Neil Cary

This document outlines the strategic goals for the Waterford-Halfmoon UFSD, guiding the 2025-26 school year and beyond, with a mission to equip every student with the knowledge, skills, abilities, and character for productive and rewarding lives. Key focus areas include fostering safe, supportive, and inclusive learning environments; promoting academic growth and excellence; ensuring equity, access, and opportunity; enhancing attendance, engagement, and connectedness; and maintaining operational excellence and fiscal responsibility.

The strategic plan of the Waterford-Halfmoon Union Free School District is a collaborative effort between the school, parents, and community, dedicated to providing an excellent education for all students. The primary focus areas for 2025-2026 include cultivating safe, supportive, and inclusive learning environments, promoting academic growth and excellence, ensuring equity, access, and opportunity for all students, fostering attendance, engagement, and connectedness within the school community, and maintaining operational excellence and fiscal responsibility across all departments.

The strategic plan of the Waterford-Halfmoon Union Free School District focuses on providing an excellent education through a partnership between the school, parents, and the community. Key areas include creating a safe and supportive school climate, ensuring robust safety and emergency preparedness plans, enhancing the district's facilities, and promoting academic excellence through rigorous instruction and diverse pathways to graduation. The plan also emphasizes responsible fiscal management, effective administration, and strong community involvement through open communication and stakeholder engagement.

The budget hearing discussed the proposed budget for 2025-2026, which includes revenues and expenditures of $24,004,315, marking a 0.93% increase from the 2024-25 budget. Key highlights include maintaining academic and extracurricular opportunities, continuing afterschool academic support, CTE and Tec Smart opportunities, current class sizes, professional development funding, and a $100,000 capital outlay project. The budget is divided into administrative (11%), capital (16%), and program (73%) components. The proposed tax levy is 1.85%, below the tax cap allowance of 3.18%. The hearing also covered contingency budget options and voter information for the May 20, 2025 vote.

This notice announces a public hearing and annual meeting for the Waterford-Halfmoon Union Free School District. Key items on the agenda include the adoption of the annual budget for the fiscal year 2025-2026, the election of two Board of Education members, and the transaction of other business as may properly come before the meeting. The notice also details procedures for voter registration, absentee ballots, and the submission of petitions nominating candidates for the Board of Education and propositions to amend the budget.