In addition to all budgets passing, all of the other propositions that appeared on the ballots for each respective district were also approved, with the only exception being a proposition in the Pine Valley School District to reduce the seats on the board of education. That proposition was defeated with 125 “no” votes to 71 “yes” votes.

• VIEW UNOFFICIAL RESULTS FOR EACH DISTRICT

JAMESTOWN VOTERS APPROVE BUDGET, SCHNARS RETURNS TO SCHOOL BOARD

In Jamestown, voters approved an $85 million budget by a vote of 504 to 106. That spending plan included no tax increase and also had no layoffs or staff reductions.

In the school board election race, incumbents Paul Abbott and Shelly Leathers won reelection. The third seat will go to Christine Schnars, who was previously on the school board for several years, up until June 2012 when she failed to receive enough votes in that year’s elections. Incumbent Tom Pope chose not to run for reelection this year.

JPS VOTE TALLY

• *Paul Abbott:  459
• *Rachelle “Shelly” Leathers: 376
• Christine Schnars: 343
• Frank Galeazzo:  249
• Fannell Leeper:  247
  * Notes Incumbent

The district’s bus proposition also was approved.

In the other local school board races that featured contested ballots, Jennifer Olson and Tom Frederes were the two top vote-getters in the Falconer School District, were two seats were up for election.  And in the Chautauqua Lake School District, which had three seats up for a vote, the top vote getters were Mary Lee Talbot, Jay Baker, and Deborah Cross-Fuller.

Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s office reviewed the District’s nonresident tuition billing procedures for the period July 1, 2013 through November 19, 2015.

During the audit, state officials found that the district key Findings under-billed Ripley Central School District by $41,125. It also found that one nonresident student was not billed for $14,438 in tuition costs. And the audit found that the district did not regularly review and monitor the tuition rate being charged in comparison to net costs per student and the State-calculated tuition rate.

As a result the school district received a number of recommendations from the comptroller’s office, including clarifying and updating its policy related the residency of students attending the District and the requirements for allowing students to attend tuition-free as well as regularly monitor the tuition rate being charged.

Among the districts in Southern Chautauqua County, only Jamestown and Sherman are featuring contested school board races.

In Jamestown, residents will head to the polls to vote on a $79.18 million budget that includes a slight tax cut, along with no programming or staffing cuts. Residents will also vote on a transportation proposition to borrow $930,000 to assist with the purchase of new school buses.

In addition, they will also vote for two open seats for the Jamestown School Board, with four candidates running.

Candidates whose names will appear on the ballot for the board of education are Jeffrey Yeates, Todd Rushforth, incumbent Patrick Slagle, and current board president Joe DiMaio. However, DiMaio announced last week that he has decided to pull out of the race and will not accept another term to the board if elected. In addition to the three active candidates whose names will appear on the ballet, former long-time board member Joe Pawelski has announced that he is running in a write-in campaign.

Besides the school budget vote and school board election,

Voting will run from noon until 9 p.m. on Tuesday at three locations in the district: Jefferson, Washington, and Lincoln schools.

Other districts holding a budget vote and school board election today include:

Sherman School District

• $9.62 million
• Three candidates running for two seats: Jennifer Ferreira, Gary DeLellis, Robert Head
• Transportation proposition to borrow $360,000

Voting at Sherman School from Noon to 9pm.

Southwestern School District

• $26.59 million budget
• One candidate running for one board seat: William Burk
• Transportation proposition to borrow $290,000

Voting will take place at Southwestern School from 7am to 9am and 2pm to 9pm.

Frewsburg School District

• $16.73 million budget
• Three candidates running for three seats: John Spacht, Polly Hanson, Randall Wiltsie
• Transportation proposition to borrow $232,800
• Capitol Improvement proposition: Establish a 10 year capitol improvement reserve fund not to exceed $3,000,000

Voting at Frewsburg High School from 2 to 8pm.

