Please remember to vote today!
Town of Benson: 10:00 AM - 7:00 PM, Benson Community Hall
Town of Castleton: 8:00 AM - 7:00 PM, Castleton Fire Station
Town of Fair Haven: 10:00 AM - 7:00 PM, Fair Haven Grade School
Town of Hubbardton: 10:00 AM - 7:00 PM, Hubbardton Town Hall
Town of Orwell: 10:00 AM - 7:00 PM, Orwell Town Clerk's Office
Town of West Haven: 10:00 AM - 7:00 PM, West Haven Town Hall
For more information, we invite you to visit the budget page on our website: https://www.slatevalleyunified.org/page/budget
Save the Date!
Our next Middle School Family Forum is IN-PERSON on April 28th at 5:30 p.m. at FHU! Join us to hear about athletics and extracurricular activities, as well as other topics. We look forward to seeing you there!
*Please note the date change from our previous post.
Reminder - Tomorrow, Wednesday, April 13th will be the Slate Valley School Budget Re-Vote. For Fair Haven residents, the voting site will be at Fair Haven Grade School from 10am-7pm. Please enter the school through the main entrance, the handicap accessible ramp on the left side of the building. There will be signs posted directing voters to the correct door.
As a reminder to our families, there is a K-2 music concert and 7/8 band concert tomorrow night beginning at 6:30pm. Students are asked to be here by 6:15pm to get ready. We encourage families to come early enough to vote before the concert begins.
Join us tonight at 6:30 p.m. in the FHUHS Band Room for an informational hearing to discuss the proposed FY23 budget (Article 2), which will be voted on tomorrow by Australian ballot.
Virtually connect by going to https://meet.google.com/kwb-acpu-kjm or by calling +1 352-503-8958 PIN: 358 031 844#.
For more information, we invite you to visit our budget web page: https://www.slatevalleyunified.org/page/budget.
As we approach our April 12th Informational Meeting and April 13th Budget Revote, we are highlighting Frequently Asked Questions (https://5il.co/1898z) related to the FY23 Budget.
Question:
How does Slate Valley’s FY23 Education Spending per Equalized Pupil compare to surrounding districts?
Answer:
Rutland City: $18,624
Mill River: $18, 376
Estimated State Average: $18,023
Otter Valley: $17,048
Slate Valley: $16,947
Quarry Valley: $16,870
For more information, we invite you to visit our budget web page: https://www.slatevalleyunified.org/page/budget.
Tonight - April 11, 2022
You’re invited to the Slate Valley Unified School District Board Meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the Fair Haven Union High School Library. This meeting will be in person or virtually connect by going to https://meet.google.com/pon-cdyc-ivw or dial: (US) +1 567-250-1061 PIN: 344 705 713#
Tonight’s Agenda: https://5il.co/18j0p
Previous Meeting Minutes: https://5il.co/185lr
Special Meeting: April 12, 2022 - 6:30 p.m. at FHUHS Band Room
As a reminder, there is a special meeting on Tuesday, April 12th at 6:30 p.m. in the Fair Haven Union High School Band Room to discuss the proposed FY23 budget (Article 2), which will be voted on by Australian ballot on Wednesday, April 13th.
We invite you to visit the budget page on our website for more information: https://www.slatevalleyunified.org/page/budget
This last couple of weeks has been buzzing with activity in the library!
We read "Honeybee: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera" by Candance Flemming and learned all about honeybees. Did you know that honeybees on average travel 500 miles and visit over 30,000 flowers, only to gather enough nectar for 1/2 teaspoon of honey? Honeybees sure work hard! Our students also showcased their hard work by programming robots to either visit flowers (kindergarten) or travel through a honeybee's lifecycle (1st - 4th grades). K-2 worked with beebots while 3 and 4th worked with ozobots. The students made some mistakes and experienced frustration but their determination paid off when their robots accomplished what they wanted them to do!
