some terminology here. So property tax cap, three critical numbers that we go by in in the formula. So tax levy tax levy limit before exclusions, that's the highest possible tax levy a district can propose p…
Voters approved the budget, not the tax levy because, again, that's a prescribed formula by the New York State Police Office.
Just wanna add one other thing about the difference is school districts are the only municipality for public entity in the state that requires the vote of the public. And all municipalities and other public entities are subject to the 60% for overrid…
So here we have the the tax cap formula. We begin always with the prior year levy. So this number is critical because as I as I mentioned, over the years, some districts have, including hours and periods of time, have have lowered the tax cap to for …
Okay. Thank you. So then we take prior year capital levy exclusions multiplied by the allowable growth factor. So the allowable growth factor is the lesser of 2% for inflation. So inflation is 3%. We are held to the 2% allowable tax levy. If the if i…
Then there is a capital exclusion for, pension expenses that are, increased by more than 2%, which is not the case this year, so there's no exclusion for that, bringing us to a total tax levy limit of $45.04 $22.05 72. That is 2.6% increase to the le…
I don't know if it's Oh, do they? Always. Yeah. I don't know if it's appropriate now, but I think at some point, you want to give us some thoughts about what we might anticipate, and maybe it's later on, and I'm trying to the congress tell me, in ter…
And then lastly, extend the public sector inquiry waiver, which is set to expire in June, and that reduces the the maximum allowable earnings of a a previously retire retired state employee so that we can garner some of that experience and knowledge …
I apologize if I didn't put one here. Right now, we're talking mostly about finances and operations. So revisions to the tax cap, making the allowable growth factor greater than, 2% over the change in CPI, adopting regulations, addressing changes in …
Then April, we'll have the superintendent's proposed budget, budget adoption, property tax cap adoption, and the BOCES administrative budget code. Followed by the public budget hearing on May 8 and our public vote on May 20 and plus the election and …
We we need to keep it in mind. But I also think that we need to start having conversations with the village about representing this accurately to voters and to the public in in terms of how this potentially could impact the district because they're k…
I'm using my my stage voice. Okay. So I attended attended I watched online last week the NISBA Capital Conference, and I will note that the recording was sent out by Danielle Raso today. So I would really encourage everybody to take a look at it. The…
Report: 2.4 2025-2026 Budget Presentation (Revenues)
Assistant Superintendent for Business Denise Harrington-Cohen gave an update on the budget development focusing on Revenues:
Governor’s Executive Budget & State Aid Proposal
State Aid Comparison…
Motion by Sarah Carrier, second by Theo Oshiro.
Final Resolution: Motion Carried
Yes: Anamika Bhatnagar, Sarah Carrier, Joshua Diamond, Neal Haber, Omar Mayyasi, Theo Oshiro, Ana Teague
8. Closing of the Meeting
Report: 8.1 Hearing of the Public
…
Feb 27, 2025
Board of Education
And I think it's incredibly appropriate that we begin this part of the budget process with what is foundational to our schools, our operations, our transportation. Because before we can get to the concept of what school can be and vision map, we have…
begin with superintendent Walker. Thank you, Denise. Thank you for being here, everyone, and for everyone who's watching at home. As we begin or kind of, in some ways, begin the public facing portion of the budget discussion for the 2526 school year,…
slide? You can go through your slides. So general support covers administrative costs for the district, including contractual salaries, supplies, and association dues for administrative offices, contractual obligations for operations and reporting re…
Actually, just But before we well, just because I know this I see the format. We have here the adopted budget and the proposed budget for next year. I know that during the year, we have made certain budget transfers, maybe not in this area. But as we…
And now I'm Okay. 08:45. Time for me to wake everyone up. Talk about transportation. That's good. Appreciate the best of luck. You for having me. Always excited to talk about how great my department is. A big thank you to Denise, Kelly, and Barry, do…
And then just last to touch on with contraction, contracted services is, we're projecting, the HVAC and kitchen equipment repair to go up a little bit with our capital project. We have a lot of replacement and additional HVAC equipment we're putting …
That's the 2nd Floor corridor there. Here's some pictures of the bus garage parking lot. Joe's team was very flexible. The amount of work we did in that time period was astonishing. So I I we were paving. Day before. Yeah. It it we it was we luckily,…
13 will be vision back, technology, and athletics, followed by school budgets, building level budgets, curriculum and instruction, and our pupil personnel budget. And then in April, we'll have on the tenth superintendent's proposed budget followed by…
Work Session (Thursday, February 27, 2025)
Generated by Denise Bisaccia on Friday, February 28, 2025
Members present
Anamika Bhatnagar, Sarah Carrier, Joshua Diamond, Neal Haber, Omar Mayyasi, Ana Teague
Meeting called to order at 7:34 PM
1. Ope…
Denise Harrington-Cohen, Assistant Superintendent for Business, introduced the 2025-2026 Budget presentation
Superintendent Stephen Walker presented the budget as it relates to the Vision Map.