Bemus Point School District

• $14.03 million budget
• Two candidates running for two seats: Brian Whalen, Barry Swanson
• Transportation proposition to borrow $225,000

Voting at Maple Grove High School from 2 to 8:30pm.

Cassadaga Valley School District

• $20.17 million budget
• One candidate running for one seat: Marcus Clark
• Transportation proposition to borrow $330,000

Voting at Cassadaga Valley High School from 2 to 8pm.

Falconer School District

• $22.38 million budget
• One candidate running for one seat: Jamie Zaranek

Voting at Falconer High School from 2 to 8pm.

Panama School District

• $13.15 million budget
• One candidate running for one seat: Donald Butler

Voting at Panama School from noon to 8pm.

Chautauqua Lake School District

• $22.04 million
• Two candidates running for two seats: Kim Weborg-Benson, Kenneth Shearer

Voting at Chautauqua Lake High School from 7am to 9pm.

The Chautauqua County Board of Elections has designed and printed ballots for these school districts and will program and service the Election Day voting machines.  The school district clerk remains the chief election officer for all school elections.  Sample ballots identifying candidates and propositions for all nineteen school districts are available for viewing at votechautauqua.com.

Board of Election officials say Chautauqua Lake and Silver Creek will be joining six other school districts that will be utilizing the county’s optical scan paper ballot machines during the May 20 vote.

The Board of Elections already provides election services to the school districts of Bemus Point, Cassadaga, Forestville, Jamestown, Panama and Ripley.

The rounded 2014 election service cost is between $275 and $400 for most districts, although Jamestown – due to its size and number of residents – will see a cost of $1300.

School officials site shrinking student body along with costs as the two primary reasons for merging to the two programs.

The merger was met with criticism by parents from both schools – saying they both already field competitive programs and they fear school identity will be lost if the merger were to take place. Additional travel time and expenses due to players from Chautauqua Lake being bussed every day to Maple Grove was also a concern voiced by parents.

The merger agreement is intended for just one year, with the schools reviewing it after the 2013 season is over to see if it worked and if it should continue or whether or not it should end.

Among those in attendance for the roundtable were school board members, officials and students from Ripley, Brocton, Westfield and Chautauqua Lake – the four districts involved with the idea of forming a regional high school. Senator Young said bringing those participants on board was very helpful in learning more about how a regional high school would impact local districts. She also said state officials are starting to show more support for the regional high school concept – with both the governor and state education department showing interest – although at this point the state assembly is still on the fence.

Assemblyman Andrew Goodell (R-Jamestown) also took part in the roundtable discussion. He said that while the state assembly did not approve a former version of a regional high school bill last year, he added that progress is being made this session to get a new version approved.  In addition to Assemblyman Goodell, State Senator John Flanagan (R-Long Island) – who chairs the Senate Education Committee – also attended the forum.

State lawmakers are actually considering two pieces of legislation involving regional high schools. One would apply to school districts across the state while the other pertains to only districts in Senator Young’s Senate district. Small school districts across the state are pursuing the idea of pooling their resources and creating a regional high school in order to provide better learning opportunities for an ever-shrinking student population.

Both Young and Goodell would like to see at least one version of both bills approved by the state legislature before the current session ends next month.

The New York State Board of Regents has examined the concept of a regional high school for several years, and formally put the idea forward in their 2012 Legislative Priorities. The discussion will focus on the legal, practical, educational and economic impact of establishing a regional high school.

Locally, the Chautauqua Lake, Westfield, Ripley and Brocton school districts have been the focus of a regional high school, although it is still only in the early discussion phase.

Today’s meeting will begin at noon and continue until 2 p.m. at the Scharmann Theater at Jamestown Community College. It is open to the public.

MAYVILLE – Taxpayers in Mayville, Westfield, Ripley and Brocton could save as much as $3,700,000 a year if a centralized school was created between those communities. That’s according to Roy McMaster, the municipal financial adviser and vice president of Capital Markets Advisors LLC, who spoke during the Chautauqua Lake School board’s workshop meeting last night.

