Taxpayers in the Newburgh Enlarged City School District will be asked to approve a proposed budget in excess of $293 million next week. That represents an increase of $5,775,084 or 2.01 percent.

The proposed tax levy of $110,864,396 remains the same as the current school year.

“We venture to say that this may be a record of New York state schools have six years in a row, we have had zero percent increase to the levy,” said Dr Lisamarie Spindler, Assistant Superintendent of Finance. “We could have increased the levy to nearly two percent this year and we have decided to keep it at zero percent to lessen any tax burden onto our community members.”
Dr. Roberto Padilla, District Superintendent, identified key district priorities with the intent of aligning those priorities with budgetary objectives. They are:
- Teaching & learning

- Wellness
- Transformative leadership
- Efficient operation

“Financially we’re expecting to see an increase in school aid to our district and that’s good news that’s really good news we’ve been waiting for this formula,” said Padilla, at the district’s April 29 school budget information session.

“We’re going to advocate on behalf of our scholars and on behalf of you to make sure our voices are at the table (and that) we can get the maximize funding we can receive,” Padilla said.

Padilla said there will be no staff layoffs in the budget, despite the pandemic.

“Work has been hard to come by for many of our families, the economy has been shut down at various points during this academic school year, and so we wanted to make it a priority to preserve as many positions as possible and do so in a way, where we don’t have any layoffs,” Padilla said. “At the same time, we do have a number of vacancies still on the books that we intend to fill and we’ve already started making those postings public.”

In addition to the budget, voters are asked to approve a proposition to increase the district’s capital reserve fund from $10 million to $25 million.

There are three open seats on the board of education that will also be decided on May 18. Voters will choose among five candidates: Dawn Furchek, Ramona Burton, Renee Y. Greene, Philip Howard and Shoy Colbourne.
Voting will take place on Tuesday, May 18, from noon until 9 p.m. Visit the district’s website, newburghschools.org for location of polling places.