Liverpool Central School District Packet Summary — 2026-08-25
Meeting: Regular Board Meeting
The Liverpool Central School District Board of Education is scheduled to consider a mix of financial, personnel, instructional, facilities, and operational matters. Major items include capital-project financing strategy, the district's 2026-2027 comprehensive school counseling plan, tax-assessment proceedings, two facilities agreements, a kitchen-equipment purchase, the 2027-2028 budget calendar, a proposed ninth-grade honors English novel, and professional claims-audit services.
Key Items on the Agenda
Capital Project Financial Planning
The Board is scheduled to receive a presentation from municipal advisor Ben Maslona of Fiscal Advisors on capital-project financing, debt service, and state building aid. The stated goals are to keep the local tax effort for capital projects neutral, maximize the district's 83.8% building-aid ratio, minimize debt service, and coordinate future projects with district priorities.
The presentation identifies two existing capital authorizations:
- 2022 authorization: $98,959,922, including $18,311,116 in reserves, $30 million permanently financed, $30 million in short-term financing planned or completed during 2026, and $20,648,806 remaining to be financed.
- 2024 authorization: $50,343,941, including $8 million in reserves, $19 million in short-term financing planned or completed during 2026, and $23,343,941 remaining to be financed.
The financial analysis identifies a projected decline in the district's local debt share beginning in 2029 as an opportunity to layer in another capital project without increasing the tax levy. An illustrative scenario uses an estimated $35 million future project, with no capital reserve contribution and 95% of the project qualifying for building aid.
2026-2027 Comprehensive School Counseling Plan
The Board is scheduled to discuss the district's updated 2026-2027 Comprehensive School Counseling Plan. The plan describes a K-12 program covering academic development, career development, and students' social and emotional development.
The district's model calls for counselors to spend approximately 80% of their time delivering services directly to students, with the remaining time divided among indirect services, program management, foundation work, and accountability. Services outlined in the plan include classroom and group activities, individual student planning, responsive and crisis counseling, referrals, academic monitoring, transition support, college and career planning, and coordination with families and outside agencies.
The plan also provides for a School Counseling Advisory Council to meet twice annually and provide an annual report to the Board. The document was most recently listed as revised/reviewed on July 30, 2026.
Major Financial and Contract Items
2026 Tax Assessment Proceedings
The Board has an action item concerning intervention in 2026-2027 real-property tax assessment proceedings involving properties in the towns of Clay and Salina. The proposed resolution would authorize district attorneys to file notices of appearance so the district can obtain Intervenor-Respondent status and protect its interests in the proceedings.
The packet's Schedule A lists commercial assessment challenges with a combined current value of $4,738,303 and a combined listed potential impact of $1,250,720. The packet notes that the potential-impact calculation factors in both the school district and public library tax rates.
Kitchen Equipment — $26,993.58 Recommended Award
The Board is scheduled to consider RFB 2027-003 for the purchase and installation of a commercial combi oven at the Chestnut Hill Complex. The district received 10 bids, ranging from $26,993.58 to $68,859.92.
Staff recommends awarding the bid to Singer Equipment Company, Inc. for $26,993.58, the lowest submitted price. Singer proposed a Vulcan Chef'sCombi CHEF-102G gas combi oven as an equivalent to the Rational unit used as the bid's basis of design. District reviewers determined the equipment to be comparable and suitable, while noting that staff will need some familiarity with the different equipment and cleaning supplies.
Professional Claims Audit Services
The Board is scheduled to consider awarding RFP-2027-004, Professional Claims Audit Services, to Nawrocki Smith LLP. Three proposals were reviewed, with first-year hourly rates of $92.00, $117.90, and $174.20.
District staff recommends Nawrocki Smith based on the proposal's combination of school-district claims-audit experience, qualifications, technical approach, responsiveness, and cost. The proposed rates are $92 per hour in 2026-27 and 2027-28, $95 in 2028-29 and 2029-30, and $97 in 2030-31.
The proposed initial term would run from approximately September 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027, with options for up to four additional one-year renewals by mutual agreement and Board approval.
BOCES Facility and Ancillary Services Agreement
The Board is scheduled to consider an agreement with Onondaga-Cortland-Madison BOCES for three classrooms used for special education: one each at Morgan Road Elementary, Soule Road Middle, and Longbranch Elementary.
The proposed agreement covers September 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027. BOCES would pay:
- $15,000 in classroom rent.
- $7,500 for ancillary services.
- $22,500 total.
The district would provide facilities, utilities, custodial and normal maintenance services, technology access, nursing services, access to breakfast and lunch programs, and other listed supports. BOCES would provide instructional staff, instructional equipment, and other classroom resources described in the agreement.
BASCOL Before- and After-School Childcare Agreement
The Board is scheduled to consider the district's 2026-2027 agreement with Before and After School Child Care on Location, Inc. (BASCOL). The agreement provides for before- and after-school programs at eight district elementary schools, along with a summer childcare program at a district-selected location.