Kelly Lent, Assistant Business Manager, presented the 2…
Mar 13, 2025
Board of Education
Thank you, Anna. Like you, I will be brief because I have two administrative colleagues who I know are jumping at the bid to share their budget presentation during this evening. But I did wanna start by, congratulating on behalf of the entire school …
welcome everyone to our inaugural budget presentation for technology and athletic for the 2526
and the gym, the high school gym. So in order to do this, our proposed budget reflects strategic investments that align with those guiding principles that I shared earlier. And some changes include a slight reduction in our OC services while some inc…
This is the twenty twenty five, twenty six proposed budget to make some of the things that we would like to happen in our budget. Take a look. Our proposed budget reflects strategic investments that align with our grounding principles. Some key chang…
Motion by Sarah Carrier, second by Anamika Bhatnagar.
Final Resolution: Motion Carried
Yes: Anamika Bhatnagar, Sarah Carrier, Neal Haber, Omar Mayyasi, Theo Oshiro, Ana Teague
Action (Consent): 7.3 Election Registrar Recommendations
Resolution: R…
WHEREAS, Croton-Harmon Union Free School District (hereinafter, the "School District") asked the Board of Elections of Westchester County if the School District could use two (2) Electronic Voting Machines (Plan A), one (1) handicap accessible (Plan …
Mar 27, 2025
Board of Education
Next slide is, again, the breakdown of the CET proposed budget. If unless someone has specific questions about that, I'll let you kind of absorb us there. But I have some notes here if you have specific questions in regard to any of our proposed budg…
Carrie jumps in, if I could just share. So these budgets are done based on function codes. Unlike Rachel's, which is one function, she's twenty two fifty. So it's broken down a little bit differently. It's broken down by salaries, both these. So the …
before we jump into looking ahead at our proposed budget, we wanna just take a minute to highlight some of the past budget items that have kind of come to fruition this year. So at PDC, we are super excited to be finalizing our instructional coaches …
That being said, if you could just go back there, what I'm really happy to speak about tonight, almost in a celebratory manner, is that three years ago, we came before this board when the vision map was still in the fledgling stages, and we said what…
It's very similar to CTs with the same thing. And and I think what it really illustrates, the overview here is that when you see the minuses and you see the areas that have increased slightly, but you see the overall change, It's a very responsible r…
just wanna say, as somebody who grew up on eighties TV, right, there was a time when I watched the a team a lot. You're fine. You're fine. Fine. Fine. You're fine. Put together. Feels like it's an appropriate thing to say to them. Right? So now at th…
1. The annual budget of the School District for the fiscal year 2025-2026, and to authorize the amount thereof to be raised by taxation on the taxable property of the District.
2. The Croton Free Library tax levy in the amount …
AND FURTHER NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that applications for absentee or early mail ballots must be received by the District Clerk no earlier than thirty (30) days before the Annual Election. Applications for absentee or early mail ballots may be obtaine…
Apr 10, 2025
Board of Education
Just to continue with my president's report, that was amazing to have the highlights and student involvement. It's just so rewarding. We are still accepting applications from the Universal UK program. Forms are available through April 28 with the lot…
It will be it will be held here in the library, and it will also be a special meeting regarding the OC's budget vote. And my one final mark your calendar is for April 29. I could wait until the twenty second, but I wanted to make sure everybody put t…
Thank you, Mona. Good evening again, Tigers. Knowing that we have a budget presentation to follow this, I'll be relatively brief, but I did wanna highlight and call out some of the exceptional achievements, and activities in our district over the pas…
you. Item 2.5, the superintendent's twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six budget presentation for adoption.
