Voters will also weigh budget, capital project
Four candidates filed nominating petitions this week to run for three open seats on the Beacon school board, creating the first contested race since 2018.
Flora Stadler, the vice president, is seeking her third, three-year term on the nine-member board. She will be joined on the May 21 ballot by newcomers Chris Lewine, LaVonne McNair and Meg Phillips.
Two of the open seats are held by Stadler and Yunice Heath, who announced in February that she would not run for re-election. A third seat was vacated last year by John Galloway Jr., who resigned.
Lewine, a former high school principal and math teacher, is the chief of data strategy and product innovation for Connecticut RISE Network. McNair is an analyst with Carrington Mortgage Services and a board member of I Am Beacon. Phillips has a master’s degree in English and a master’s in teaching secondary education.
The candidate with the most votes will join the board immediately to fill Galloway’s seat and serve a three-year term. The other two winners will begin their three-year terms on July 1. A Meet the Candidates event is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on May 13 at Beacon High School.
The May ballot will also ask voters to approve the district’s $83.86 million budget for 2024-25. The school board unanimously approved the budget on April 23; it will hold a public hearing during its Tuesday (May 7) meeting.
The district is proposing a $47.68 million tax levy, a 3.91 percent increase over last year, that will trigger a modest tax hike. For a home worth $425,000, the median value in Dutchess County, the increase is estimated to be $88 annually for district residents who live in Beacon, $100 for those in the Town of Fishkill and $106 for those in the Town of Wappinger.
Like many districts, Beacon will receive less state aid this year in New York State’s newly adopted budget. The district will receive $30.8 million, a decrease of $168,499 over 2023-24.
The ballot will also include two propositions related to student transportation and one that would allow the district to borrow money to fund a $50 million capital project.
The first proposition would give the district the OK to purchase a second electric school bus. Voters approved one electric bus last year but it has yet to be purchased. The state will provide $257,250 toward each $495,000 bus.
The second proposition would permit the district to spend $485,000 to buy three 72-passenger, gas-powered buses.
The third proposition asks voters to approve an initiative for sweeping capital improvements across all six district school buildings. It would include heating, ventilation and energy-efficiency upgrades, new roofs on some buildings, secure visitor entrances and Americans with Disabilities Act compliance, among other repairs.
Many classrooms will receive new flooring, ceilings, lighting, windows and doors, while the stage and theater at Beacon High School will be upgraded and new playground equipment installed at Sargent and Glenham elementaries. The tennis courts and baseball and softball fields at the high school will be improved and the cafeterias and gymnasiums at the four elementary schools and Rombout Middle School will be air-conditioned to create “cooling centers,” the district said.
If approved, the capital project would trigger a second tax increase, estimated at $127 annually for a home assessed at $300,000; $170 for a $400,000 home or $212 for a $500,000 home. Taxes have not gone up as the result of capital improvements in at least 15 years. Individual bills could decrease if a homeowner has a STAR or Enhanced STAR exemption.
