In Clymer, where the $11.56 million budget included a 13 percent tax hike, the unofficial vote was 238 in favor to 237 opposed. A supermajority of 60 percent was needed.

Voters in Ripley and Westfield also voted down proposed budgets Tuesday.

All other school districts in the county saw their budgets approved by voters.

Westfield Music Teacher Kent Knappenburger.

WESTFIELD -A teacher from Westfield will be recognized alongside some of the biggest names in pop music during the 56th annual GRAMMY Awards Ceremony in Los Angeles this weekend.

Kent Knappenberger works with 6th through 12th grade students at Westfield Academy and Central School. On Tuesday, Knappenberger was announced as the winner of the first annual Music Educator Award; which is presented by The Recording Academy and the GRAMMY Foundation.

Knappenberger will be recognized during the awards ceremony this coming weekend in California. He will also be honored by the Westfield school district during a community reception to be held Jan. 31 from 6-8 p.m. in the cafeteria.

On Wednesday, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that a total of $715.9 million has been awarded to a total of 824 projects across the state, including several in Western New York and Chautauqua County.

Among the local projects, a total of $1,000,000 will go to Chautauqua County for the Chautauqua Regional Water District, which will modernize infrastructure in the Dunkirk area to help industrial businesses improve efficiency.

Other projects set to receive funding include:

• City of Dunkirk – Two Grants for Seawall and Lake Front Boulevard Improvement Project – $790,620.00
• City of Jamestown – Continuation of its Riverwalk project – $499,995
• Lake Effect Trailbreakers – Groomer Grant – $192,000
• Chautauqua Lake Snowmobile Club – Groomer Grant – $139,600
• Jamestown Community College – Machinist Training Program – $99,900
• Village of Celoron – Improvements to Lucille Ball Memorial Park  – $82,845
• Reg Lenna Center for the Arts – Purchase of a new digital projector – $75,000
• Chautauqua County – Northern Chautauqua County Local Waterfront Revitalization Program – $65,000
• South and Center Chautauqua Lake Sewer District – Wastewater Consolidation Study – $50,000
• Westfield School District – Centralization Referendum Assistance for Brocton and Westfield Schools – $13,500

A centerpiece of the Governor’s strategy to jump start the economy and create jobs, the regional councils were put in place in 2011 to redesign the state’s approach to economic development from a top-down model to a community-based, performance-driven approach. This was the third round of funding from the initiative.

According to a report in the Jamestown Post-Journal, the recommendation to end the season came from superintendent David Davison, who said said the time away from the sport will provide a chance to heal for everyone. The board approved the motion unanimously.

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.