NEW SCOTLAND — Like school districts across the state, Voorheesville is in a bind. The school board met on Monday but could not finalize its budget proposal for next year as planned. Earlier in the day, the state legislature had followed the governor’s directive for a budget extender, to keep state government functioning until May 31.

“The budget is now in a political mess,” Voorheesville Superintendent Brian Hunt told the school board.

Since Andrew Cuomo became governor, state budgets have been finalized by or near the April 1 deadline; this allows school districts to know how much state aid they will receive before finalizing their own budgets in time for the state-set voting day on the third Tuesday in May.

The legislature had been given a weekend grace period to make compromises for a state budget but at close to midnight on Sunday, Cuomo issued a statement, saying, “The federal government is attacking our health care system, abandoning our urban areas, cutting necessary assistance to the poor and targeting our new immigrants. In this environment our state budget takes on much greater significance. Indeed, it is not merely a budget at all: It is a statement of values, a guarantee of personal protection and a safeguard of financial security.”

Cuomo set up an extender of the current budget, which both houses passed on Monday. School districts must adopt budget proposals by April 21 for the May 16 vote. At Voorheesville, school leaders said they would have to decide on a budget proposal by April 13 or 14 in order to meet deadlines for publishing information about the budget.

On Monday, Hunt presented the board with a proposal based on the governor’s figures for state aid. Cuomo’s budget proposal allocates $6.2 million in state aid for Voorheesville — covering about a quarter of the $24 million spending plan — which is a 0.86-percent increase over the current year’s aid.

The $24,167,000 spending plan Hunt outlined represents a 1.55-percent increase over the current budget. It preserves all current services and programs and adds a few enhancements, Hunt said.

The $24 million budget also stays under the state-set levy limit of 2.38 percent, Hunt said; to go over the cap would require a supermajority vote of at least 60 percent.

The levy increase will be kept to 2 percent; the total tax levy is set at $17,231,000.

“I’m thinking of the taxpayers on limited incomes and the senior citizens,” said Hunt, noting that, for the past two years, the levy limit was around 1 percent. That is because the cap is set at 2 percent — adjusted by formula for school districts — or the rate of inflation, whichever is less.

The proposed budget uses $300,000 of fund balance — each year since 2013-14 when Voorheesville used $700,000 from its fund balance, the district has been decreasing the amount used.

Using the governor’s state aid numbers, Voorheesville has a surplus of $147,000. That will be spent on adding an elementary-school teacher and a secondary-school science teacher, for $70,000 each; this covers salary and benefits. The elementary teacher will help with increased enrollment; there are 78 incoming kindergartners next year while 66 fifth-graders will be graduating. The science teacher is to relieve large class sizes at the high school, allowing the middle-school science teacher to teach full-time at the middle school.

Also, an occupational education coordinator will be added for a $3,200 stipend — for a grand total of $143,000.

If there were to be another $60,000 in state aid, Hunt said, it would be spent on four-tenths of a teaching post for social studies, for English, and for French at $20,000 each.

“I do recommend waiting,” Hunt advised the board before finalizing the Voorheesville budget. He said of the state, “I don’t know if they’ll get it done by April 21.”

Even if the district were to find out, after that date, that Voorheesville had been allotted more state aid, “you can’t increase your budgeted spending,” said Hunt. “It’s a dilemma.”

He added that it was worse for some other Capital Region school districts. “We know we’re going to be able to add staff,” Hunt said. “We can estimate an increase. I’d probably be comfortable with $20,000.”

When it comes to the state allotting more school aid, Hunt said, “The political reality is...the emphasis will be on high-poverty districts.”

The board agreed to hold a special meeting on April 12 or 13 to finalize the budget proposal.

In addition to deciding on a budget on May 16, voters will also decide on a bus proposition and on setting aside money for a future capital project. The capital reserve proposition would authorize the creation of a new reserve of up to $2 million, preparing for building upgrades. Any additional fund balance at the end of June 2017 over the 4-percent-of-the-budget limit allowed by the state would be placed in the reserve.

