Absentee Ballots Must Be Received

by Tuesday, June 9 @ 5 pm

Dr. Mark Villanti

Congratulations on your

upcoming second retirement!

Many thanks for your excellent

leadership in Spackenkill!

VOTE

Spackenkill’s tax levy increase is currently second lowest in the county at 1.89%.

The Capital Project is currently on schedule and under budget. Debt Service payments are included in the budget.

SUFSD has been ahead of the curve in investing in technology in the classroom, which benefited us greatly during the pandemic. This budget adds one Technician position to comply with Ed Law 2D.

Solar Project begins this summer/fall as a Power Purchase Agreement. Therefore, there will be no outlay of capital monies but guaranteed savings for the District over a 25-year period.

US News Best HS Rankings place SHS in the top 7.5 percent of NYS high schools and the top 6 percent of high schools nationally.

District applauds 2019 high school graduation rate of 95%!

NYS DOT congratulates Transportation Department for safety record, with over 90% vehicle inspection pass rate. This year’s replacement of two school buses will be part of the budget instead of a proposition.

Total Budget for 2020-2021 . . . . . . . . . . . $48,068,456

Budget Growth from 2019-2020 . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.92%

Tax Levy Increase Is . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 1.89%

This proposed budget falls under

the NYS tax cap!

Dr. Paul Fanuele - Spackenkill’s

incoming Superintendent of

Schools, effective July 1, 2020

Page 2 www.spackenkillschools.org

P O I N T S O F P R I D E

Spackenkill High School makes New York

State’s TOP 100 high schools. Based on 6

factors: college readiness, graduation rates, and

proficiency and performance in both math and

reading.

In recent Niche ratings, the District was rated

#13 of all upstate districts, with a grade of A+.

SHS was rated #1 out of 13 high schools in

Dutchess County.

O. A. Todd Middle School was #1 out of 15

county middle schools.

Nassau K-2 Elementary has been rated #1

elementary school in Dutchess County, followed

by Hagan 3-5 Elementary, listed at #2 in a list of

over 40 elementary schools.

Spackenkill District was also ranked #3 out

of 450 upstate districts as the best place to teach.

Eight-year winner of Best Communities for

Music Education Award from the NAMM

Foundation and UTICA National Safety Award.

Spackenkill's STEM program was rated #31 in the

nation by US News.

Spackenkill High School SAT scores are #3 out of 450 districts in upstate New York, according to CollegeBoard data.

Spackenkill High School is the recipient of the US Department of Education 2018 National Blue Ribbon Award, the first in Dutchess County to receive the award since its inception in 1982.

Dear Spackenkill Residents:

Historical documents tell us that each year the school district has worked to provide our residents with summary information about our school budget prior to the annual budget vote. This has grown from a newspaper notice, to a typed newsletter, to our current website. It has included successes for our schools, students, teachers, staff, as well as administrators all prior to this year’s unprecedented quarantine, which is not only impacting our everyday lives but will also impact the 2020-2021 annual budget vote. So please bear with us as the district works to accomplish the newest in regulations and requirements. It is also necessary to realign our voting process so that you, the voters, can still cast your ballots in consideration of this year’s proposed budget. As a result, we will be using absentee ballots, which will automatically be mailed to each home so that you can cast your vote for the budget and Board candidate(s). You will receive these ballots in time for the June 9th vote. The mailing will also include a prepaid return envelope, so please return your ballot immediately using the prepaid envelope. Once tallied, the results of the budget vote and Board of Education election will be posted on our website at https://spackenkillschools.org/. Please note, as these ballots will have to be opened manually and counted, it will take longer to provide the results. Sincerely, Thomas Keith, Jr., Board President Herman Lo, Board Vice President Dr. Richard Horvath, Board Member Dr. Mary Sawyer, Board Member Daniel Koehler, Board Member

CAPITAL PROJECT UPDATE

Pictured below is the groundbreaking of the Spackenkill High School track and field project, which began in November of 2019 and is on schedule to be completed by June 2020. Please

drive by the High School to see the impressive progress in the works.

