POPLAR RIDGE - With the state's economy in recession, some Southern Cayuga Central School District community members are concerned about where the district - and its taxpayers - will stand during the 2009-10 budget process.

During Monday's regular board of education meeting, Mary Burns, of Genoa, and Phil Donovan, of King Ferry, asked the superintendent and the board about the district's financial situation going into the next academic year and how the state economy may affect it. State legislators will be meeting next week in a special session to discuss the financial situation and what can be cut for this fiscal year.

Burns asked what that might mean for Southern Cayuga.

“We're holding our breath that it's possible that for schools, they will leave school aid alone for this fiscal year,” Superintendent Mary Kay Worth said. “That's not a guarantee.”

But while school aid may be safe this year, Worth and local superintendents have been preparing since the summer for the possibility of not only seeing aid flatline, but also the scenario of a reduction.

“Everybody's going to look hard at how we are using our resources and some hard decisions will have to be made as far as lining up district priorities,” she said.

If the state government does keep aid the same, Donovan wondered if the district would do the same with the tax levy.

“I think we're going to have to look at the budget proposals and see where we are, but I don't see us coming up with large numbers,” Board President Leonard Jordan responded.

Board member Jim Wilcox said the district will have to be “responsibly creative” in trying to find money.

“I think we need to be very careful in how we spend money, but we need to educate kids too,” he said. “We just need to be creative here. Responsibly creative.”

Staff writer Alyssa Sunkin can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 239 or alyssa.sunkin@lee.net