The 2023-2024 Budget for Beacon City School District is being voted on today by taxpayers. The proposals include maintaining some programs currently in place, and expanding others. Very new is the proposition to increase the busing radius for kids to be eligible to take the bus, reducing the 1.5 mile radius to a 1 mile radius. If kids live inside of the radius, they cannot take the bus. The District is working to shorten this to include more housing complexes and after requests from the public were made.

Residents who live in Beacon are to vote at Beacon High School. Residents who live in Fishkill or Glenham are to vote at Glenham Elementary.

Here is what is included in this budget:

The Pre-K Program Would Continue

Brought back after school opened after the pandemic shutdown, the Beacon City School District, along with other districts in the area, re-introduced a full-day Pre-K program. Last year, Pre-K was offered at a lottery level in a pilot program, with around 18 seats available, and was held in a large, well lit and ventilated room at Glenham Elementary. Long-time residents remembered when the district used to provide full-day Pre-K years ago, before it ended.

This year, the Beacon City School District's budget not only kept the highly successful program, but expanded the program into all four of the elementary schools with five teachers. For the next year year, the budget is proposing to keep the program, and add one additional Pre-K teacher for a total of 6 teachers. This arrangement serves 108 students at each of Beacon's 4 elementary schools.

New York State funds 50% of the Pre-K program, and District funds the rest, explained Dr. Landahl during the budget presentation. He said: “The Board (of Education) is always advocating for more Pre-K funds. We are very excited to be expanding Pre-K."

Retiree Cap Waved

For the last several years, according to Dr. Landahl, the retiree cap has been waved, which helps open the number of people who can be hired. “There used to be cap on how much a retiree could make. That has been waved again for this upcoming school year. This gives us a wider group of people to hire from. The hiring market has become challenging, so that is helpful too,” he summarized.

Beacon High School

At the Beacon High School, there would be a new hiring of a World Language Teacher due to a retirement. There is a proposed addition of an AP African Studies Class and an AP Environmental Science Class.

Mental Health Support continues to be a theme in the district's budget, as seen with the proposed 9th Grade support focus. “The High School team has put together a plan to provide more support for 9th graders in the summer programming especially in the academic realm,” Dr. Landahl said.

A second social worker is proposed to be hired for the Middle School, as a social worker who was hired last year to float between the High School and Middle School is proposed now to be dedicated to the High School.

Rombout Middle School

Rombout Middle School has been known to be a "Wild West" type of environment, where kids are fending for themselves in bigger ways than they needed to in elementary school.

There is a proposed addition of a dedicated social worker. "Mental health and social emotional needs of young people is expanding every year. We are trying to meet that need," Dr. Landahl shared.

A World Language Teacher is also proposed, which is needed for an expansion of the Italian language program, while making class sizes smaller. This teacher is anticipated for two sections in 7th grade and two in 8th grade.

In the music department, a half-time music teacher is proposed to be added to general music classes. For reading, a Reading/AIS teacher is also proposed for Middle Schoolers.

One Year Teacher on Special Assignment Positions

There are expansions in the Teacher on Special Assignment Position program, which is mainly funded with federal dollars, Dr. Landahl stated.

One Response To Intervention (RTI) Coordinator was working across 5 schools last year. The budget proposes to keep that position, and add a second teacher who provide this specific support. Duties include running RTI meetings in schools, working with teachers to support students, sometimes working directly with students, and working on interventions.

Last year the district had a one year Social/Emotional Coordinator position at the elementary level, which will be continued. "This person was all over the place this year, making a huge impact,” Dr. Landahl observed. We are excited to be continuing with that."

Two Math Academic Intervention certified teachers will be brought to the elementary level, in addition to teacher assistants who have been providing help.

District Wide Enhancements

New musical instruments are proposed in this budget. Several years ago, a state grant helped the 4th grade get instruments. This year, more instruments are proposed. Art supplies in the elementary schools are also in the budget.

Clubs and Afterschool actives are being expanded, and seem to be of focus by Dr. Landahl, especially at the elementary level. "We're working right now to take all of the clubs that were started this year, and trying to figure out any more for next year, so that we can have a comprehensive plan for what is developed. At the elementary level, we has seen exponential growth. We are trying to follow research with school connectedness with students. Clubs are not just a high school thing, they really should be at the elementary and middle school level," he said

The clubs differ a bit between the elementary schools in Beacon. “Part of that is based on teacher interest,” Dr. Landahl explained. “Part of that is based on student interest too. There has been a wide variety of clubs being offered. As an elementary school parent myself, I have enjoyed seeing these clubs being offered. The interest is high."

An increase of Family Events in the areas of face-to-face events is proposed, depending on need and the school.

Federal Stimulus Money

According to Ann Marie Quartironi, Deputy Superintendent for Beacon City School District, there remains money from the American Rescue Plan (ARP). Beacon was allocated $4.2 million, which was used for: :

Ventilation infrastructure in schools.
Academic learning loss. This included programs like the 3rd year of the Summer School program, which was popular among kids and included field trips.

This is the last year for that funding, so the district is trying to use that money, Ann Marie said.

MONEY - PAY FOR THE BUDGET

This budget would be raising levy to the cap. State Aid is $500,000 more than what they budgeted last year. Debt services money would be used as a result of Capital Project. Overall, the budget grew by 3.48%.

Proposition 2 - New Buses

The district is asking to purchase 3 buses that fits 72 passengers, and 1 passenger van that fits 20 passenger van, for a total of $530,000. Ann Marie explained that it will be financed over 5 years to match State Aid, which is 58.5%. The busses are to replace aging buses that will be taken out of service. The district does use the old buses as trade-ins to help offset the cost of new buses.

Proposition 3 - An Electric Powered Bus

This district wants to purchase its first Electric Powered Bus, in response to the broader mandate from New York State to eventually have an electric fleet of buses.

However, Ann Marie stressed: “Only if the District receives $250,000 from grants and incentives. An electric bus is definitely more expensive. It's well over $400,000. We asked the taxpayers to purchase this only if we get the grant to offset the cost. This is a program we are basically ... there is a state mandate to have all of our fleet be electric. There will be infrastructure changes at the bus garage, and chargers purchased. This is the first step."

If the district purchases the new electric bus, they will put it on a few runs to see how it plays out over the next few years.

Proposition 4 - Expanding Eligibility For Kids To Take The Bus

The district wants to expand eligibility for kids to take the bus, by reduce the mileage radius of where students live., Currently, students who live 1.5 miles away can take the bus, but not those who live inside that radius.

Proposed is to reduce the radius to 1 mile. Dr. Landahl explained that this has a limited impact on the budget. “Some of the buses are running and they are not full of students,” he stated. “There is a plan for this. We are trying to target areas where kids are having a hard time getting to school. Some of the housing developments, we are trying to get kids to school to increase attendance and do better in school overall.”

He stated that that the biggest impact of this will be on Rombout and Beacon High School. “We hope this helps with on-time-ness," he said.