Again, that's part of living up to that aspect of the vision map that speaks to a culture of well-being and robust supports for all of our students, but particularly those who need the most at the youngest ages. And adding an instructional coach posi…
Okay. So I just wanted to share this to kind of show you what brought us to this place today as, superintendent Walker shared. This is a year long endeavor, with the hope of finding, clarity, also transparency for our community, opportunity for input…
We are appropriating this year a fund balance of about 2,460,000.00, which is down about 500,000 from from last year. Also, as far as reserves, we are allocating 200 from the employees retirement reserve, 200 from the teachers retirement reserve, and…
And you'll see that is, offset by some debt service, which I'll show later in the presentation. And then, BOCES aid, we are we we had a slight reduction in BOCES services that we're anticipating, a decrease there and then pretty stable with hardware …
I won't take you through this again. We've already had two sessions on this, but we are looking at an allowable tax levy of 2.62%, and that is within the allowable tax levy.
this is our wacky tax rate history projection. So as you know, we have two taxing jurisdictions. We have Yorktown and Portland. They both have extremely different equalization rates, and they are also both, so, for example, Portland represents about …
we're we're fine. We're staying where we are. Great. Our our the bird bus that we use actually opened up a plant right in Yorktown, and they are servicing our vehicles and working out very well. Yes. We we made a good decision. That's wonderful. Than…
multiple applications. So we've applied for probably about three separate grants. There some of them are still through NYSERDA by a separate grant. This one, Kelly in our office, Kelly led did most of the legwork on it, and it was not easy. And it an…
K. So while we're in next budget presentation will be on oh, so May April 22, we will have the adoption of the property tax report card and also the BOCES administrative budget vote, followed by May 8, our public budget hearing, and then May 20, our …
So communications met on Monday, this week, and we spoke a little bit about, budget communications. And just, again, a thank you to Denise and Jackie and everyone in office, for all of the hard work and Greg Cavalier as well all of the hard work in p…
It was the twentieth because of the budget vote in the yes. It was the twentieth. So there is I'll just say that now. There might be a cancellation of the May 20 meet the BOE. And I would just ask my fellow trustees to jump into that document and may…
8th grader Avery Gosnell was introduced to speak about her GS silver project to prevent sports involvement drop-off. She developed a Sports Showcase to introduce students to sports offerings, to be held May 28 at CHHS 6-7:30 pm
UPK still accepting …
CHHS ELL students visit 2nd graders
CHHS Drama: The Laramie Project
2nd Grade: Build A Business
PVC's 5th Grades visits CET's 4th Grade
Report: 2.4 Student Ex-officio Report
Student Trustee Ex-officio Isabelle McLaughlin reported on the followin…
Apr 22, 2025
Board of Education
Ongoing Business
Action: 5.1 2025-2026 Property Tax Report Card
RESOLVED: That the Board of Education hereby approves the 2025-2026 Property Tax Report Card as presented.
Motion by Sarah Carrier, second by Neal Haber.
On the question: Assistant …
May 8, 2025
Board of Education
Abstained? Aries. Motion carries. Item 2.1, the program three library budget presentation. So tonight, Jesse will be presenting the pro free library budget. Exciting night is a it's our public budget hearing. So we'll have a presentation for the pro …
I wanna take a moment to say how much I trust and respect my staff as for they are knowledgeable, thoughtful professionals who understand our policies, our collections, and the needs of our patrons. They are the reason this library is what it is. The…
And at the high school this year, we saw the vision map come to life through the implementation of our first interdisciplinary core courses as well as dual enrollment courses and our first academic concentrations. And as we look forward to the 02/252…
The proposed budget also builds upon the fantastic fantastic success of our first year unified sports program to allow for those wonderful students to participate more fully in a greater range of sports for next year. I believe that the proposed budg…
And as you've heard us say for some time, the idea of faculty to faculty collaboration and our professional staff learning with and from each other is a critical element of how teachers improve their practice over time. And so the proposed budget com…
Hello, Tiger community. As we approach our upcoming school district budget vote on May 20, I'm hopeful that many of you have been able to view our public discussions with the board of education, administration, and staff regarding our proposed budget…
Tiger community, to access further information about our budget development process, including a frequently asked questions document and prior presentations, please feel free to visit our website at chufsd.orgbackslashbudget. And please make sure to …
we are in our public private hearing, if anyone have any questions, I can finish the video that was signed. Since there are no questions, I will move into item 3.2, close public budget hearing. If our amended action be resolved to the Board of Educat…
Discussion: 2.1 Croton Free Library Budget Presentation
Jesse Bourdon, Director of the Croton Free Library, presented the library's proposed budget.
