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“We just feel that this is a budget that continues the Valhalla promise,” Superintendent Brenda Myers said, noting that the budget is fiscally responsible while maintaining the district's goals of academic excellence.
The proposed budget has estimated tax rate increases of 4.26 percent for Greenburgh residents, 2.73 percent for Mount Pleasant residents and 5.84 percent for North Castle residents.
The budget vote and school board election is set for May 21. Two incumbents on the Board of Education are running unopposed for two open seats: LaVerne Clark and Joseph Garbus. School board members serve three-year terms.
The proposed budget does not include staffing cuts. Myers noted that the district has cut 19 positions in the past three years and that those positions were not reinstated in next year's budget. One position slated for reduction because of decreasing enrollment was reallocated as an academic intervention position.
Myers said the new position will help the district prepare students for the new Common Core standards and new state exams.
The district received help in the form of increased state aid this year, Myers said. The district was originally slated for an 18 percent cut in aid in the state budget, but elected officials helped reverse that decision and added four percent more.
Myers said the additional money helped officials decrease the tax levy, keep the academic intervention position and keep $250,000 in their reserve fund that would have been applied to next year's budget.
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