HIGH-QUALITY

EDUCATION PLUS LOW

STUDENT-TO-TEACHER

RATIO EQUALS RESULTS.!

A sampling of recent

successes:

Pictured left: Four

seniors competed and

placed 1ST in the Vassar

College Chemistry Bowl,

outscoring seven college

teams!

One Finalist and two

Commended students

in the 2020 National

Merit Scholarship

Awards Program,

placing among the top

five percent of more

than 1.5 million

students who entered

the competition.

Six seniors presented

research at the Junior

Science and Humanities

Symposium. There were

two 1st place winners.

Choral student selected

for National Association

for Music Education

(NAFME) Eastern

Division Conference and

as alternate for NAFME

National Conference.

Two Todd MS students

advanced to state

Mathcounts meet.

Spackenkill

Mathematics Team

captured the DUSO

Sectional

Championship by a

margin of three points!

AP Computer Science

Principles class visited

Marist's networking

and cybersecurity

departments for

immersion in real-world

applications.

12 out of 13 athletic

teams (fall and winter)

were named

NYSPHSAA Scholar

Athlete Teams

101 students were

MHAL Scholar

Athletes, maintaining

an average of 90 or

above.

Partnering with CAPE,

Todd Middle School

piloted “Catch My

Breath,” a national

anti-vaping program.

Leo Club’s Adopt-a-

Family, Spack athletic

teams, and Todd

Student Government

raised thousands of

dollars for community

causes this school year.

Two HS students and

one 2019 graduate

have been listed as co-

authors on scientific

research papers

published in

prestigious journals.

Spackenkill received

NAMM Foundation

award Best

Communities for

Music Education for

the 8th consecutive

year.

HS senior admitted to

top college via

prestigious

QuestBridge program.

www.spackenkillschools.org Page 3

Big win for HS Math Team at DUSO 2020!

Engineers Day at Hagan IBM engineers visited classrooms and helped students problem-solve.

Spiking for Sparrows Fundraiser raises thousands of dollars for Hudson Valley families.

Impressive 5th Grade Mural

Budget Line 2019-2020

Budget

2020-2021

Budget

Admin

Budget

Program

Budget

Capital

Budget

Board of Education 30,764 26,876 26,876 0 0

Central Administration 263,918 274,419 274,419 0 0

Finance 597,264 609,790 609,790 0 0

Legal Fees 112,500 112,500 112,500 0 0

Public Information 85,353 86,441 86,441 0 0

Operations/Maintenance 2,461,737 2,411,737 0 0 2,411,737

Tax Refunds/BOCES Admin/Insurance 666,847 681,820 681,820 0 0

Supervision – Regular Schools 1,368,556 1,429,513 1,429,513 0 0

Inservice Training 168,797 169,680 0 169,680 0

Teaching – Regular Schools 15,060,269 15,357,143 0 15,357,143 0

Teaching – Students with Disabilities 4,958,895 4,946,140 0 4,946,140 0

Teaching – Career Education 432,600 447,700 0 447,700 0

Teaching – Special Schools 115,653 99,936 0 99,936 0

Library & Audio Visual 459,854 416,307 0 416,307 0

Computer Assisted Instruction 1,120,433 1,182,794 0 1,182,794 0

Guidance 688,191 700,075 0 700,075 0

Health 317,589 282,205 0 282,205 0

Pupil Personnel Services 790,564 848,121 0 848,121 0

Co-Curricular Activities 249,563 163,200 0 163,200 0

Interscholastic Athletics 451,335 438,250 0 438,250 0

Transportation 1,807,164 1,768,117 0 1,768,117 0

Employee Benefits 12,744,245 12,884,804 1,179,712 9,849,249 1,855,843

Debt Service 2,025,406 2,555,888 0 0 2,555,888

Interfund Transfers 185,000 175,000 0 75,000 100,000

TOTAL $47,162,497 $48,068,456 4,401,071 36,743,917 6,923,468

Budget-to-Budget Increase 2.39% 1.92%

Dollar Increase $1,101,729 $ 905,959

www.spackenkillschools.org Page 4 www.spackenkillschools.org Page 4

www.spackenkillschools.org Page 5

2020-2021 PROPERTY TAX REPORT CARD Budgeted

2019-20 (A) Proposed Budget

2020-21 (B)

