By Joshua Walther
COBLESKILL - The CRCS Board of Education listened to the second 2024-2025 budget presentation, and there have been developments since the first draft that many found troubling.
Superintendent Matthew Sickles began by discussing the possible return of Foundation Aid, which he describes is the hottest topic in academic legislation at the moment.
Unfortunately, though the opposition against the governor’s removal of the funding is still strong, projected numbers are larger than anticipated to fully restore it to all schools. Whereas it was four million dollars before, it’s now become closer to eight, doubling the expected total.
With the opportunity for Foundation Aid dwindling, the Citizens’ Budget Committee has looked to other avenues in an attempt to close the negative budget gap, and the first rounds of position reductions have been recommended.
In the context of this budget, Superintendent Sickles explained that reduction means the role that position used to serve will be absorbed by another job, thereby shrinking the corresponding teams.
Many of these affected positions, such as a social studies teacher, elementary teacher, and three teaching assistants, will be vacant from natural retirements. Two more, one administrative and one physical education teacher, are coming from those that have resigned.
CRCS has not yet put forward recommendations to fire active members of staff, and they hope to hold off that possibility for as long as they can.
“This is the second of multiple difficult budgets,” said Superintendent Sickles, who referred to these reductions as sacrifices. “It has been many years since the district has had a predictable budget.”
Along with these reductions, the CBC has recommended that the anticipated tax levy will incline from a 2% increase to a 2.33% increase, which will allow the district to go out at the cap.
Not only that, but revenue streams have been augmented by a further allowance from the district’s fund balance and restricted reserves, offering a further $525,000.
However, Superintendent Sickles noted that they cannot overuse these reserves, as they can only affect the budget so far as their corresponding expense line, and they cannot close the negative gap alone.
Overall, there is still a little over a million dollars in the gap to close, and Superintendent Sickles warned that there will be some difficult discussions in the coming weeks that the Board must “begrudgingly consider.”
The public comment period was met with concerned questions and backlash from the community, where people scrutinized the path being taken and wondered if there were no better solutions.
One member of the CBC said that school monitors and teacher assistants are crucial to the ecosystem of CRCS, while another thought to look at sports stipends before realizing that they were contractual.
Even the Board itself was torn, as member Jason Gagnon wanted to look at their unused surplus that is being saved for other difficult budgets, saying “we shouldn’t only worry about the future.”
“It’s a sad day for Cobleskill-Richmondville,” concluded Board President Bruce Tryon as the budget talks came to a close. “Please bear with us during this process.”
The CBC will meet again next week, and the third budget presentation will be held at next month’s Board meeting as the adoption deadline inches closer.
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