CRCS Proposes Third Budget Draft

By Joshua Walther

COBLESKILL - At the last CRCS Board of Education meeting on Monday, Superintendent Matthew Sickles presented the third version of the 2025-26 budget to be voted on in May.

Before he jumped into the numbers, Superintendent Sickles noted the severe backlash over the past two iterations from the public.

“I know the mission statement sounds hypocritical, and I can do nothing to change some people’s minds,” he said. “But I have an obligation to serve the students of today and hand off the district in the future.”

He began the presentation by noting that the previous budget gap at the beginning of March was $868,034, and the district has been looking for more savings wherever they can.

The first adjustment was the walk-back on the proposed school resource officer addition, which saved approximately $90,000.

Superintendent Sickles also explained that the school psychologist addition would now be financially offset by a new behavior support and math intervention shift, but said that the registered nurse addition is non-negotiable because of state law. There would also be no change in cutting the librarian or art teacher positions from the last proposal.

With these new changes, the budget gap would be lowered to $680,334, but several other cuts to non-student-facing areas were considered, such as contractual services, materials and supplies, and a summer budget adjustment, bringing the new gap down further to $262,150.

“That’s it,” Superintendent Sickles said once the number was revealed. “There’s nothing left to cut.”

Before the final presentation on April 7th, the district hopes to receive $80,000 more in Foundation Aid, then use $182,150 to close the gap and balance the budget.

However, member Jason Gagnon suggested that the district was being too conservative with their interest number of $600,000.

“We’ve grossly underestimated parts of the budget, especially the interest,” he said. “If you raise it to $900,000, then that more than covers the gap and the two cut positions.”

However, the rest of the Board argued that while the actual interest number is higher than what they budgeted, they cannot become reliant on raising it because it may dip from year to year.

When Superintendent Sickles asked for direction for the April 7th presentation, Mr. Gagnon said that he stands in opposition to the suggestions.

“I will not support a budget without a librarian or an art teacher,” he said.

Meanwhile, President Bruce Tryon, Vice President Dominga Lent, and Steven Philbrick supported the budget’s changes.

Members Aimee Yorke and Mary Black both spoke at length about not liking the cut positions, but said that they would support it regardless.

Finally, member Susan Strasser was torn, but ultimately decided that she will only support the budget if they use their reserves to cover the cost of keeping the positions.

With a majority in favor of the budget, Superintendent Sickles will use that information to guide the final presentation before the vote.