To the Editor:

On Tuesday, May 21, Guilderland Central School District residents will go to the polls to decide on three district propositions: the budget for the 2019-20 school year; a request to replace nine aging school buses; and a capital construction project to address the most immediate safety, security, and infrastructure needs of the school district.

The 2019-20 budget supports our students and maintains the high quality academic and extracurricular programs that our community expects and values. The proposed $102,107,375 plan calls for a 1.17 percent increase in spending and would increase the levy by 1.44 percent, which is $185,426 below the tax levy limit.

In addition, the district is asking the community to reconsider a scaled-back capital construction project. After listening intently to the feedback from our community, we have deferred as much work as possible from the fall 2018 proposal while still being responsible caretakers of our school buildings.

Highlights of the $30,926,000 proposal include fire alarm, public-address and telephone-system replacements, upgrades to heating and ventilation systems, modernizing 50-year old high school science labs, and roofing and pavement replacement.

I encourage all district residents to review the budget and capital project resources on the district website — www.guilderlandschools.org. Please feel free to call me at 518-456-6200, ext. 3102, or email me at with any questions about any of the propositions going before the voters on May 21.

Most importantly, I urge all eligible voters to head to the polls on May 21 to vote on the budget, bus proposition, capital project propositions, and for three members of the board of education.

After voting, please also take a moment to complete our exit survey. Your opinion is important to us. Participation is voluntary and anonymous, and the exit poll provides us with valuable feedback

Thank you to all of our community members who participated in the budget development process and who provided feedback on our capital project. Don’t forget to vote!

Marie Wiles

Superintendent

Guilderland Central

School District