Pine Plains School District budget defeated

PINE PLAINS — The Pine Plains School District budget vote held on Tuesday, June 21, resulted in a second defeat of the budget.The first proposed budget was defeated during the original vote on Tuesday, May 17. The district then decided to hold a second vote on a revised, lower budget instead of going straight to the contingency budget.Contingency budgets do not afford the Board of Education (BOE) as much flexibility in determining where to make cuts as they would have under normal, noncontingency circumstances.The contingency budget, which will now go into effect as a result of June 21 vote, is for $27,603,304. This is a decrease of $339,841 from the originally proposed budget of $27,943,145 and a decrease of $98,401 from the second proposed budget of $27,701,705.The contingency budget is a 2.731 percent increase over the 2010-11 budget, down from the proposed 3.996 percent budget-to-budget increase of the originally proposed budget.During a special BOE meeting held on Wednesday, June 22, it was decided where further reductions would be made to meet the dollar amount of the contingency budget.Reductions were made to three areas of the budget: the equipment purchases, the transfer to the capital fund and the funding for extracurricular activities. These reductions are in addition to the reductions that were made during the revision of the original budget to create the second proposed budget that was defeated on June 21.As required by state law, all funds for new equipment purchases (excluding any equipment needed to meet health and safety requirements) and all funds for minor capital projects (for example, repairing the school’s baseball dugouts or replacing a flagpole) are cut from the contingency budget. That means that $48,000 was cut from equipment purchases and $25,000 was cut from the transfer to the capital fund.To meet the final amount for the contingency budget, the BOE ultimately decided to direct the administration to reduce $25,400 from the funding for extracurricular activities. This reduction will not cut out whole activities, but will reduce the funding for all activities overall.Superintendent Linda Kaumeyer said that even though it was a close vote, the public has spoken and the BOE will follow the public’s wishes. She said that the district’s main job is to provide quality programs and ensure that the schools run smoothly, regardless of the size of the budget.“Academic programs will remain generally unaffected,” she said.As with normal budgets, a contingency budget covers one year. A new budget will be put up for vote next year.More information about how normal budgets and contingency budgets are written, regulated and capped can be found on the New York State Education Department website: www.p12.nysed.gov.Earn for your schoolThe Seymour Smith Intermediate Learning Center is enrolled in the Box Tops for Education Program. This program allows people to earn free money for their school by collecting the “Box Top” coupons found on thousands of items. Each Box Top coupon is worth 10 cents.Many of the brands that carry the Box Top coupons are very popular. A full list of vendors can be found on the Box Tops for Education website (www.boxtops4education.com). The Box Top coupons can be found on cereal boxes, disposable tableware, dairy products, office supplies, storage bags and containers, baking items, side dishes, snacks, water filtration systems, beverages and more.To earn free money for a school, simply collect the Box Top coupons and drop them off at the Seymour Smith Intermediate Learning Center main office. Write “Attn.: PTA” on the envelope.There are also other ways to earn money for schools through the Box Tops for Education program:The Box Tops MarketplaceOnline shoppers can look for “e-Box Tops.” The participating stores include the Apple Store, Best Buy, DisneyStore.com, Expedia, Gap, Home Depot, JCPenny, Leap Frog, Macy’s, Nike, Old Navy, Sears, Target, Walgreens and Walmart. Find a full list of participating stores on the Box Tops for Education website.The Box Tops Reading RoomBox Tops for Education has partnered with Barnes & Noble to give out e-Box Tops with qualified book purchases. See which books qualify and shop through the Box Tops for Education website.Bonus OpportunitiesEvery month, the Box Tops for Education web site has special giveaways, promotions and sweepstakes that offer a chance to win thousands of extra Box Tops for schools. The more local people who enter the contests, the better chance the Pine Plains Central School District has of winning. A recent sweepstake gave away 50,000 Box Tops — $5,000 — to the winning school. Enter the contests every month on the Box Tops for Education website.