Total Budgeted Amount, not including Separate Propositions $47,162,497 $48,068,456

A. Proposed Tax Levy to Support the Total Budgeted Amount1 $30,299,099 $30,871,945

B. Tax Levy to Support Library Debt, if Applicable

C. Tax Levy for Non-Excludable Propositions, if Applicable2

D. Total Tax Cap Reserve Amount Used to Reduce Current Year Levy, if Applicable

E. Total Proposed School Year Tax Levy (A+B+C-D) $30,299,099 $30,871,945

F. Permissible Exclusions to the School Tax Levy Limit $440,832 $744,548

G. School Tax Levy Limit, Excluding Levy for Permissible Exclusions3 $29,913,710 $31,444,286

H. Total Proposed School Year Tax Levy, Excluding Levy to Support Library Debt and/or Permissible Exclusions (E-B-F+D)

$29,858,267 $30,127,397

I. Difference: (G-H): negative value requires 60.0% voter approval)2 $55,443 $1,316,889

Public School Enrollment 1,525 1,491

Consumer Price Index 1.81% 1 Include any prior year reserve for excess tax levy, including interest. 2 Tax levy associated with educational or transportation services propositions are not eligible for exclusion under the School Tax Levy Limit and may affect voter approval requirements. 3. For 2020-2021, includes any carryover from 2019-2020 and excludes any tax levy for library debt or prior year reserve for excess tax levy, including interest.

Actual

2019-2020 (D) Estimated 2020-21 (E)

Adjusted Restricted Fund Balance $0 $0

Assigned Appropriated Fund Balance $1,600,000 $1,977,877

Adjusted Unrestricted Fund Balance $1,886,920 $1,922,738

Adjusted Unrestricted Fund Balance as a Percent of the Total Budget 4.00% 4.00%

RESERVE TYPE

RESERVE NAME

RESERVE DESCRIPTION 03/31/20 ACTUAL

BALANCE

6/30/20 EST. ENDING

BALANCE

INTENDED USE IN THE 2020-21

YEAR

Capital Buses To pay the cost of any object or purpose for which

112,315 1,000 School Buses

Repair To pay the cost of repairs to capital

improvements or equipment.

Workers’ Compensation Worker Comp To pay for Workers Compensation and benefits. 338,449 325,000 Work Comp

Unemployment Insurance To pay the cost of reimbursement to the State

Unemployment Insurance Fund. 266,495 245,000 Unemployment

Insurance

Reserve for Tax Reduction For the gradual use of the proceeds of the sale of

school district real property.

Mandatory Reserve for Debt Service

To cover debt service payments on outstanding

obligations (bonds, BANS) after the sale of district capital assets or improvements.

Insurance General

Insurance To pay liability, casualty, and other types of

uninsured losses. 314,232 310,000

General Insurance

Property Loss To establish and maintain a program of

reserves to cover property claims incurred.

Liability To establish and maintain a program to

cover liability claims incurred.

Tax Certiorari Tax Cert To establish a reserve fund for tax certiorari settlements. 4,163,055 4,100,000 Tax Cert

Reserve for Insurance Recoveries To account for unexpended proceeds of insurance

recoveries at the fiscal year end.

Employee Benefit Accrued Liability Unemployment For the payment of accrued ‘employee benefits’ due to

employees upon termination of service. 780,000 775,000 Unemployment

Retirement Contribution Retirement To fund employer retirement contributions to the State

and Local Employees’ Retirement System. 1,162,089 1,200,000 Retirement

Reserve for Uncollected Taxes For unpaid taxes due certain city school districts not reimbursed by their county until following fiscal year.

