Before Gov. Andrew Cuomo released his proposed state budget, Mohonasen community members gathered to talk about what direction the district should take to achieve cost savings.
Mohonasen Central School District held the first community budget forum on Monday, Jan. 31, which had a brief presentation by Superintendent Kathleen Spring before attendees broke in separate groups to address to questions on reducing the budget. In the coming months community members will be deciding how to close the $5 million gap in funds the district could be facing in the 2011-12 budget.
I think we are looking at something that is very different this time, said Spring about the 2011-12 budget. `We have been able to accomplish a balance between our student’s needs and what we feel is a good job in shaping our taxes for the overall community without a lot of pain I’m not sure we are there anymore.`
The district might have to make cuts and reductions that haven’t been done in the past, she said, with nothing being `off limits` at this point. Outside influences, such as the proposed continued reduction in state aid and the property tax cap, are `chipping away` at the districts budget. Mandated expenses are also increasing, leaving the district little room for revenue growth.
Spring shared an anecdote about the position of the district.
`Somebody saw the podium that I am standing at and this afternoon when we were putting the room together the wheel broke off, so we have it propped up with some books,` said Spring. `They made the comment that maybe this is symbolic of the process that we are going through that all it will take is to kick one of these books and things will start to tumble we are trying to balance what we can shave away without crumbling our programs.`
She said the district has already reduced expenses over the years and the programs are down to almost the `bare bones` now. With overall aid from the state reducing 7.3 percent, the school is facing an additional burden and the exact numbers will become clear in the upcoming days.
`Mohonasen is a district that is heavily reliant on state aid, it is about 49 to 50 percent reliant on state aid,` she said.
With the bleak briefing at hand, community members gathered into a few groups to discuss the two proposed questions for the night.
`Clearly when you have to make cuts that are that significant, we need to have everybody at the table to talk as a community,` said Spring. `We’ll talk a little bit about the things that are not mandated and put them out on the table.`
The first question asked if there would be any areas to increase class size of students. Kindergarten had lowest average of 19.7 students per class and typically the class number gradually increased going up to fifth grade. The general consensus from all groups was not to increase elementary class sizes, while increasing the class size of high school students was suggested to be explored.
Next, community members addressed what areas of non-mandated expenses to cut, with all groups desiring more information on the actual expense of each area. Generally, field trips, professional development and limiting extracurricular activities were areas thought to cut funding.
`There are going to be difficult and painful decisions we have to make, but we believe that we are all in this together and we need to talk this through together, so we can do what is right for our children and our community,` said Spring.
The next budget forum is planned for Tuesday, Feb. 15, at Mohonasen High School in the Farnsworth Technology Center from 6:30 to 8: 30 p.m. with attendees breaking into groups again. During the Feb. 15 meeting district officials are expected to address the implications of Gov. Cuomo’s proposed budget. The third budget forum is at the same location on Wednesday, March 2 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
District officials are urging community members to attend and are asked to RSVP before the forums by calling 356-8250 or e-mailing [email protected].“