3. Public Budget Hearing
Action, Discussion: 3.1 Open Public Budget Hearing
The public budget hea…
RESOLVED: That the Board of Education hereby closes the public hearing.
Motion by Neal Haber, second by Sarah Carrier.
Final Resolution: Motion Carried
Yes: Anamika Bhatnagar, Sarah Carrier, Joshua Diamond, Neal Haber, Omar Mayyasi, Theo Oshiro, A…
Jun 5, 2025
Board of Education
Work Session (Thursday, June 5, 2025)
Generated by Denise Bisaccia on Friday, June 6, 2025
Members present
Anamika Bhatnagar, Sarah Carrier, Joshua Diamond, Omar Mayyasi, Theo Oshiro, Ana Teague
Members absent
Neal Haber
Meeting called to order…
New Business
Action: 2.1 Results of Budget Vote & School Board Election - May 20, 2025
RESOLVED: That the Board of Education hereby accepts the results of the May 20, 2025 school budget vote and school board election as presented.
Proposition 1:
…
Jun 12, 2025
Board of Education
Gwen Glaser spoke in support of Superintendent Walker and how she is impressed with budget presentation and day to day activities. She has met with him twice and he has listened to her. She feels Superintendent Walker has earned our trust, he's up …
Dec 4, 2025
Board of Education
Superintendent Stephen Walker addressed the group by stating that he appreciates their collaborative efforts and we all believe in the importance of the quality of pre-Kindergarten. The district was an early adopter of UPK which was detrimental to ou…
Jan 8, 2026
Board of Education
Ready in 3 2 1 action. Good evening everyone. I'd like to call to order the January 8th, 2026 meeting of the Croton-Harmon Union Free School District Board of Education. Our first item is the opening of the meeting and call to order. Second is the pr…
from what I understand, it would be extraordinarily difficult and time-consuming to reenter the program. I [clears throat] have been doing a fair amount of legal research, and I'm a practicing attorney, for the record, not just a volunteer lawyer, bu…
We learned our colors and we hatched chicks. and half of the school year, if we were in the morning, we switched to afternoon and if we were in the afternoon, we switched to morning. It was a very different world. And the curriculum, my son is in kin…
We are raising our children in a challenging America. Our local leaders matter. We need protection and innovation in safeguarding our kids and communities. Please do your part to do so. Also, I wanted to add that I and others would organize around vo…
March we'll submit our allowable tax levy to the state controller's office and then propose our budget and bus propositions to the board for review. In April we hope to get our state aid numbers secured and we'll ask the board to adopt the final budg…
So, our foundation aid there are there's no in there's no mandated increase to save harmless districts. They can provide percentage increase, but they don't have to do it by law. So, we expect that to remain fairly stable as well as our expense drive…
We'll start with revenues in February followed by operations and then we'll lead into our school budgets and specific programs and departments in March. And then the superintendent's final budget will be presented on April 9th with the adoption and p…
So [clears throat] so yes, we will absolutely have those discussions. And we are currently looking at the balance of our of our future facility project funds and determining it's a it's a crazy time where to where we're trying to assess where we are …
First is annual district meeting and budget vote, which is basically conducts that budget vote on May 19th or whenever it is each year. And there are certain changes that are required or allowed by law, recent adoption by the state legislature of a p…
Dan McNamee stated that UPK was a big part of why his family chose to live in Croton, it's a good investment for the town, important for families.
