Mount Sinai presents instructional, technology and special education budget plans; administrators cite $319,456 increase for covered sections

Mount Sinai Union Free School District administrators on Feb. 4 presented budget proposals for instructional programs, professional development, technology, pupil personnel services, guidance and ancillary areas — roughly 10% of the district’s total budget — and reported a combined proposed increase of $319,456 for those sections.

Superintendent Dr. Crucione opened the workshop by outlining recent school events before turning the meeting to administrators. Dr. Branscomb, speaking about curriculum and professional development, described a three-part budget: contractual services for speakers and AP training, materials and supplies for conference printing and assessment scoring manuals, and BOCES services that include AIMSweb, alternate-assessment training and other assessment and scoring supports.

"We have our contractual services. We have our materials and supplies. And we also have our BOCES services," Dr. Branscomb said. He told the board the district is holding that budget component at the same level as the current year while maintaining BOCES-funded training and assessment supports.

Building principals and department leads then summarized proposed investments at each level. The middle school principal outlined plans to introduce modern collaborative desks and chairs in two classrooms, expand digital signage ("Mustang TV") with eight screens for live announcements, refresh building signage and continue a STARLab planetarium visit program for science instruction. The presenter said the school will expand its robotics program after a successful inaugural season.

Math and science leaders described funding for competitions, consumable workbooks, new equipment for a STEAM lab at the elementary school, replacement calculators and AP biology textbooks. The humanities lead said English and literacy work will align to the science of reading and that the district plans to add AP Seminar at the high school and a presentational speaking course tied to Adelphi for optional college credit. World-language materials purchased to align to new New York State standards reduced next year's budget pressure in that area.

Technology Director Martin (surname in transcript varies) said the technology budget shows a "significant increase" but represents about 1% of the overall district budget and supports instruction, business operations and building security. Major items include a replacement cycle for aging interactive panels and iMac/Mac lab computers, a move to lease Chromebooks through Eastern Suffolk BOCES to build a replacement schedule and possible expansion of multi-factor authentication and other cybersecurity tools. He said some hardware and instructional-support leases routed through BOCES can yield aid on the back end.

Special education staff reported that a planned new 8:1 elementary program will require additional materials, augmentative communication devices and possible tuition for out-of-district placements; the department also noted costs for homebound instruction, summer services to prevent regression and related services mandated by individual student needs. The special education presenter said Questar (BOCES) stacking support will be used to report costs to the state and recover additional aid where applicable.

Adult education staff said their program is self-sustaining through registration and enrollment fees; expected increases largely reflect higher cross-registration costs for driver's education with an outside auto school and expansion of course offerings including first aid/CPR sections and self-defense.

District administrators summarized the numeric effect of the workshop items: "adding up all of those different departments, we're looking at an increase of $319,456 for this these sections," the superintendent reported. She then noted January increases of $140,000 and a February total so far of $319,000 for a combined $460,000 added to date across workshops.

Why it matters: The presentations outline how instructional priorities, student safety, technology lifecycle planning and mandated special education services will affect next year's budget. Several proposed changes rely on BOCES contracting to realize aid or shared services, and some programs (new 8:1 class, technology leases) will require vendor selection and follow-up approval by the board when specific contracts are presented.

What remains: Administrators said some items will be returned to the board in later meetings, including the athletic budget, operations and maintenance, grounds and salary/benefit schedules. No final budget adoption occurred at this workshop; the session was a review of instructional-area proposals and assumptions.