For the 2026-2027 school-year program, BASCOL would pay $16,713 for use of district facilities. The agreement also lists a $8,584.20 summer-program facility fee, subject to adjustment based on actual enrollment.
The agreement runs through June 30, 2027 and may be extended by mutual written agreement. Either party may also terminate it with 30 days' written notice, subject to the agreement's provisions.
Instructional and Student Services
Proposed Addition of Circe to Grade 9 Honors English
The Board is scheduled to consider a proposal to include Madeline Miller's 2018 novel Circe in the Grade 9 Honors English curriculum.
According to the packet, the novel was piloted in ninth-grade honors sections during the 2025-2026 school year. The proposal reports that students responded positively and demonstrated strong analysis, critical thinking, and discussion.
The instructional rationale emphasizes connections to Greek mythology and The Odyssey, comparative literary analysis, characterization, symbolism, narrative perspective, and themes including identity, independence, perseverance, and societal expectations. The proposal recommends the book specifically for honors-level students because of its mature themes, advanced vocabulary, and opportunities for deeper literary and ethical analysis.
Personnel and Routine Business
Food Service Positions
The consent agenda includes creation of positions for Food Services. Supporting materials provide job descriptions for Cook I and Food Service Helper I.
Cook I responsibilities center on large-scale food preparation and cooking, with minimum qualifications based on qualifying work experience, culinary or food-service education, school food-service experience, or an equivalent combination. Food Service Helper I is an entry-level labor-class position focused on assisting with food preparation and service, cleaning, stocking, and related cafeteria duties; the job description lists no minimum qualifications.
Personnel Recommendations
The consent agenda also contains a substantial set of personnel recommendations covering resignations, retirements, administrative appointments, teaching appointments, civil-service appointments, temporary and substitute positions, coaching assignments, leaves of absence, and other staffing changes.
Among the administrative recommendations are principal appointments with annual salaries of $107,150 and $108,757, each with proposed four-year appointment periods. The packet also includes numerous teaching and civil-service appointments for the beginning of the 2026-2027 school year.
Gifts and Grants
The consent agenda includes acceptance of gifts and grants. Supporting materials identify, among other contributions:
- A $1,000 PTSO donation to Liverpool High School for a staff breakfast scheduled for September 2, 2026.
- 150 reusable Wegmans shopping bags for Liverpool High School to assist with distributing supplies and Yondr pouches to classrooms and students.
Surplus Textbooks
Staff recommends that the Board declare a group of older Soule Road Middle School textbooks obsolete and no longer necessary or useful for district purposes. The materials include literature textbooks, dictionaries, and thesauruses with publication dates ranging from the 1970s through 2007.
The packet states that no materials will be disposed of until the Board formally declares them surplus. After approval, the purchasing agent would arrange disposition under applicable state law and district policy, including recycling or other appropriate disposal when materials have no reasonable resale value.
Budget Planning
2027-2028 Budget Development Calendar
The Board is scheduled to consider adoption of the 2027-2028 Budget Development Calendar. The calendar establishes a planning process extending from summer 2026 through the May 2027 budget vote.
Upcoming milestones include:
- September 29, 2026: Budget workshop on preliminary 2027-2028 priorities and process.
- October 5, 2026: Presentation of the independent audit for 2025-2026.
- October 19, 2026: Workshop on state aid, long-range finances, budget assumptions, cost drivers, savings, and future financial goals.
- February 8, 2027: Presentation of a draft budget.
- March 1, 2027: Presentation of a final balanced budget for subsequent Board action.
- March 22, 2027: Proposed final-budget adoption, property-tax report card action, and annual-meeting resolution.
- May 6, 2027: Budget public hearing at 5:30 p.m.
- May 18, 2027: Budget vote.
What to Watch at the Meeting
Several agenda items could shape district planning beyond the August meeting:
- The capital-financing presentation outlines a strategy for potentially undertaking a future capital project while maintaining a targeted local debt share and avoiding an increase in the capital-project tax levy.
- The counseling presentation provides an updated framework for K-12 academic, career, and social-emotional services for 2026-2027.
- Adoption of the budget calendar would establish the formal sequence of workshops, presentations, public steps, and Board actions leading to the May 2027 budget vote.
- The proposed Circe addition would determine whether a recently piloted novel becomes part of the Grade 9 Honors English curriculum.
- The tax-assessment resolution would authorize district participation in proceedings involving commercial properties whose requested assessment reductions could affect district and library tax revenues.
The agenda also lists the next Board of Education meeting for September 14, 2026 at 6:00 p.m., a Board retreat for September 24, and a September 29 budget workshop at 5:30 p.m. followed by a Board meeting at 6:00 p.m.
Civic Translator summarized publicly available meeting materials from the Liverpool Central School District through BoardDocs.
