State aid to Rochester city schools fell short of expectations by several million dollars and now the district is changing plans ahead of next school year to bridge the gap.
Public school districts across the area approved their budgets before the passage of the state budget, which was late by nearly two months. For RCSD, the difference between what was expected and what was allocated is $4.1 million.
Chief Financial Officer Robert McDow said new student-centered programs that were going to be rolled out will instead be cut to adjust for that, including $1.2 million in summer and after-school activities.
“This is not going to be a loss of anyone's jobs here,” McDow said. “In total, the $4.1 million is all additional programming for students, and the benefits related to that.”
Another halted program is a “best practice replication” at Padilla High School. That program is based on East High’s model, which was designed under the University of Rochester’s supervision.
Superintendent Eric Rosser said staff at the school indicated that they were not ready for a roll out of the more than $2 million program.
“That team came back and indicated that they were not in a position to move forward, which then freed up to $2.2 million for us to then be able to use this as a place to be able to fill the void of the lack of state aid to the school district,” Rosser said.
That program has been pushed to the 2027 to 2028 school year, Rosser said. However, it is unclear whether the district will have the funds to support the project then. The district is facing a possible $61 million deficit next year, with a projected deficit of about $130 million in five years, school board President Camille Simmons said.
“I know that you guys are saying that we'll do it next year,” Commissioner Isaiah Santiago said. “But it's also realizing that these are children's lives, they only got four years in high school, and so next year might be too late, and we might have already failed a whole class of young people.”
Commissioners passed the revised budget by a margin of one vote. Board members Camille Simmons, Heather Feinman, Amy Maloy and Kareem McCullough voted in favor, while Jacqueline Griffin, Beatriz LeBron, and Isaiah Santiago voted against.
