After hours of deliberation, and three separate votes, the Guilderland School Board drafted a budget proposal that includes full-day Kindergarten.
Superintendent John McGuire brought a budget proposal to the Guilderland School Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, April 7, that did not include a full-day program.
The topic was debated numerous times at school board and citizen’s budget advisory committee meetings.
The final budget proposal includes a tax hike of 0.58 percent, or $11 per $100,000 of assessed value
Richard Weisz, the board’s president, was the champion of the program, and made his pitch to the board members, who initially seemed to favor holding off on the program until the economy gets better.
Is there anybody who really believes the state will not mandate full-day Kindergarten for public schools? Weisz asked. `I can’t believe that our state is not going to come back in the next three years and say you have to have full-day Kindergarten.`
Other elements of the budget were $32,000 in cuts for professional development, $32,000 in cuts for the technology budget, and the addition of $64,000 on elementary school teacher’s assistants not included in the superintendents budget proposal. The public will vote on the final budget proposal in May.
Check the Wednesday, April 15, edition of the Spotlight Newspaper, and at www.spotlightnews.com, for an update on the budget.“