As reported by Executive Director Robert Schneider of NYSSBA this week:
"Voter turnout (640,689) for last week’s elections increased 23% from the previous year. These voters approved 99% of proposed school district budgets, a strong and welcome endorsement of the spending plans presented by local school boards. State funding to help districts recover from the impacts of COVID-19 and a continued phase-in of the Foundation Aid formula were enormously helpful as schools cope with inflation and the ongoing consequences of the pandemic.
School budgets adopted for the 2022-23 school year fund a number of education priorities, such as academic intervention and enrichment programs to address "learning loss" attributed to the pandemic. Many districts are strengthening mental health services, restoring extracurricular activities, and adding counselors, social workers, librarians, attendance officers and teachers of art, music, and elective courses.
The average tax levy increase is projected to be 1.78%, which is lower than the average of 1.90% for the previous five years. Overall, districts were able to keep tax levies relatively stable, keep core programs and services intact and even add staff in their budgets for 2022-23.
And congratulations to all of the incumbent school board members who were reelected and to the new school board members who will be joining their school boards this summer. On the whole statewide, the number of candidates vying for open seats was on par with previous years. Some districts had many more candidates than usual – as many as 8 or 10 candidates for 2 or 3 vacancies. Many other districts, however, had candidates running unopposed or lacked enough candidates on the ballot to fill vacancies without write-ins.
I also want to sincerely thank our retiring school board members for their dedicated and thoughtful leadership during these challenging times. I know thousands of New York students benefited from their hard work.
NYSSBA will be sending out welcome packets to new members in the coming weeks. In the meantime, please check out NYSSBA’s website for more information about the roles and responsibilities of school boards."