The Rochester City School District’s annual budget presentation is postponed until next week.
At Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Lesli Myers-Small said the district did not meet the budget deadline because of “several factors,” but that New York State Education Commissioner Betty Rosa had granted an extension. The board voted on a new budget calendar reflecting those changes.
Board Vice President Beatriz LeBron noted that while it is state law that documents be shared no less than 24 hours before a school board meeting, the budget documents had only been uploaded to the online resource, Board Docs, earlier that day. Her concern was echoed by others in the room.
“It's impossible for me to get through over 200 pages in less than 24 hours,” said Commissioner Ricardo Adams ahead of the meeting. “I think a review in this amount of time is weak at best.”
Adams proposed that the board send a letter to Rosa indicating that there was only a cursory review of the budget briefing.
LeBron, who emphasized her disapproval throughout the meeting, said the documents provided read as “juvenile.”
“For the amount of stress and time and additional meetings that were made, I am disappointed in the output. I do not think that this is a comprehensive document. On all levels, the entire packet for me, is not up to par,” LeBron said. “Honestly, I would be curious as to what's being done by certain people and positions in this district, because there's a lot of things not done at this time. But yet, here we are.”
Among the many sticking points within the briefing were a handful of numbers. There are about 700 unfilled positions within the budget and no firm answer about how those will be addressed.
Rebecca Hetherington with the district’s Parent Leadership Advisory Council wanted to know if any of those would be filled for social-emotional support personnel.
Deputy Superintendent Kathleen Black explained that hiring practices for social workers or psychologists would be driven specifically by special education needs, not general education.
For Adams, he wanted to see a clearer picture of the funding designated for food services at schools so that students have healthy lunches and so that there are enough staff to provide them.
When it came to the long-term outlook, state monitor Shelley Jallow warned that in a few years the district would be in the red if action is not taken on finding alternative revenue sources soon.
“So really, now your back is against the wall, so to speak, where you have to put some things in action as soon as possible to prevent that table from becoming this district's reality,” Jallow said.
Commissioner Willa Powell offered fewer words than some of her colleagues, but was firm in her conviction.
“With declining enrollment... and even without closing schools, we should, just by correcting the staffing ratios, be able to bring this budget into alignment,” Powell said. “I will not be able to support this budget.
The district’s budget for the next school year is set at about $862 million dollars. According to the district, they serve 23,400 students.
