On Board Online • March 7, 2016

By Cathy Woodruff
Senior Writer

Deliberations about veterans' tax exemptions are getting tense in some communities as school boards face organized lobbying efforts.

Albany area attorney and Army veteran Mathew Tully has produced a guide with how-to advice on enlisting and mobilizing veterans to advocate for the exemption, and he says his law firm is mailing the playbook to about 300 local veterans' organizations around New York. His recommendations include using public records to identify veterans and then urging vets to insist that school boards vote in favor of the exemption.

On Board Online • March 7, 2016

By Cathy Woodruff
Senior Writer

Seventy schools have raised their academic performance sufficiently to graduate from state lists of struggling and persistently struggling schools. The improvement will enable those schools to leave the grip of state receivership on June 30.

The release of updated lists by the State Education Department on Feb. 26 revealed federal designations for "focus" districts and schools and "priority" schools, which influence state designations of struggling schools.

On Board Online • March 7, 2016

By Jason Franchuk
Special Correspondent

A timid face greeted teacher Doug Hallberg near the end of a physical education class in the Mohonasen school district. A delightful problem: a seventh-grade girl was wondering if she had been working too hard.

Sheepishly, she handed over a slimy heart rate monitor.

"It's supposed to be sweaty ? that's the point!" Hallberg replied in a cheerful, booming voice.

On Board Online • March 7, 2016

By Kimberly A. Fanniff
Senior Staff Counsel

The annual school budget vote and board member election to be held on May 17 will be the first school election in many decades in which lever voting machines are not used, as the law allowing their use expired last December. Many districts will be using electronic scanning voting machines for the first time or returning to a paper ballot system. In either case, there may be anxiety about getting the election "done right."

It is the responsibility of district officials to maintain a poll list and retain ballots (whether scanned or plain paper ballots) in accordance with law.

On Board Online • March 7, 2016

By Elizabeth Wright

Imagine being tasked with the project of producing a prototype for the U.S. Army. And you're a high school junior.

That's what happened when the engineers from a military contractor in Saratoga Springs tapped the skills of students enrolled in SUNY Adirondack Early College Career Academy, an Early College High School Program.

"We had a true need," said Patrick Enright, president and chief executive officer of ESPEY Manufacturing and Electronics Corporation. "We could have outsourced it, but we wanted to give the students a real-world, hands-on opportunity. The sooner we can get kids engaged, the better."

On Board Online • March 7, 2016

By Kimberly A. Fanniff
Senior Staff Counsel

During election season, it is good practice for school districts to remind candidates of disclosure requirements. If a candidate spends less than $500, he or she needs to file a sworn statement to that effect. However, if a candidate spends $500 or more, he or she must provide a sworn statement itemizing his or her expenditures and contributions received.

Statements must be filed at three points: 30 days before the election, five days before and 20 days after the election. Special rules apply if candidates receive a contribution in excess of $1,000 after the close of a reporting period.

About one in eight school districts will have to decrease the amount they can raise in property taxes in the 2016-17 school year over the current year when they bring their budgets to voters in May in order to comply with the tax cap – unless they can convince at least 60 percent of voters to override the cap, according to data released today by the New York State Comptroller.