School Budget Votes To Be Done By Absentee Ballot
By Doug La Rocque
On Friday, April 30, Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered that all schools and colleges remain closed for the rest of the academic year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He also ordered that all school budget and Board of Education voting scheduled for Tuesday, May 18, be postponed until Tuesday, June 9. That, however, is far from the only change ordered by the Governor under his state of emergency declaration. He has also pushed back the dates when schools boards must finalize the 2020-2021 budget and has ordered that all public hearings be held by a form of teleconferencing, not in person.
Further, he has ordered that post cards be sent to all district residents informing them of the change, along with an absentee ballot. That is the only way residents will be able to cast their votes – there will be no in person voting allowed anywhere in the state this year.
Lots Of Confusion
This has school boards and administrators scrambling – having many meetings with their attorneys to cross the t’s and dot the i’s, and make sure legal notices, the first step in this process, are properly written and published on time.
They also must set up virtual board workshops and a meeting to adopt the budget, and arrange for virtual public hearings. Simultaneously, they also have the chore of preparing and mailing the information cards, and procuring the absentee ballots, which are unique to each district.
New Lebanon Central School District Superintendent Leslie Whitcomb said they are working with their legal team to make sure all the provisions of the executive order are interpreted correctly to assure for a legal budget. She further bemoaned the compressed time period, at this point slightly more than 30 days, that districts have to pull all the components together. She said all these added requirements are proving to be quite expensive.
Ms. Whitcomb said she has been discussing the matter with other area superintendents as to the best way for school districts to proceed. One of those involved in the discussions is Brittonkill School Superintendent Dr. Angelina Maloney, who told The Eastwick Press, “this regulation is extremely problematic for Districts. This, along with the prospect of state aid cuts, has made this even more complicated. I’m concerned about the fairness and cost as well as trying to determine eligible voters. Our District has been tax cap compliant since the inception, therefore I wish that had been taken into consideration. It is my hope that Governor Cuomo will readdress this order.”
State aid cuts are another concern of Superintendent Whitcomb’s as well. She said that while one date has passed, the Governor and state legislature still have two more opportunities to trim the state aid figures previously released. Given the size of the state’s budget deficit, estimated by some to be as high as $15 billion, she fears this may be a possibility.
The Eastwick Press reached out to 107th District Assemblyman Jake Ashby, who tells us he has not heard of any movement on altering the state funding but is aware that additional federal funding is being considered.
He also said there was a lot of talk about education on Tuesday from Governor Cuomo, but that in his opinion, “not much of it was good.”