Jodi Epstein spoke to support continued UPK, she and others would advocate raising tax cap if needed.
…
Policy: Committee Chair Neal Haber reported that they met on 12/16 and approved polices for first reading today, and changed some that had first readings, to second readings. The next meeting is 1/20, 1 pm.
Liaison Reports:
None
Report: 2.6 Assis…
Feb 12, 2026
Board of Education
First, at the December 8th meeting, you heard from at least four parents who raised concerns that the current lottery process led to the underutilization of the UPK program, particularly because families were told which provider they had to accept an…
And I just wanted to say the reason why I didn't want to forget is that I was so impressed with the thoughtfulness and care that all members participating student Congress gave to many issues relating to adjustment to the schedule, including probably…
to echo what Sarah had mentioned, we're talking about predictability with foundation aid and revising formula specifically in Westchester County where our cost of living is much higher than in most areas of the state there's no consideration for that…
the governor's budget and state numbers will ideally be secured April 21st. We'll have our board event budget adoptions and property tax report card submission followed by the board event public budget hearing on May 7th which is a requirement by law…
We have projections that we've compiled based on expenditure guidelines, approvals, and maximum cost allowances, but once it gets to the state, you're not always sure which way it's going to go. Plus, they have they are working with a system that can…
it the limits are on the levy itself and not on assessed value. So it we it has nothing to do with property assessments or otherwise just on the levy itself. also voters do not approve the levy. The levy is a prescribed formula. voters approve budget…
So Westchester County is a year is a a year behind. So it's not always easy to determine what's happening. However, that is the baseline. So in other words, where we are today is the baseline. Any change up or down in the future years will change tha…
So there's no exclusion for that. And we have the capital tax levy exclusion of 2.699966. Again, that is a combination of building aid, transportation aid, and debt expense. Brings us to the proposed current levy for this year of 46 322880, which rep…
So, a lot of times when they're doing development, they devalue reduce the value of properties because they're taking stuff down to build. So, you have a piece of that. So, properties that were going into development were actually downsized. So, ther…
So each of those years when we're held at the lower amount and at the 2% if it's higher really restricts our growth and we're beginning to feel it. we're beginning to feel it. So let's see let's take a a broader look at our revenues. So this is overa…
I just wanted to add on to that and correct me if I'm wrong, but it's it's it's your determination as to whether a student, regardless of whether or not they fit into that based on their needs, also fit into that because of being we have a clinical i…
Right? So, it's not it's not the difference between 2 million and 1.4. It's the difference between 2 million and 1.4 plus on balance and reserves. And I would just like to highlight while we're talking about this that it's because of those reserves t…
We also have the added benefit of the three-year goals, right? So, all of the budgetary spending is no longer it's always aligned with those predetermined goals so that you're not just looking at it point blank for every year. And also the principles…
The Boseis board decided that because of where Passover falls, okay, the special meeting for approval of the Bose, the meeting for approval of Bosey's budget is not going to be on pass, right? So it's going to be moved back a week which would make pu…
They fund raise for it all year long. So moved. Second on the question. All in favor I opposed abstain. Motion carries. Moving into ongoing business 6.1 policies for second reading. Recommended action be resolved with the board of education conducts …
there's timeline and this actually we have to consider is that oh no I'm sorry that propositions if some a member of the public wants to submit a proposition they may do so it makes more explicit some of the rules on that and lastly it specifically s…
Liaison Reports: Board Trustee Neal Haber reported that he attended Student Faculty Congress where they discussed additional thoughts re: Policy 2125 re: the student ex-officio. They engaged in a robust discussion re: changes to be made to CHHS sche…
Policy 1050 -- Annual District Election and Budget Vote (Re: process on the day of the vote -- in case of inclement event and not enough voters show up, there is now a new date that can be added for the election/budget vote)
Policy 1230 -- Public Co…
Feb 26, 2026
Board of Education