The bus proposition would allow the district to buy two 60-passenger buses, not to exceed a total cost of $230,00. Hunt said this is part of a bus-replacement program that prevents large maintenance costs from deteriorating buses.

Further, voters will elect two school board members. C. James Coffin, the board’s longest-serving member, has said he will seek another term.

Cheryl Dozier, the board’s president, announced at Monday’s meeting that she will not run again.

“It has been an honor and a privilege to serve on the board for nine years,” she said. “I will not seek re-election because it’s time to write some more books.” Dozier is an associate professor in the department of literacy teaching and learning at the University at Albany.

Petitions for candidates are available at the school district office. They must be returned by April 17 with at least 25 signatures of district residents.

Capital project

Voorheesville hopes to have a vote on a capital project in May 2018 to begin work in 2020. This May, voters will decide on a proposition to set up a second capital reserve fund with the goal of having $2 million by the time the project is underway. Currently, the district has $1.1 million in reserve.

Indebtedness from the last building project — which built the middle school, the high school gym, the performing arts center, and upgraded the pool — will be paid off in 2021.

“I’ve estimated the maximum affordable project at $12 million,” Hunt told The Enterprise. “The net capital cost right now is $200,000 per year. We used to be at 14 percent of the budget; that was 15 years ago. We’re at 6 percent now,” he said. Hunt wants to stay at that 6 percent.

He said there is $4.8 million in work that “must be done.” The biggest expense for these must-do items is replacing boilers in all the schools for about $1.5 million.The high school needs about another $1 million in unit ventilators and a temperature-control system, and it will take about half-a-million dollars to replace the high school’s original windows.

Another half-million would go for an alarm system at the secondary school, and another half-million to replace part of the elementary-school roof. The rest of the $4.8 million would be for lighting, ceiling tiles, and kitchen upgrades.

Beyond the must-do list, said Hunt, “We want to improve our instructional spaces.” He named specifically the science and technology laboratories for which initial estimates came in at $4 million to $6 million. “Some of the prices are too high so we’re whittling down,” Hunt told The Enterprise.

In February, the board heard a presentation from Michael Goyer, Voorheesville’s directory of facilities and transportation, on the need for a new bus garage, which would be part of the capital project. Goyer stressed safety concerns since the current bus garage is up against the elementary school and buses are parked in several unsecured locations.

The plan was to build a new steel garage on Voorheesville’s satellite fields, which are located across Route 85A from the secondary school. The buses would be secured in a fenced area. Goyer told The Enterprise in February he’d like to keep the cost under $5 million; he had no firm price at the time.

Hunt told the school board on Monday that the architect had estimated the planned four-bay garage would cost $6.8 million. Hunt described Voorheesville’s current garage as “obsolete.”

“I’m very concerted the cost of this will be too high for our district to afford,” Hunt told the board on Monday. Voorheesville gets 61 percent back in state aid for building projects.

Hunt wants to keep the cost of the garage to $5 million and is considering two different plans. He has contacted Albany County’s Department of Public Works, which has a garage nearby on Route 85A, to see about maintenance of the buses being done there. Voorheesville mechanics would do the work within the county’s garage.

Hunt has also contacted the superintendent of the Guilderland schools, Marie Wiles, about having bus maintenance done at Guilderland’s facility. “They’d take our employees,” Hunt said, if that plan were acceptable to both districts.

In any case, Hunt said, Voorheesville would continue to have its own fleet of buses, driven by its own drivers.

Other business

In other business, the board:

— Heard from high school Principal Laura Schmitz of the success of the school musical, “Mary Poppins,” directed by Robert Whiteman. Schmitz read  excerpts from his “Director’s Notes,” lauding the co-presidents of the Dionysians, Jaynie Parmenter and Carl Treiber, who also starred in the show, for their goal of creating “an inclusive and accepting environment for all.”

