After many months of workshops and candid conversations, meetings and number crunching, Tuesday’s the time to vote on the 2012-2013 Ramapo Central School budget.

In a nutshell, the proposed budget tops out at $127,066,927, with a tax levy increase of 2.68% and a budget-to-budget proposed increase of 3.28%. All things Ramapo Central school budget can be found at the district website. Or find your handy May budget edition of the district’s Excelsior newsletter that breaks things down in nice and easy color graphs.

Salaries and benefits account for 70% of the school budget. But then, that particular budget item is what residents are paying taxes for — a quality education provided by invested teachers.

Simultaneous with the school budget vote is the school board election. This year, four candidates seek three open board seats.

• Thomas Bollato — A native of Sloatsburg and Board member since 1998, Bollato graduated from Suffern High School and serves as Village Clerk and Treasurer of Sloatsburg. Currently, Bollato chairs the District Policy Committee. He also serves as President of the Friends of Sloatsburg Elementary School and Treasurer of the Ramapo Valley Rotary Club.
• Theresa DiFalco — is a new candidate vying for a School Board seat. A lifelong Ramapo resident and Montebello attorney, DiFalco is a former Rockland County prosecutor and board member of the Montebello PTA. DiFalco cites her legal background as an important asset in helping the School Board wade through the numerous state and federal mandates.
• William Gonzalez — is a current School Board member elected in 2000. Gonzalez is a resident of Sloatsburg and retired from the Social Security Administration. He is a member of Friends of Sloatsburg, a nonprofit that delivers social support to families in need, Gonzalez also continues to coach youth sports teams and was a founding member of the Suffern Community Foundation and past chairperson of the Suffern Community Development Committee.
• Teresa Monahan — has been on the School Board since 2005. A resident of Suffern, Monahan is an operations business consultant for McDonald’s Corporation and a Ramapo Central alumna. She cites her background with special needs children as a key ingredient that gives her insight to school board policies and practices.

The Ramapo PTA Council held a candidates’ forum recently, where all four school board candidates participated in a round of questioning. One underlying thread winding through the evening’s discussion was how to get district parents and residents involved in the process.

The PTA Council’s round of questions included 1) School Board transparency and how to better engage the community by using the district website to broadcast information; 2) The candidates’ thoughts on televised Board meetings as a means of pushing information into the community; 3) and, NY state-mandated annual teacher performance reviews.

On School Board transparency:

Thomas Bollato expressed that parent participation is essential to the process. “Sometimes you can sit at those meetings and there are not two people in the room,” he said.

Bollato’s observation was accurate. As the board debated the 2012-2013 budget with a series of open public workshops, it often debated numbers and policies before a mostly empty room.

William Gonzalez also cited parental involvement as a key to healthy communication between the School Board and the community.

Newcomer Theresa DiFalco stressed that School Board meetings themselves were a great source of information, and that school board information should be pushed to parents.

Teresa Monahan stressed that the Board’s effort to make district documents and policies available online for all residents is important in keeping residents informed.

In the last year, the School Board has upgraded document availability and most any policy document or Board meeting agenda can now be found online.

On annual professional performance reviews:

All candidates agreed that some type of teacher performance evaluation should be put in place.

Gonzalez reminded the audience that the reviews have not been implemented yet and stressed that they would be used to evaluate the success of students. He said the reviews should be looked at as other public performance reviews are — as a means to help improve the particular employee involved.

On whether the review information should be made public, Bollato said no, that the review information should not be made public.

Monahan mentioned in her regular job she routinely gives employee reviews and evaluations, as well as receives them from her superiors. She noted that the reviews are about strengths and weaknesses and should be seen as part of the process to improve performance.

In general:

DiFalco stressed her strong and longstanding alliance with teachers and the teachers’ union through her mediation work as an attorney. Additionally, she said she agreed with Superintendent Douglas Adams’ focus on district budget issues as a matter of matching efficiency and effectiveness.

Gonzalez said that the School Board is not an ivory tower and that it’s essential for board members to go out into the community and be seen and heard.

Thomas Bollato noted district improvements by highlighting innovative programs such as the growing pre-engineering and robotics classes. He stressed that maintaining small class sizes is a key to future educational success.

Residents vote on the Ramapo Central School District proposed 2012-2013 budget Tuesday, May 15, as well as for three School Board seats. Sloatsburg residents can vote at Sloatsburg Elementary School from 6 a.m. through 9 p.m.

— May Excelsior newletter with budget information.