In 3, two, one, action. Good evening everyone. I'd like to call to order the February 26th, 2026 work session of the Crohn Free School District. Item 1.2 is approval of the agenda. Recommended action be it resolved. The board of education hereby appr…
because there when you when you're focused on one sport, you're using generally the same muscles and and it can lead to an increased injury rate. So that is something that the committee is looking at that our our athletic director is looking at and w…
Can we just We're going to stop and see if we have any questions, but we'll start with the questions. Just checking. Yeah. Question. Okay. I I have a couple. The first is I just want to point out with so everybody knows that the the Boseies amount th…
The the good news is is that we can structure our payments. we have some flexibility in structuring our payments so that we can try because remember we're always trying to keep a level capital exclusion under our tax cap. So we have the prior year ca…
No, we like with Spencer being offline during construction, we helped out the the village with the fields more so than usual, obviously, because we do the brunt of the damage on them. So we have the equipment that they don't. So anywhere we can help …
so I I do again think back on what Denise was saying I do think it's a testament to the department that you run and the culture that you foster there that we haven't had shortages as other districts have. Other districts have really struggled. and to…
I was actually going to say I think this for me this is one of my favorite budget presentations every year. I know I speak for all of us that I just say that we enjoyed the history element that you brought this time for sure. but I think it's it actu…
It's just it's like it's it's it just it's a it's so impressive. So, thank you. I would just add one other thing. I agree with everything said, but I think the other thing to note is that if we look at when each of our buildings were first built at t…
and it's important to understand and to do this work publicly and to go over line items and the detail of it all. and I know it's tedious work. so thank you for your attention to detail. Thank you. You guys can go and get home first thing in the morn…
Athletic Director Christine Drago will be monitoring this and they also discussed ways to keep athletes safe, healthy, and active.
2. Work Session
Presentation: 2.1 2026-2027 Budget Presentation
Assistant Superintendent for Business Denise Harring…
BOCES Admin & Capital
Employee Benefits
Debt Service
Interfund Transfer - Special Aid Fund
Interfund Transfer - School Lunch Fund
Transportation Supervisor Joseph Bernardi presented the 2026-2027 Transportation Budget including:
Overview: Trans…
Mar 12, 2026
Board of Education
Technology 2026-2027 Proposed Budget
Long Term Upgrades
Christine Drago, Director of Health, Wellness, Physical Education & Athletics reported on the 2026-2027 Athletics budget, including:
Continuing to Build A Stronger Future: Athletics, Physical…
Resolution: RESOLVED: That the Board of Education hereby appoints the following Election Registrars at a rate of $20.00 per hour, Translators at a rate of $21.00 per hour, and Election Co-Chairs at a rate of $22.00 per hour for the Annual Budget Vote…
Resolution: RESOLVED: That the Board of Education hereby approves the minutes of the February 26, 2026 work session as presented.
Motion by Sarah Carrier, second by Allison Samuels.
Final Resolution: Motion Carried
Yes: Anamika Bhatnagar, Sarah Ca…
Apr 9, 2026
Board of Education
I'll be brief because we have five uh phenomenal building leaders and our wonderful assistant superintendent PBS who are going to uh speak in some great detail about the various aspects of the budget presentation. But I just want to mention at the ou…
Teaching line, you'll see contractual, you'll see an addition of some um newer versions of some of the textbooks that we use for our literacy instruction. and furniture. Um, our teaching and special schools budget code, there was an adjustment there …
But because of the budgets that have been supported over the past few years with the addition of additional professional learning, our you know push for thoughtful risktaking, our ITAB and interdisciplinary experiences, all of those things are kind o…
Um but our goals have remained consistent, which is exciting. So, we want um to continue to emphasize our our goal of every student feeling a sense of belonging, feeling challenged um feeling that they have a voice and have opportunities to explore t…
Um so it you know like the first year you're focusing on principles of engineering and then you're hoping to roll out several more over the coming years and you know this is a budget presentation and I know our funding is is fairly flat. Um do you en…
um this the teacher was struck by students being able to say like no we know this student this is what works best with that student just because they've been sharing spaces for so long because they've been in grades together they're not you know leav…
Superintendent Stephen Walker introduced the budget presentation for buildings and PPS.