As we approach our April 12th Informational Meeting and April 13th Budget Revote, we are highlighting Frequently Asked Questions (https://5il.co/1898z) related to the FY23 Budget.
Question: What changed from the March vote?
Answer: Since the voters of Castleton and Hubbardton voted to close and purchase the Castleton Village School from Slate Valley UUSD, $33,500 of building operation costs were removed from the budget.
For more information, we invite you to visit our budget web page: https://www.slatevalleyunified.org/page/budget.
FHGS Kindergarten Students have been hard at work collecting donations for the Rutland County Humane Society. Together, with other FHGS Students and Staff, they raised $366 to help purchase items the animals there need. A Humane Society Representative stopped by to share more with kindergarten about the animals, the work people do there, and to accept the donation for the animals. Way to go Kindergarten!
Reminder - The School Budget Re-Vote is one week away. Voting for Fair Haven residents will be at Fair Haven Grade School from 10am-7pm. Please stop by FHGS and vote!
United Way May Day 5K at Castleton University - Slate Valley will have a table there with fun games and prizes. We would love to see families come out and join in the fun!
Please see info below about available Vermont Food Programs.
As we approach our April 12th Informational Meeting and April 13th Budget Revote, we will be highlighting Frequently Asked Questions (https://5il.co/1898z) related to the FY23 Budget. For more information, we invite you to visit our budget web page: https://www.slatevalleyunified.org/page/budget.
Question: Why is there a budget decrease, but on the ballot the school budget article says there is an increase and the district is estimating a tax rate decrease?
Answer: The wording on the budget article can be confusing. The information that appears on the ballot is set by Vermont statute. The language was jointly developed by the Secretary of Education and the Secretary of State and was adopted by the State Board of Education.
$26,236,547 is the amount of the total expenditure budget for the entire district for the school year 2022-2023. It is the amount necessary to operate and maintain 5 buildings and to educate 1,250 students. The expenditure budget is $43,838 less than the 2021-2022 school year budget.
2.78% is the percent increase in education spending per equalized pupil compared to the prior year. Education spending per equalized pupil is the amount of the expenditure budget ($26,236,547) less the district's local revenue divided by equalized pupils. Equalized pupils is based on a formula that gives greater weight to certain students. The principle being that it costs more to educate certain students. Since the district has less local revenues and fewer equalized pupils the resulting change compared to the previous year is a slight increase.
We are estimating a tax rate decrease because Vermont's system of determining education property tax rates takes into consideration the amount of money in the State's Education Fund. Since this year there is a surplus in the Education Fund it reduces the amount of Slate Valley's local tax rates.
In anticipation of the upcoming informational meeting on Tuesday, April 12th and FY23 Budget Revote on Wednesday, April 13th, we have put together a mailer with some helpful information on it: https://5il.co/17itr
For more information, please visit the budget page of our website: https://www.slatevalleyunified.org/page/budget
Please join us Thursday (April 7th) at 5:30 p.m. in the FHUHS Library or join virtually to discuss our Parent/Family/Community Engagement Policy E-1.
This meeting will be an opportunity for parents/community members to provide feedback on the policy and discuss Slate Valley’s Continuous Improvement Planning.
Policy E-1: https://5il.co/rao4
Meeting ID: https://meet.google.com/cee-mehp-crb Phone Number: (US) +1 414-909-5677 (PIN: 707156020)
April 11th is the last day to shop online and help support the FHGS PTO Spring Fundraiser.
Reminder - The FHGS High Notes Basket Raffle has been rescheduled to Saturday, April 9th.
The FHGS March Newsletter is full of great things happening at Fair Haven Grade School! Check it out. https://5il.co/181dk
Middle School students participating in the Winter Hiking activity traveled to Hubbardton to explore the Taconic Mountains. Students were able to identify some tell tale signs of the changing seasons while learning about some of our local history and Vermont geology by getting their hands and boots a little dirty!
