Chappaqua Looks Toward School Upgrades, Weighs Bond Options

While many districts have cut back on capital projects as a result of operating under the state tax cap, Chappaqua school officials plan to continue the district’s bold renovation program that began in 2014.

Board of Education President Warren Messner told parents during a marathon Jan. 13 meeting that the district wanted to continue upgrading classrooms and was weighing how to do so.

“We’re trying not to just have the traditional classroom where the teacher stands up in the front and has rows of students,” he said. “We’re trying to have collaborative learning.”

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Lyn McKay said the district was far ahead of most other districts in what they offered and wanted to keep it that way.

“What’s important in the next four years is to accelerate the district’s involvement in innovative learning environment for all our students, because we want to remain on the cutting edge, in terms of teaching and learning,” McKay said. “We want to prepare our students for the best colleges and the strongest careers in the 21st century.”

The district unveiled new learning environments in 2014 that included collaborative work areas district officials refer to as “iLabs.” At Horace Greeley High School, six iLabs were introduced. A learning lab at Robert E. Bell Middle School was also installed.

The next step, McKay said, is to add 16 more innovative learning spaces at Bell and Seven Bridges Middle School by spring 2018. She said the district hoped to start work this summer.

The plans also calls for 10 to 15 more of the innovative learning classrooms at the high school and a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) lab that would be used for science, math and art classes.

From summer 2018 to 2020, the district would add elementary and middle school innovation learning environments, including STEAM labs at the middle schools and new learning labs at the elementary schools.

Additionally, district officials want to create what they called a “global learning center” for the high school library.

“This would allow our students to do much more in-depth research and have much more access to technology to do that,” McKay said.

She said the goal was to ultimately create small learning communities at Horace Greeley with two iLabs on the first and second floors surrounded by classrooms. Details of the layout still had to be fleshed out.

The renovations would also include athletic fields and outdoor learning spaces and other capital improvements that comprise health and safety upgrades and library repairs.

The project would be paid for by district funds and likely with help from the Chappaqua School Foundation, which has paid for the majority of the district’s recent upgrades. McKay said she hoped foundation members would support the plans.

How the district would pay for its share of the work still needs to be explored. Messner said it was still a good time to explore a referendum.

“Interest rates are still pretty low, and we can make incredible improvements doing this,” he said. “One thing to look at is we want to be tax-neutral. We can’t be raising taxes.”

District officials did not mention a projected cost for the planned renovations. Facilities Committee members Karen Visser and Jeffrey Mester were asked to explore bond options.

The capital project discussion was preceded by a brief presentation by Assistant Superintendent for Business John Chow on the 2016-17 budget. While budget work is in its early stages, Chow said the Consumer Price Index (CPI) that will be used to help compute the tax cap will be near 0 percent.

“The tax levy will definitely come in under the tax cap,” he said.

Spending is estimated to increase by 1.29 percent next year, Chow stated.

Student enrollment also impacts tax levy calculations. Chow said the most recent projections show a loss of five elementary school students, 52 fewer students at the middle schools and a gain of 13 students at the high school, making a net loss of 44 students districtwide. Staff reductions, if any, would be dictated by enrollment changes, he said.

The district’s contributions to the Employees’ Retirement System will decrease from 18.2 percent to 15.5 percent. Chow is estimating a 2.5 percent increase in health insurance premiums next year.

The district’s assessment growth factor is 0.6 percent, an increase from the current 0.35 percent. That increase should help the district’s tax cap calculations, Chow said. Equalization rates for New Castle and Mount Pleasant have increased, which he said illustrates that the real estate markets in both towns are improving.

Transportation costs and special education numbers were not yet available, and contributions to the New York State Teachers’ Retirement System won’t be known until the end of January, he said.

During last week’s State of the State address, Gov. Andrew Cuomo called for $266 million toward foundation aid, the main source of funding for general school operations, and $189 million to partially restore the Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA), a practice that began six years ago of diverting education funds to deal with the state’s budget shortfall at the time.

Chow said the district is owed a cumulative $6.2 million in GEA, but said the district will likely never get that full amount back.

The PTA will sponsor two budget forums at Bell Middle School on Tuesday, March 1, one starting at 9:30 a.m. and another at 7:30 p.m.