RCSD budget goes to a vote on May 20

Current proposal rejected by board

By Erick Slattery | Manor Ink

Livingston Manor, NY – Voters officially decided in December that Livingston Manor and Roscoe would combine into a single school district. The seven members of the merged Board of Education were elected in February and voted on its new name, the Rockland Central School District. The board has been meeting regularly to get things organized for the first school year as a merged district, starting in September.

Developing the budget for the 2025-26 school year is a critical board task, one that is required by law. The board had to approve a budget by Apr. 30. Following that, a public hearing on the approved budget will take place on May 6, and the official public vote to accept or reject it will take place May 20.

At its Wednesday, Apr. 9, meeting, the Board of Education directed the administration to develop a proposed budget with revenue assumptions about the amount needed from the state’s mandated tax levy, incentive aid available for the merger and existing fund balance reserves. Business Manager Jeff Froehlich presented the resulting $32,134,980 budget proposal at the board’s Apr. 22 meeting.

The resolution to approve the proposed budget resulted in a three-to-three split vote, meaning the budget was not approved at the Apr. 22 meeting. There were only six of the seven board members present due to Chris Tulewit’s absence. Although member Nicole Park had voted with the majority on Apr. 9, she did not support the budget approval in the Apr. 22 vote.

“This is somewhat new territory for me, and I have several things I need to explore as we move forward,” Superintendent John Evans told Manor Ink. “At the last board meeting Jeff and I presented several different tax levy budget options to the board. After reviewing and discussing all of the options presented, the board voted five to two for us to present the specific budget scenario they voted down last night.”

Evans indicated that he expects the Board of Education to meet again before the statutory deadline. “Hopefully the next budget meeting goes better and the Rockland CSD board can agree on an educationally sound budget for our students and our community.”

Future merged board of education meetings will be live-streamed. The board voted to stream its meetings but based on legal advice, will not stream the public comment portion of the meeting. Meeting minutes do itemize the topics raised by the public.