AUBURN - Students are getting a hands-on lesson about the Great Depression and the need for sacrifice.
What started out as a history exercise attained from the glossy pages of a textbook is getting real for every student in the state as they and their school districts must give up some of the things they hold most dear.
As state leaders deliberate in Albany over Gov. David Paterson's proposed 2009-10 budget imbued with cost-saving measures to close a $13.7 billion deficit, myriad people in the education sector are preparing for what is expected to be the hardest year in school finances they have seen in decades.
Huddled in a room and crouched around a table for 2.5 hours Tuesday, the Auburn Enlarged City School District Board of Education and district administrators discussed at length how they are going to cope with a possible $1.4 million reduction in state aid for the next fiscal year - if Paterson's proposal is approved by the Legislature - without hurting the very mission with which they are charged.
These discussions are not unique to Auburn; rather, every district in the state is facing the same challenges and grappling with the prospect of a 3.3-percent average reduction in state aid, or $698 million, even if New York receives a federal bailout.
In the coming weeks and months, county districts and their boards of education will meet and discuss ways to deal with the fiscal crisis. While some, like the Port Byron Central School District, have a preliminary strategy, others are looking at the situation broadly, for the moment.
Port Byron Superintendent Neil O'Brien will be employing cost-saving measures like using energy efficient technology and utilizing staff more creatively, eliminating positions through layoffs - he has already notified teachers of this possibility - and attrition and increasing class sizes to contend with the cuts. He will be dipping into the district's reserves in the short term, and the district may hold a public forum later this month to discuss the possibility of eliminating bus runs.
But what may happen if the recession drags on several years is a different story all together.
“Port Byron relies heavily on state aid, and if for the next three years in a row there is a decline in state aid, in real terms, at the end of the day, something has to give,” he said. “Programming will be impacted in a manner that will limit kids eventually. It's all about how long this is going to last and how deep it's going to be, and sadly, we're all going in the opposite direction. Across the board, around the state and here locally our kids are performing better than ever.”
Talking in broad terms at their meeting last week, Auburn leaders considered offering electives every other year instead of every year, eliminating positions through retirements and layoffs, and reducing or entirely cutting athletics and extracurricular activities.
This would be on top of cuts the board already made for this year as it is running on a state-mandated contingency budget. After voters twice rejected the proposed 2008-09 budget last spring, district leadership had to cut about $593,000 from its operating budget, which resulted in reductions in funding for field trips, transportation, curricular work, elementary summer school, athletics and co-curricular activities, which included intramurals and band.
To counter contractual increases and offset the state aid reductions, Auburn needs to find $3.5 million to pay its bills next year.
While no decisions were made in the room that night, board members and administrators made their positions on teachers, programs and clubs abundantly clear.
“We have a lot of people that come to school because of sports, clubs and band,” Assistant Superintendent for Personnel Jeff Pirozzolo said. “If we cut it all, we'll be cutting off our own leg.”
Board member Karol Soules was concerned that laying off the least senior teachers, who are also younger teachers who may have young children living within the district, could ultimately backfire.
“From a parent and also as a person in the community, we want people to come into our community and we are sick and tired of people leaving our community,” she said. “If we cut some of these young teachers out who have young children in our district, they are gone, because they are going to be looking for jobs elsewhere. They will be moving out of our communities. We cannot have that.”
She said she'd rather have increased class sizes than cut all electives, which in addition to core academic classes, are necessary to prepare students for college and the outside world.
“My concern is, what perception are we putting out about our district,” she said, adding that it's important for the district to uphold a reputation of offering an expansive academic program to its students.
“If we start eliminating all these things, what's the incentive for (parents) to send their children here? We can't eliminate everything that is progressive.”
But according to Central New York School Boards Association Executive Director Lawrence Cummings, some of the poorer school districts may not have much of a choice.
While Paterson's cuts place the heaviest cuts on the wealthiest districts, Cummings said, it will be the poorer districts that suffer the most.
Wealthy districts that have local property tax wealth already have in their arsenal expansive enrichment programs the poorer districts could never have, and those are the programs that will be cut without directly impacting the core curriculum.
“Conversely, a lot of districts here are going to be the ones that are going to be the most adversely affected because they don't have the depths of programming,” he said. “The only things left to cut are those that are not required, and those are the things that provide enrichment.”
Cummings also warns that this struggle is not going away after this budget season.
“(Superintendents and districts) really need to be prepared for a multi-year problem,” he said. “I'm not sure we're going to be out of this in a matter of months, so I think they need to be prepared to have another round of potential cuts in state aid next year.”
While these cuts may be painful for school districts, Jordan-Elbridge Central School District Superintendent Marilyn Dominick said, “There is always a benefit to have time to plan for a disaster.”
In the coming weeks, the board is putting together prioritized lists and will have community forums to ask for public feedback.
One thing the district will likely do is change the delivery of advanced placement and Syracuse University Project Advance courses so that students can receive both local and college credit.
“We're looking at everything,” she said. “Everything has to be on the table.”