According to today’s Jamestown Post-Journal, McMaster presented the board with enrollment, staffing and financial factors – along with incentive possibilities in creating a regional high school. The information is based on several broad assumptions, and officials were quick to point out that many steps still have to be taken.

State Senator Cathy Young recently proposed legislation for a regional high school – which was unanimously passed in the state Senate. A similar bill has not yet been voted on by the state Assembly.

YOUNG URGES GOVERNOR TO INCREASE FUNDING FOR RURAL SCHOOLS

ALBANY – Senator Young is continuing her effort to provide assistance to rural schools. The Olean republican is helping to spearhead an effort with other Senators who represent upstate districts, asking Governor Andrew Cuomo to give rural schools extra consideration in the upcoming state budget. Senator Young joined 14 of her colleagues in signing a formal letter, requesting a significant boost to rural school aid. Governor Cuomo will release his 2012-13 Executive Budget proposal on January 17.

In December, legislation supported by Senator Young and area Assemblymen Andrew Goodell and Joseph Giglio was passed and signed by the Governor, ensuring a four percent — or $800 million — education increase in the upcoming budget that will be distributed to school districts across the state based on an existing formula that gives poorer districts more dollars per student.

SENATE REPUBLICANS CRITICIZED FOR ADDING EXTRA UPSTATE SENATE SEAT IN REAPPORTIONMENT PROPOSAL

ALBANY – A Democratic member of the state task force charged with drawing new political lines for Senate and Assembly seats in Albany is calling the process “A farce and a waste of money.”

According to an article in Yesterday’s Albany Times Union, Sen. Martin Malave Dilan, D-Brooklyn, is claiming that state Senate Republicans acted quietly and unilaterally to add a seat in the chamber during a recent reapportionment meeting.  Dilan is accusing the GOP of doing its math “working backwards” to manufacture another seat in upstate New York where a Republican would have a chance at winning.

In addition, Dilan says that dispite 14 weeks of public hearings, not once did a member of the public request an additional seat be added to Senate, yet that is what the task force has set out to do.

Dilan and other senate democrats are now urging Gov. Cuomo to veto the lines that are presented by the task force. Cuomo has joined good-government groups in criticizing the reapportionment process, and vowed to veto “lines that are not drawn by an independent commission that are partisan.”

The task force is controlled by the Democrats who dominate the Assembly and Republicans who hold a slim majority in the Senate.

CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF WNY ANNOUNCES 2012 CAMPAIGN GOAL

BUFFALO – Catholic Charities of Buffalo, one of Western New York’s largest human services agencies, will try to raise $10.6 million through its 2012 appeal. The announcement came yesterday from Bishop Edward U. Kmiec of the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo.

The goal is about the same amount raised in 2011, when Catholic Charities was able to reverse a four-year slide in giving.

McKNIGHT TICKETS NOW ON SALE

JAMESTOWN – Tickets are now on sale for next month’s show in Jamestown featuring a multi-platinum selling R&B Singer.

“An Evening with Brian McKnight” will take place Thursday, Feb. 23 at the Jamestown Savings Bank Ice Arena. McKnight has completed 13 albums with over 20 million albums sold throughout his career.  Born in Buffalo, he has played host to his own talk show: “The Brian McKnight Show” and was a major contestant in Donald Trump and NBC’s  “Celebrity Apprentice” television show.

Tickets start at $30. For more information, visit jamestownarena.com, or call the box office at 716.484.2624.

JCC HOSTS ADVISEMENT AND REGISTRATION SESSIONS THURSDAY, FRIDAY

JAMESTOWN – Advisement and registration for individuals who plan to enroll for the spring semester at Jamestown Community College’s Jamestown Campus will be held from 1 to 7 p.m. on January 12 and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on January 13.

Advisement and registration at the Cattaraugus County Campus will be held from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on January 12 and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on January 13.