Budget Season...

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On Thursday night, the Board of Education adopted a 2017-2018 proposed budget of $115,320,834 and a 0% tax levy increase for the Rome City School District. The proposed budget represents a 1.41% expenditure increase over the 2016-2017 approved budget. For this year, the District's tax cap was set at 1.98% which is the equivalent of  $645,640 in taxes that could have been levied. As mentioned, the Board has approved a 0% tax increase for the community. That will mean different things for your actual tax bill depending on your home's assessed value, STAR exemptions, and the State's equalization rates. A copy of the presentation can be found here: RCSD 2017-2018 Budget Presentation. In other budget news, the NY State budget was finally agreed to and released over the weekend as well. All school district's in the State did well and the Senate and Assembly are to be thanked for backing public education. In Rome, the increase in our Foundation Aid that was received will be used to reduce our fund balance allocation to help begin rebuilding our reserves, as has been discussed at our recent meetings. The District budget will be presented again at the May 4 budget hearing to be held at the District office beginning at 6:30 p.m.

Board of Education - Open Seats

This year, there are three (3) open seats on the Board of Education. All three of these seats will be available on July 1, 2017. The term limit for each open seat is three years, expiring on June 30, 2020. Interested candidates must submit a petition to the District on or before April 26, 2017. Completed petitions must include at least 100 qualified signatures and should be returned to the business office of the District at 409 Bell Road. Petitions for the available seats are also available in the Business Office of the Rome City School District. Any questions regarding the Board of Education open seats can be directed to the District's business office, or Board of Education President, Mr. Paul Fitzpatrick.



Best Community for Music Education


This past week, the Rome City School District received word that we were once again named a National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Best Community for Music Education. This distinction is a tribute to the amazing work that our student musicians consistently provide to our community. Along with that, our entire music faculty is to be commended for their efforts in fostering growth and enthusiasm of our young musicians. Lastly, thank you to all of our community members who support the arts and allow for our District to provide the opportunities for our kids that we do. Congratulations!!


JV Winterguard - State Champions


 Last weekend in Albany, NY, our Junior Varsity Winter Colorguard won the District's first State Championship in this activity. Winter colorguard is an activity that has been in existence since the 1960's and is an offshoot of the marching band world. The winter colorguards in Rome however,  are relatively new only beginning competition 2 years ago. Across NY State, over 50 different groups participated in the competition. Our JV guard, comprised of 15 students from grades 6-10, won the gold medal in the Novice Class with a score of 66.68. Congratulations to all of our student performers on a wonderful season!!


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