The Port Washington Board of Education is conducting a Community Budget Forum on Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2016 at 8 p.m. in the Paul D. Schreiber High School cafeteria for residents to provide input into the 2016-17 school district budget development process. To accommodate the meeting, the regularly scheduled Board of Education business meeting was moved to 7 p.m.
The Board of Education will be considering several budget options for the 2016-17 school year and would like to hear from the community. Two options will be discussed in detail during the forum. One option considers a budget that stays within the district’s tax levy cap of 0.65 percent. This scenario would result in reductions to various programs and would require a simple majority vote. The second option that will be discussed would require an override of the tax levy cap (while remaining under 2 percent) and would support additional staff to preserve programs and meet the needs of the district’s increasing student population. This scenario would require a supermajority vote of 60 percent. Both scenarios propose using approximately $450,000 in unexpended budget allocations from the present school year.
Since the inception of the tax levy cap, the Port Washington Board of Education has remained committed to staying within the district’s allowable increase while maintaining a high standard of education program for students. Increasing enrollment and a virtually flat Consumer Price Index has made this significantly more challenging for the 2016-17 school year, and the Board would like to hear from the community prior to finalizing a budget proposal this spring. All Port Washington School District residents are encouraged to attend.