Carrie E. Tompkins Elementary School budget was presented by Principal Kerri Bianchi and Assistant Principal Craig Campanaro and included:
CET- Highlights of ou…
The PVC Middle School Experience … the Vision Map in Action
Evolution at PVC
Croton-Harmon HS budget was presented by Principal Dr. Laura Dubak and Assistant Principal Erica Fiorini and included:
Croton-Harmon High School 2026-2027 Proposed Budget…
Success in Schools: Postsecondary Pathways
College Acceptances for Class of 2025
Pupil Personnel Services budget was presented by Assistant Superintendent for PPS, Rachel DePaul and included:
Pupil Personnel Services 2026-2027 Proposed Budget
Cul…
WHEREAS, Croton-Harmon Union Free School District (hereinafter, the "School District") asked the Board of Elections of Westchester County if the School District could use two (2) Electronic Voting Machines (Plan A), one (1) handicap accessible (Plan …
Apr 21, 2026
Board of Education
Shifting gears again to the topic of technology in our schools. Again, one of the ongoing conversations that have been a part of the system for a good deal of time now. So, you know, the board had the opportunity to spend some time with doctor Moskow…
within the allowable tax levy of 2.19% and will generate approximately $995,000 to our budget. That will offset our budget to budget increase by half. Only half. So the levy, even though it's our biggest revenue source, it's really only covering half…
This is another look. So this is the same budget but with a different look. This looks at it by object. So as you can see, the bulk of our budget is in salaries and benefits. It's 75% of our budget is in salaries and benefits. It's people. It's our s…
Well I think that sounds great. This is something that came up during, as I think Superintendent Walker mentioned, it came up during our technology budget presentation and I think looking at it like the lens of the budget was sort of like one way of …
Liaison Reports: Board Trustee Neal Haber did not get to attend the latest Student Faculty Congress but will attend the next one. Board Trustee Sarah Carrier noted that WPSBA is sending out budget related materials and the last EdLaw lunch of the y…
Enhancements to Support Our Vision
New Video to be launched 4/22
Assistant Superintendent for Business Denise Harrington-Cohen reported on the following:
2026-27 Budget Presentation Schedule summary
Budget Drivers
NYS Budget (delayed)
Anticipat…
Next committee is May 11.
Liaison Reports: Board Trustee Neal Haber did not get to attend the latest Student Faculty Congress but will attend the next one. Board Trustee Sarah Carrier noted that WPSBA is sending out budget related materials and th…
Enhancements to Support Our Vision
New Video to be launched 4/22
Assistant Superintendent for Business Denise Harrington-Cohen reported on the following:
2026-27 Budget Presentation Schedule summary
Budget Drivers
NYS Budget (delayed)
Anticipat…
May 7, 2026
Board of Education
Liaison Reports: Board President Ana Teague noted that the Booster club is holding their annual golf tournament on 6/8. Board Vice-President Anamika Bhatnagar reported that PVC Friday Night Stripes is tomorrow night, 4th graders are invited to this a…
Resolution: RESOLVED: That the Board of Education hereby appoints Jonathan Hiller as an Election Registrar at a rate of $20.00 per hour for the Annual Budget Vote and School Board Election held on May 19, 2026.
Motion by Anamika Bhatnagar, second by…
Jun 4, 2026
Board of Education
>> 2.1 The results of the budget vote and
the May 19th, 2026 school budget vote
Board Vice President Anamika Bhatnagar described the alumni event -- there were several panels, juniors could attend, a wide range of alumni, those with different paths were involved. Juniors felt relief after attending and suggested that sophomores …
Jun 11, 2026
Board of Education
Board Vice President Anamika Bhatnagar asked for some clarification of the meaning behind the numbers. What's the story behind the aberrations?
Board Trustee Allison Samuels responded that she would like to see breakdown of 3s vs 4s. Would be helpfu…
Jun 29, 2026
Board of Education
problem. Because once Yeah. Once you're in that cycle, you need it. Yeah. So it's really an analogy to, like, a payday loan. Mhmm. If you think about payday loans, which are so costly that you can't get out of it, that's what ranting debts are. But s…
Jul 16, 2026
Board of Education
in alignment with the budget presentations, we should have it for all three schools. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Agree.