TURNER — After four parents made a last-minute pitch to add a new teacher to Turner Elementary School, the school board voted 4-3 in favor and added it into the $27.2 million budget proposal adopted Thursday night.

Superintendent Kimberly Brandt said the new budget has a roughly 1.8% increased tax impact. Figures specific to Turner, Greene and Leeds weren’t available Friday.

The proposed 2019-20 budget is $132,000 less than the current year, but state aid is also less. In creating the new budget, Brandt said staff and the board spent a lot of time figuring out how to best bolster student achievement.

“I think this is going to mean a really big step forward in the right direction in supporting our teachers and supporting learning,” she said.

Included in the budget:

• A new teacher at Greene Central School tentatively targeted for the fifth grade.

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• Two instructional coaches for Turner Primary School and Turner Elementary School who Brandt said will help meet the needs of students who are struggling or excelling by helping teachers develop new lesson plans or try new approaches.

• New Chromebooks for several uses, including making sure educational technicians have access to one during breakouts and one-on-one sessions.

• Two new buses and 62 new digital radios for buses, vans and one at each school. Brandt said the area has so many hills and valleys that one-third of drivers recently named radio communication their top concern.

• Replacing phones at Greene Central School, a water tank at Turner Elementary and a concessions stand at Leavitt Area High School.
Installing four security cameras at Tripp Middle School.

• Returning the coaching stipend to seventh-grade boys and girls soccer, baseball and softball. Brandt said the hope is that bringing it back will lead to coaches staying for several seasons.

• Three seats at the Region 9 Professional Truck Driving School, which will enable students to earn a Class A license.

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• Adding time to the day of educational technicians in the autism programs at Turner Primary and Turner Elementary. Currently, Brandt said, their work day starts and ends at the same time as their students, so there’s not time to debrief and plan with the lead teacher or take part in specialized development. It adds less than a half-hour to each day, but over a week adds up, she said.

The board also supported pairing the $200,000 in the district’s Capital Repair Reserve with $400,000 in an unexpended fund balance to address paving and curbing repair at the high school, middle school and Turner Elementary.

The unexpended funds have built up over years, Brandt said, from savings such as the time between a teacher leaving and a new teacher being hired.

“This will not impact local taxes,” she said.

At Thursday’s meeting, four parents successfully pitched the board on also adding one new teacher at Turner Elementary for the fifth grade. Next year, one of the fifth-grade classes would have had 23 students, Brandt said. By adding a fourth teacher, there will be three classes of 17 and one class of 18.

“We go through a rigorous process (to develop the budget),” she said. “The board listened to those four people and clearly found it compelling enough to put another teacher in.”

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It cost $67,000 to add that position, but that cost was buffered by finding out this week that the district’s health insurance was going up roughly $150,000 less than they’d been cautioned by their insurer to budget for, according to Brandt.

Budget booklets will be sent to residents in the next few weeks.

On May 9, the board will hold a district budget meeting in the high school auditorium where the public will have a chance to vote on each section and ask questions.

The final vote by residents is set for May 23.

kskelton@sunjournal.com


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