December Torchlight 2011
As we begin to move into December, we look forward to holiday festivities and the opportunity to spend time with our friends and families. I would like to invite you to join Marathon CSD in our holiday celebrations. Appleby will be having a band and chorus concert on December 15th at 6:30 PM in the HS auditorium. The Jr./Sr. High will be performing their concert on December 21st at 7:00 PM in the HS auditorium. For those interested in helping out a student or family in need, the Angel Tree is located at Alliance Bank. Our counselors in the HS and at Appleby will coordinate the angel tree along with other community efforts to make sure our families have a positive experience. There are many more events scheduled here at school. Please take the time to check out the calendar in the Torchlight so you don’t miss a thing.
As a new superintendent, I must tell you that I am very impressed with what Marathon has to offer our children. At Appleby, students are offered early learning opportunities through head start, Universal Pre K-and pre-1st. Students who are struggling in English language arts and math are given extra opportunities through our academic intervention services (AIS). Character education is addressed on a daily basis using the TKN anti-bullying program. At the Jr./Sr. High School, students have opportunities to join clubs, sports and go on field trips. At Marathon, students are given the opportunity to try multiple activities because the staff works together to schedule the activities. I believe we are unique in this process. In many schools, students are made to choose between activities and are not allowed to explore and soar like our students. In the high school, 57 college credits are offered at Marathon through TC3. This is due to our dedicated staff and administration. Teachers must acquire college approval and go through a credit approval process before they can offer these programs to our students. Students are able to gain both HS and college level credit simultaneously. The addition of TC3 classes as well as AP classes create a rigorous curriculum which prepares students for the world beyond high school. High school students also have the opportunity to take BOCES courses in a variety of areas. Students leaving these programs often gain certification in a specific work area as well as college credits. When the Governor states schools need to become more efficient, I say he needs to look to Marathon for an example of how it should be done. We have limited staff who work extremely hard to give our children a vast number of opportunities! As parents, my husband and I feel that moving to Marathon not only provided our kids with a close knit community but expanded their options educationally.
In January, the school district will begin our budget process. I firmly believe that our community should be not only aware of our process, but be part of the process. After the budget calendar has been approved by the Board of Education, I will post a budget calendar on our web site as well as in an upcoming Torchlight. I am looking for opportunities to share our process and gain feedback with community members. If you are interested in hosting a question/answer session in an upcoming community meeting, please let me know. You can reach my office at 849-3117.
As you may have heard, the Governor announced that each school will have a 2% tax cap. The information which has been published is not correct. What has been established is a tax levy limit for all schools. Each school district will be required to plug specific information into a calculation. This information includes data such as the prior year’s tax levy, last year’s capital tax levy (bus purchases in our case), and tax base growth factors (which will be determined by the state and will be released around mid January.) In addition, exclusions including bus purchases in the past and present, capital debt and increase in pension costs above 2% may increase the levy limit. The district’s tax levy limit derived from this calculation must then be voted on by district residents and pass with at least 50% of the voting public voting yes. (This is how school budgets have been voted on in the past.) If the district chooses to propose a tax levy higher than this limit, we will need 60% of the voters to vote yes.
Bottom Line: The 2% tax cap does not mean school districts are limited to increasing taxes by only 2%. Each school district will have their own tax levy limit. It will be up to each board to determine what is best for their district and residents to vote for or against that tax increase.
I will keep the board and the public up to date on Marathon CSD’s tax levy limit at each Board meeting. It is important that you as a tax payer understand what the new tax levy limit means, so please feel free to attend a Board of Education meeting, call me for clarification or invite me to attend a community meeting.