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Rochester school leaders break down budget basics in public seminar

RCSD Superintendent Carmine Peluso explains the budget process at a public seminar on Tuesday.
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RCSD Superintendent Carmine Peluso explains the budget process at a public seminar on Tuesday.

The Rochester City School District’s Board of Education reviewed key aspects of next year’s budget on Tuesday during a public seminar.

The budget for the 2023-24 school year is estimated to be $871.6 million, but could change depending on how New York state budget deliberations pan out.

That’s an important consideration, given that 83% of the district’s revenue comes from state aid, Chief Financial Officer Shawn Farr said.

The district's anticipated budget amount accounts for a significant increase in state aid, which makes up the majority of RCSD's revenue.

As the state budget is scheduled to be finalized in April, Farr said they won’t know exactly how much funding the district will receive from the state until then.

The district also faces a looming challenge; two funding streams from pandemic relief initiatives will soon expire — Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations by the end of this year, and the American Rescue Plan next year.

“When the federal government gave those federal fundings, they said these should not be used for personnel … they should be used for non-recurring costs,” said district Superintendent Carmine Peluso.

“But truth be told, when we entered back from the pandemic, there was a strong need for additional supports, that we needed to use (that funding) for,” he added. “If it was building subs(titutes) to deal with the number of teachers out … with COVID symptoms, we needed to invest in people. That money is coming to an end.”

Pandemic relief funding will now have to be focused on one-off costs while meeting the ongoing needs of students, like social-emotional supports, will have to be funded from a different source, Peluso said. That could mean drawing from the anticipated increase in state foundation aid.

Shawn Farr is the Chief Financial Officer at the Rochester City School District.
Shawn Farr is the Chief Financial Officer at the Rochester City School District.

Out of about 5,800 total district employees, there are 227 full-time workers whose salaries have been paid using the American Rescue Plan grant funds, district leaders said.

Last month, Peluso testified during a State Legislature committee public hearing; a transcript of his testimony includes a request to state lawmakers to apply for an 18-month “liquidation” extension for American Rescue Plan dollars so that they could be used through March 2026.

He also requested that charter school expansions be limited in Rochester, stating that the district had to direct more than $100 million to them in the 2022-23 school year.

In Tuesday’s budget seminar, Farr said charter school enrollment is going up — next year's enrollment is estimated to increase by about 330 students to 7,800 — while district enrollment continues to decline, as has been the trend for over a decade.

As for this year, board Vice President Beatriz LeBron said the budget process will include a “participatory” aspect for district community members.

“We are hoping that getting input from both parents, students, and community members and our staff and all other stakeholders in this process that we can walk away with a book that is ... more digestible than the (budget) book that we have developed over the course of many, many years in the district,” LeBron said.

A link to the participatory budget tool was posted on the district’s budget webpage on Thursday.

The effort to clarify the budget process and break down jargon on Tuesday demonstrated a stark contrast to last year’s chaotic budget process under Superintendent Lesli Myers-Small. The end result was a budget book that board member Ricardo Adams called “confusing.”

A draft budget book is scheduled to be made public on March 23, followed by a public hearing on April 12.

Noelle E. C. Evans is WXXI's Murrow Award-winning Education reporter/producer.