WEST VALLEY — The West Valley School Board of Education will host a special meeting at 7 p.m. Monday to discuss the district’s next steps after its proposed 2018-19 budget failed to pass earlier this week.
It was originally posted on the district’s website — as well as on the school’s electronic sign — the meeting would include a presentation on a pre-annexation study by Castallo & Silky LLC but the meeting was actually scheduled for June 21, according to Superintendent Eric Lawton.
However, the board will convene Monday to discuss the failed budget vote and school bus proposition, as the two propositions failed to pass for the second time in three years. In 2016, the board opted to adopt a contingency budget for the 2016-17 school year instead of putting a new spending plan up for a vote.
“We really have two options: go out with a contingency budget or vote again,” Lawton said.
Lawton said it “was a pain in some ways” when the district operated under a contingency budget during the 2016-17 school year, most notably because it had to charge outside groups for use of the building.
The district had proposed a $9.18 million budget this year that had a 2 percent increase in the tax levy. There was a 0.97 percent increase in spending in the plan, according to school business executive Ann O’Brien. The tax levy jump was within the 4.65 percent cap, she said.
The vote failed to pass by a 181-151 tally. The total votes were almost half of when 600 people came out to vote in 2016 and defeated the budget proposition, 329-271.
A flyer mailed to district residents immediately prior to this year’s vote encouraged taxpayers to vote against the proposed budget. Lawton questioned the accuracy of information on the flyer, which included no identification information about who circulated it, and said he believes it impacted the vote.
Two years ago, members of the Committee for Educational Opportunities in West Valley phone banked and went door-to-door prior to the vote, action that member Orlando Perez said helped drive the number of voters up that year.
However, he said the committee — which hasn’t met in about a year — was not responsible for the flyer that encouraged a vote against the proposed budget.
“Everything we have done, we have put our name on,” he said on Friday. “When we had a petition we went door-to-door and introduced who we were.”
The flyer — a copy of which was obtained by the Olean Times Herald — included figures about the salaries of administrators, enrollment, spending per pupil and special education costs. The date of the vote was incorrect at the top of the flyer.
Voters on Tuesday also turned down a proposition to purchase a 22-passenger bus; Lawton said the failed vote disrupts the district’s bus replacement cycle.
A pre-annexation presentation from education consultants Castallo & Silky LLC will be held June 21 and not May 21 as originally announced. The board hired the firm last autumn to conduct the study, which explores the effect of potential annexation with Ellicottville or Springville-Griffith Institute school districts.
The firm gathered data from neighboring Ellicottville and Springville-Griffith Institute school districts about a variety of aspects of a potential annexation of the West Valley district, which according to state data has a K-12 student population of 229.
Information was requested by the firm at both Ellicottville and Springville, but a request by Ellicottville Central to be financially compensated for its staff to assemble the data limited what was acquired.
“We ended up getting a lot more information about Springville so that is probably going to be the main focus of it,” Lawton said. “But we’ll also look at the finances if we were to go with Ellicottville.”
With findings of the study, the West Valley School Board is expected to eventually discuss the district’s options that include annexation with one or more neighboring districts or remaining on its own.
(Contact managing editor Rich Place at rplacesp@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter, @placerm)
WV Board to Talk Failed Budget.jpg
Photo by Rich Place
The West Valley School Board of Education will meet at 7 p.m. Monday to discuss next steps following the failed 2018-19 proposed budget vote before hearing a presentation about a pre-annexation study conducted by Castallo & Silky LLC.
Failed budget talk, pre-annexation presentation Monday for WVCS board
By RICH PLACE
Special to the Olean Times Herald
WEST VALLEY — A special meeting of the West Valley School Board on Monday originally scheduled to discuss a pre-annexation study is expected to also include conversation about the district’s next steps following this week’s failed budget vote.
The school board had scheduled a meeting for 7 p.m. Monday for officials from Castallo & Silky LLC to present findings from a pre-annexation study. The board had hired the firm last autumn to conduct the study, which explores the effect of potential annexation with Ellicottville or Springville-Griffith Institute school districts.
Now, following a failed budget vote and school bus proposition by voters earlier this week, Superintendent Eric Lawton said the meeting is expected to begin with next steps for the 2018-19 budget.
This year marks the second time in three years the budget vote failed to pass at West Valley. In 2016, the board opted to adopt a contingency budget for the 2016-17 school year instead of putting a new spending plan up for a vote.
“We are going to have a discussion before the meeting with Castallo & Silky,” Lawton said. “We really have two options: go out with a contingency budget or vote again.”
Lawton said it “was a pain in some ways” when the district operated under a contingency budget during the 2016-17 school year, most notably because it had to charge outside groups for use of the building.
The district had proposed a $9.18 million budget this year that had a 2 percent increase in the tax levy. There was a 0.97 percent increase in spending in the plan, according to school business executive Ann O’Brien. The tax levy jump was within the 4.65 percent cap, she said.
The vote failed to pass by a 181-151 tally. The total votes were almost half of when 600 people came out to vote in 2016 and defeated the budget proposition, 329-271.
A flyer mailed to district residents immediately prior to the vote encouraged taxpayers to vote against the proposed budget. Lawton questioned the accuracy of information on the flyer, which included no identification information about who circulated it, and said he believes it impacted the vote.
The failed proposition to purchase a 22-passenger bus disrupts the district’s bus replacement cycle, Lawton said. A proposition to purchase a bus two years ago also failed.
The majority of the meeting on Monday will allow for officials from education consultants Castallo & Silky to present their findings from a pre-annexation study that started late last year.
The firm gathered data from neighboring Ellicottville and Springville-Griffith Institute school districts about a variety of aspects of a potential annexation of the West Valley district, which according to state data has a K-12 student population of 229.
Information was requested by the firm at both Ellicottville and Springville, but a request by Ellicottville Central to be financially compensated for its staff to assemble the data limited what was acquired.
“We ended up getting a lot more information about Springville so that is probably going to be the main focus of it,” Lawton said. “But we’ll also look at the finances if we were to go with Ellicottville.”
With findings of the study, the West Valley School Board is expected to eventually discuss the district’s options that include annexation with one or more neighboring districts or remaining on its own.
The special meeting of the West Valley School Board of Education is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday in the school auditorium.
(Contact managing editor Rich Place at rplacesp@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter, @placerm)
