District Plans For More Teachers In Budget Update

The final dollar amount the Half Hollow Hills School District plans to spend in the upcoming school year is still a work in progress, but one thing is certain: the district will need more teachers. 

Additional staff at the middle and high school levels will be needed due to class scheduling, Anne Marie Marrone Caliendo, assistant superintendent for finance and facilities, said Monday during a budget update presentation at

Budget predictions in February suggested throughout the district. While more teachers are said to be necessary on the secondary level, lower enrollment in the elementary schools are expected to force at least 14 teachers out of jobs. Marrone Caliendo said the board did not yet know whether the additional teachers would be core area or specialty educators.

One piece of the budget closer to finalization is the projected property tax levy increase. Keeping with the new state tax limitation, the district submitted its formula for determining its property tax levy increase, then set at 2.37 percent, to New York State on March 1. That figure would have resulted in a  The state determined an increase slightly less than district's estimation, with an increase of 2.33 percent. The new percentage is expected to result in an additional $100,000 cut. It is possible for that number to change again as the state continues to release its financial figures, Marrone Caliendo said.

"The process has changed everyday," Superintendent Kelly Fallon said. "We've been somewhat frustrated with the information received from the state."

Another change to the figures projected last month is an $850,000 reduction to the district’s equipment budget.

An area where the district will have to set aside more money is health care premiums.

The state is requiring an additional $650,000 toward the item. The board of education will present its March 19 at Vanderbilt Elementary School, 8 p.m.