“They wanted everyone to feel safe, to be able to take risks and to form meaningful relationships with students outside of their grade level or social circle,” Whiteman wrote.

Referring to the leadership that allowed students to choreograph, and run the lighting and sound for the show, Schmitz concluded, “That’s exactly what Voorheesville has fostered”;

— Heard from elementary school Principal Jeffrey Vivenzio that MaryAnne Milano received a grant to get Sphero SPRK robots, which look like balls and can be controlled in real time or pre-programmed by an app on a mobile device.

“It teaches children how to look at time, speed, and distance all together,” said Vivenzio of the third-graders using the robots. They will be demonstrated at the April 12 science fair;

— Heard from Doreen Saia, the board’s vice president, that April 3 was opening day not just at Fenway Park but at Blackbird Field. She said the field behind the high school had fallen into “sad disrepair” but had been refurbished from a Healthy Choices grant secured through Assemblywoman Pat Fahy.

Voorheesville won Monday’s game, 5 to 4, Saia said but stressed the thrill was in having so many students attend since the field was close at hand unlike the town’s Swift Road park where games had been played previously. The new field, Saia concluded is “fantastic for school spirit”;

— Heard from James Franchini, assistant superintendent for finance and operations, that piping will be fixed for eye-wash stations in six science classrooms at a cost of $3,690;

— Heard from Hunt that a group of volunteers have raised over $90,000 for a new playground at the elementary school that is to be built in 2018 and could cost $150,000 to $200,000. Hunt responded to a parent’s question about the district funding the project; it was raised at the March meeting, which Hunt missed due to illness.

Hunt said, if playground costs were part of the budget it “would take away from something else.” If it were part of a capital project, it would have to go through review from the State Education Department and would not be built until 2020.

“There’s a limit to what we are able to afford,” said Hunt. “We’ve got more [needs] than we can afford now”;

— Heard from Vivenzio, “We won Titanium with honors” at a March 21 National School Safety conference, held in Utica. He said Voorheesville had achieved that highest level for 12 years;

— Heard from Franchini that the school lunch program made $107 in February but still has a debt of $22,114 for the year. “We hope to get it under $20,000,” he said of the debt, noting the chief problem is a decreasing number of students buying cafeteria food;

— Heard from Hunt that he will attend the April 11 hearing on the application by Stewart’s Shops to build a convenience store and gas station where Smith’s Tavern now stands, across Route 85A from the elementary school. The district consulted with its architect, Franchini said, which felt confident the planning commission had adequately reviewed the application, indicating there would be no increase in flood elevations at the elementary school.

At their March meeting, board members had also expressed concerns about increased traffic;

— Accepted the resignation of Ronald Meilinger, effective Sept. 29. He has driven school buses for Voorheesville for 15 years and plans to retire. Hunt said Meilinger is a Voorheesville graduate, having bene in the first class that came to Clayton A. Bouton HIgh School. “Ron does the mountain run,” said Hunt. “He’s promised to come back and sub”;

— Heard Franchini respond to a request to pay school taxes by credit card. The Board of Cooperative Educational Services, which handles the district’s taxes, is switching vendors so now is not a good time to make a change, said Franchini.

However, he said, a link could easily be set up on the Voorheesville website so people could look up their tax bills. The board agreed to set up the link now but to wait until 2018-19 to set up credit-card payments;

— Heard from Hunt that state-required Regents exams will be moving from being graded on a 100-point scale to a system similar to standardized tests in the lower grades, on a scale with four or five levels.

Consequently, Voorheesville is looking at changing its grading system for next year since Regents scores won’t be able to be used as part of an average;

— Heard from trustee Diana Straut that the curriculum committee had looked at middle-school course grades and the honor roll as well as standardized-test scores and found no “glaring anomalies”; and

— Went into closed session to discuss matters related to a person’s or company’s “appointment, employment, promotion, demotion, discipline, suspension, dismissal, or removal.”