Staff writer Alyssa Sunkin can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 239 or alyssa.sunkin@lee.net
As state leaders deliberate in Albany over Gov. David Paterson's proposed 2009-10 budget imbued with cost-saving measures to close a $13.7 billion deficit, myriad people in the education sector are preparing for what is expected to be the hardest year in school finances they have seen in decades.
Huddled in a room and crouched around a table for 2.5 hours Tuesday, the Auburn Enlarged City School District Board of Education and district administrators discussed at length how they are going to cope with a possible $1.4 million reduction in state aid for the next fiscal year - if Paterson's proposal is approved by the Legislature - without hurting the very mission with which they are charged.
These discussions are not unique to Auburn; rather, every district in the state is facing the same challenges and grappling with the prospect of a 3.3-percent average reduction in state aid, or $698 million, even if New York receives a federal bailout.
In the coming weeks and months, county districts and their boards of education will meet and discuss ways to deal with the fiscal crisis. While some, like the Port Byron Central School District, have a preliminary strategy, others are looking at the situation broadly, for the moment.
Port Byron Superintendent Neil O'Brien will be employing cost-saving measures like using energy efficient technology and utilizing staff more creatively, eliminating positions through layoffs - he has already notified teachers of this possibility - and attrition and increasing class sizes to contend with the cuts. He will be dipping into the district's reserves in the short term, and the district may hold a public forum later this month to discuss the possibility of eliminating bus runs.
But what may happen if the recession drags on several years is a different story all together.
“Port Byron relies heavily on state aid, and if for the next three years in a row there is a decline in state aid, in real terms, at the end of the day, something has to give,” he said. “Programming will be impacted in a manner that will limit kids eventually. It's all about how long this is going to last and how deep it's going to be, and sadly, we're all going in the opposite direction. Across the board, around the state and here locally our kids are performing better than ever.”
Talking in broad terms at their meeting last week, Auburn leaders considered offering electives every other year instead of every year, eliminating positions through retirements and layoffs, and reducing or entirely cutting athletics and extracurricular activities.
This would be on top of cuts the board already made for this year as it is running on a state-mandated contingency budget. After voters twice rejected the proposed 2008-09 budget last spring, district leadership had to cut about $593,000 from its operating budget, which resulted in reductions in funding for field trips, transportation, curricular work, elementary summer school, athletics and co-curricular activities, which included intramurals and band.
To counter contractual increases and offset the state aid reductions, Auburn needs to find $3.5 million to pay its bills next year.
While no decisions were made in the room that night, board members and administrators made their positions on teachers, programs and clubs abundantly clear.
“We have a lot of people that come to school because of sports, clubs and band,” Assistant Superintendent for Personnel Jeff Pirozzolo said. “If we cut it all, we'll be cutting off our own leg.”
Board member Karol Soules was concerned that laying off the least senior teachers, who are also younger teachers who may have young children living within the district, could ultimately backfire.
“From a parent and also as a person in the community, we want people to come into our community and we are sick and tired of people leaving our community,” she said. “If we cut some of these young teachers out who have young children in our district, they are gone, because they are going to be looking for jobs elsewhere. They will be moving out of our communities. We cannot have that.”
She said she'd rather have increased class sizes than cut all electives, which in addition to core academic classes, are necessary to prepare students for college and the outside world.
“My concern is, what perception are we putting out about our district,” she said, adding that it's important for the district to uphold a reputation of offering an expansive academic program to its students.
“If we start eliminating all these things, what's the incentive for (parents) to send their children here? We can't eliminate everything that is progressive.”
But according to Central New York School Boards Association Executive Director Lawrence Cummings, some of the poorer school districts may not have much of a choice.
While Paterson's cuts place the heaviest cuts on the wealthiest districts, Cummings said, it will be the poorer districts that suffer the most.
Wealthy districts that have local property tax wealth already have in their arsenal expansive enrichment programs the poorer districts could never have, and those are the programs that will be cut without directly impacting the core curriculum.
“Conversely, a lot of districts here are going to be the ones that are going to be the most adversely affected because they don't have the depths of programming,” he said. “The only things left to cut are those that are not required, and those are the things that provide enrichment.”
Cummings also warns that this struggle is not going away after this budget season.
“(Superintendents and districts) really need to be prepared for a multi-year problem,” he said. “I'm not sure we're going to be out of this in a matter of months, so I think they need to be prepared to have another round of potential cuts in state aid next year.”
While these cuts may be painful for school districts, Jordan-Elbridge Central School District Superintendent Marilyn Dominick said, “There is always a benefit to have time to plan for a disaster.”
In the coming weeks, the board is putting together prioritized lists and will have community forums to ask for public feedback.
One thing the district will likely do is change the delivery of advanced placement and Syracuse University Project Advance courses so that students can receive both local and college credit.
“We're looking at everything,” she said. “Everything has to be on the table.”
Staff writer Alyssa Sunkin can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 239 or alyssa.sunkin@lee.net
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