Single Other Reserve Misc-BOCES

1,014,200 350,000 BOCES

Page 6

accomplishments. Here are just a few notable successes

from our staff.

Daniel Doherty, Todd Middle School Principal, second year

of training as a Cognitive Coach.

Karen Crichton, Kerri Fassett and Robyn Davis are as active

board members of the Mid-Hudson Reading Council. Karen

is also in charge of literacy program at the Grace Smith.

PLUS retiree Joan Murphy serves as Mid-Hudson Reading

Council’s President and running the literacy program at

Brookhaven. Additionally, Robyn Davis, Kerri Fassett, Kelly

Malet and Kathy McAteer completed 60 hours of course

work at the Associate Level for Orton Gillingham and in the

process of becoming instructors.

Todd science teacher Elyse Joy received a $1,900 grant that

she will put into action by taking the entire 7th grade to

Esopus Meadows Preserve to study biodiversity.

Elementary art teacher Sharon Ciccone continues to serve

as President of NYS Art Teachers Association and as a

delegate to National Art Education Association. Sharon also

serves on the Content Advisory Panel as a Visual Art

Specialist for the NYS Education Department.

Music teacher Kim Valentine is NYASTA Membership

ChaA A school district’s tax levy is the amount the district plans to collect from all of its taxpayers in a

given year. The tax rate is the number that’s used

to determine your property tax bill.

The tax rate is calculated by dividing the tax levy by the total of assessed property values. Because tax

rates are generally expressed as "per $1,000 of

taxable assessed value," the product is multiplied by

1,000.

That means, for a house assessed at $200,000

(assuming a tax rate of 22.25, which was last year's

homestead tax rate), the calculation is:

(Tax Rate X Assessed Value) / 1000 = the approximate school tax for that property or (22.25

X 200,000) / 1000 = $4,450

ir, NYSSMA Manual Editor for Double Bass Solos and

Ensembles statewide.

Karin McGuire, Kim Rogers, and Eleanor Pupko organized

Spackenkill Community’s Student Government's 3rd

Annual Spiking for Sparrow's Nest Charity Volleyball

Tournament which raised $2,226, a little more t 2 years.

Albert Scanlon TMS FACS teacher was asked by

Queens College to participate with his students in a

promotional video featuring outstanding graduates.

Kim Walsh and Kim Rogers challenged their physical

Incoming Superintendent Dr. Paul Fanuele was

a panelist on the Congressional Caucus to End the

Youth Vaping Epidemic. He is on the Board of

Directors of the National Association of Secondary

School Principals and is Past President of the

School Administrators Association of New York State.

Assistant Superintendent Dr. Lori Mulford is on

the Board of Directors of Gateway Hudson Valley,

a not-for-profit agency serving individuals with

mental, developmental, physical, and other

differing abilities.

Nassau teacher Carrie Spiegel has been named

Elementary Physical Education Teacher of the

Year by the Southeastern Zone of New York

State Association for Health, Physical Education,

Recreation and Dance (NYS AHPERD).

Spackenkill hosted the 2020 DCMEA Elementary

All-County Festival. Kim Valentine is the

statewide NYSSMA Manual Editor for Double Bass

Solos & Ensembles and the DCMEA Orchestra

Librarian. Pennie Burgess is the DCMEA Band

Librarian.

Art Educator Sharon Ciccone serves as

Immediate Past President to the NYS Art

Teachers Association (NYSATA). She also serves

on the NYS Arts Content Advisory Panel for NYS

Education Department, is a National Art Education

Association School for Art Leadership Graduate,

and a Presenter at the NYSATA Conference.

HS Gu i d an ce Coun se lo r Re becca

Chaoussoglou-Rotter continues to serve on the

Marist College Teacher Education Advisory Board.

