An infusion of state aid will allow Voorheesville school board members to avoid some of the most contentious cuts slated for the 2014-15 budget.
Voorheesville Central School District will see an additional $144,000 of state aid, which was included in the recently approved state budget. The overall state aid to the district totals nearly $5.15 million. The additional funding decreases its budget gap to around $176,500. A possible job sharing opportunity staff members recently offered would restore one position, too.
The district was facing a budget gap of around $320,000 to stay within the state imposed tax cap before the boost in funding. The new figures were presented during the board’s meeting Monday, March 31.
“Money has come in, and that’s wonderful,” Dorothea Pfleiderer, secretary to the Superintendent of Voorheesville schools, said.
Two of the most contentious cuts, which appeared restored, were the elimination of one section of the fourth-grade next school year and the phasing out of French classes. Even if the district phased out French, any students already taking the language would have been allowed to continue.
Some school board members expressed reservations over limiting foreign language options to only Spanish. Part of the push toward phasing out French is declining enrollment in the language.
“Our plan is to continue offering French for the seventh grade next year, but going forward, enrollment is going to play a big part of that,” board president Timothy Blow said.
Spanish and French teachers do visit sixth-grade classrooms to give an introduction to each language. School officials said most students just choose what is popular with their friends.
Reductions remaining in the budget targeting outside of the classroom include:
- Reducing clerical and aide time — $67,900 in savings
- Eliminating one full-time equivalent (FTE) custodian position — $40,900 in savings
- Reducing the humanities coordinators — $4,650 in savings
Reductions hitting the classroom include:
- Reducing 0.2 FTE speech position — $13,700 in savings
- Reducing 0.2 FTE in English, resulting in four eighth-grade sections — $12,715 in savings
- Eliminating family and consumer sciences offerings at the high school — $19,180 in savings
Other positions restored in the budget include one computer teaching position, 0.5 FTE music teacher position and one elementary school science teaching assistant.
The proposed 2014-15 totals $22.89 million and increases spending 1.45 percent. The proposal keeps the district within its state imposed tax cap and would hold about a 2 percent property tax levy increase.
The Voorheesville Board of Education is scheduled to adopt the budget on Monday, April 22. The budget vote will be held on May 20.
Combined classrooms eyed
School board members also talked about the possibility of having combined classrooms during the 2015-16 school year because budget cuts were getting harder to find. A combined classroom would involve two grades of students in one room.
Board member Diana Straut said combined classrooms could be effective if done carefully. She said parent volunteers could also help support a teacher in a combined classroom.
Superintendent Teresa Thayer Snyder said a prior district she worked for that implemented combined classrooms found the “payoff” was in the second year. Students did not lose any time learning new rituals in the blended classroom and stayed with the same teacher for two years, she said.
“They knew exactly where they left off, and they picked up right where they were,” Snyder said.
Voorheesville Teacher Association President Kathy Fiero expressed concern over the proposal to create multi-age classrooms without prior conversation with staff members.
“This is a whole new concept that has really been vetted,” Fiero said.
Board member Kristine Gravino said the proposal is not planned for next school year, but as a future option.
“In the future, things are going to get worse in terms of budget cuts, and our enrollment is declining and it has been over the years,” Gravino said.