Miller Place displays budget/trustees for May 21 vote

Miller Place displays budget/trustees for May 21 vote

Miller Place High School. File photo by Kevin Redding

Miller Place School District Budget

The Miller Place School District is trying to maintain its current programming with a tax levy cap below 2 percent.

The proposed budget figure for the 2019-20 school year is $73,958,607, an increase of more than 1.2 million from the current year’s amount. The district will be receiving $22,600,228 in total state aid, including $14,090,960 in foundation aid. 

The total tax levy amount is $46,928,588, an increase of $638,534 from last year and sticking directly at the 1.38 percent tax levy cap. 

Superintendent Marianne Cartisano said the budget maintains all current programming, despite the relatively low tax levy cap.

“We’re holding onto everything we can,” Cartisano said during a May 7 budget hearing. “We’re holding onto our programs.”

The teachers’ retirement saving rates will go down from 10.62 percent to 9.50 percent and would save the district close to $370,000. 

Miller Place looks to reduce capital project funding from $530,000 to $280,000 for 2019-20, though the district will use $72,335 to add playground equipment. Debt services will decrease by more than $391,000 due in part to the completion of payments to a 2003 renovation bond. 

The new budget will sustain the district’s program initiatives, which include new course offerings at the high school: new social studies and Advanced Placement classes, Common Core algebra math lab, Advanced Placement music theory, science-scientific computing and new electives in the English department. 

Miller Place trustee candidates:

Two seats are open for this year’s Miller Place school board election, and two incumbents are running unopposed. Both seats will be up for three-year terms starting July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2022.  Incumbents Johanna Testa, who this year served as the board president, and Noelle Dunlop are the only candidates that have filed nominating petitions. The budget vote and trustee election will take place May 21 from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the North Country Road Middle School Gym.

Johanna Testa. File photo by Victoria Espinoza

Johanna Testa: 

Testa has served on the board for the past seven years and has held the position of BOE president since 2015. 

Testa hopes, as a board, the administration will continue to look for creative ways to do more with less. As she said one of the main issues facing the district is the challenge of maintaining existing programs and expanding opportunities when a two percent cap doesn’t always mean two percent. 

The board president also wants to enhance the mental health curriculum in schools by offering assemblies and community events for parents. Additionally, she wants to support students in the area of mental health, make sure they are making good choices when it comes to the rise of vaping with products such as Juul, and make sure they are promoting the most positive environment possible in their schools. 

Noelle Dunlop:

Dunlop has served as trustee on the board since 2013. In addition to being on the board, she serves as a parent leader of the Miller Place Explorers 4H Club and has been the president of the Miller Place Friends of the Arts since 2016. 

The board trustee has pointed to the lack of funding at the state and federal levels as an important issue the district is facing. She also wants to increase demands on the budget and will look to remedy the funding issue by lobbying legislators to their cause and pursuing letter writing campaigns to local officials.