Athletics Director Marco Lanzoni has been

selected by the Dutchess County Basketball

Coaches Association as the recipient of the 2020

Ernie Verdis Service Award for his contributions

to area basketball.

www.spackenkillschools.org

We have estimated that on a house assessed at $202,000, the tax

increase would be approximately $61. The taxes are based upon the

tax rates, which are predicated on the assessed values of properties

and the proportion allocated between the homestead and non-

homestead properties. These proportions and assessments will be

established by the Town of Poughkeepsie. Of note, Spackenkill’s

Board of Education passed a partial exemption for veterans in

February of 2014. Details can be found on our website by searching

for veterans’ exemptions, or call the Town of Poughkeepsie

Assessor’s Office at 485-3640.

If you would like more specific information that cannot be found in this brochure or on our website, you may:

Contact any Board member by email: boardofed@sufsdny.org

Contact Superintendent Dr. Mark Villanti at mark.villanti@sufsdny.org or the School Business Administrator, Ms.

Michele Moloney, at michele.moloney@sufsdny.org or visit our website: https://www.spackenkillschools.org/

departments/business_office/budget_information

A school district’s tax levy is the amount the district plans to

collect from all of its taxpayers in a given year. The tax rate is

the number that’s used to determine your property tax bill.

The tax rate is calculated by dividing the tax levy by the total of

assessed property values. Because tax rates are generally expressed as

"per $1,000 of taxable assessed value," the product is multiplied

by 1,000.

That means, for a house assessed at $200,000, assuming a tax

rate of 22.25 (which was last year's homestead tax rate), the

calculation is: (Tax Rate X Assessed Value)/ 1000 = the approxi-

mate school tax for that property or (22.25 X 200,000) / 1000 = $4,450.

www.spackenkillschools.org Page 7

Board of Education

Vice President Herman Lo

Dr. Richard Horvath

Dr. Mary Sawyer

Daniel Koehler

Superintendent of

Schools

Mark Villanti, Ed.D.

Assistant Superintendent

for Curriculum,

Instruction,

and Pupil Personnel

Lori Mulford, Ed.D.

Business Administrator

Michele S. Moloney

SPACKENKILL UNION FREE

SCHOOL DISTRICT 15 CROFT ROAD

POUGHKEEPSIE NY 12603

Qualifications of

Voters

1. 18 years or older

2. Citizen of the U.S.

3. Resident of the school

district for 30 days prior

to June 9, 2020

Proof of Residency

Accepted but not limited to:

1. Driver’s License

2. Non-Driver ID Card

3. Utility Bill

PLEASE NOTE:

If more than one qualified

voter lives at your resi-

dence, please contact the

District Clerk to request ad-

ditional absentee ballots at

845-463-7800.

Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage

PAID

Permit No. 1500 Newburgh NY

RESOLVED, that the Board of Education of the Spackenkill Union Free School

District be and it is hereby authorized to appropriate the necessary funds to meet

estimated expenditures of the district in the sum of $48,068,456 for the 2020-2021

fiscal year; such funds to be raised by a tax on the taxable property of the district to

be levied and collected as provided by law.

All 2020 Ballots Shall Be Absentee Ballots

In accordance with Executive Order No. 202.26,

the Annual Budget Vote and School Board Election

will be held by absentee ballot only. All qualified

voters of this School District will receive absentee

ballots by mail. Candidate and budget information

will be available on the website (https://

www.spackenkillschools.org/).

A qualified voter is defined under the Education

Law as: a US Citizen, at least 18 years old by June

9, 2020, a school district resident for 30 immediately

preceding the vote and not otherwise ineligible to

vote under Section 5-106 of Election Law.

All registered voters will automatically be sent an

absentee ballot, a post-paid return envelope, and

instructions. If you, or anyone else in your house-

hold, meet the definition of a qualified voter, but

have not registered to vote, you are eligible to

receive an absentee ballot and vote in the annual

budget vote and election. Information on how an

unregistered voter may receive an absentee ballot is

available at https://www.spackenkillschools.org/boe/

absentee_ballot

Senator Serino at

Todd’s Seatbelt Presentation