Rochester city school leaders are faced with a significant challenge: find a way to close a $61 million revenue gap in the next budget cycle and improve student performance enough to satisfy the state.
Jaime Alicea, the state-appointed monitor for the district, outlined in his draft academic and financial plan that the district needs to increase literacy rates and improve attendance and graduation rates.
He said the means to get there need to be reflected in the budget, which means finding where to cut without jeopardizing student achievement.
“Are we letting people go? Are we closing schools? What are we going to do to handle that gap that we're talking about already?” He asked during a recent school board meeting.
The superintendent and school board must establish a task force at the start of the school year to find ways to save money to meet the multi-million-dollar revenue gap, Alicea said.
“We know what happened this year during the budget development process. We should not be waiting until next year to begin this discussion,” he said.
Financial strain, low-performing schools, and state recommendations for improvements are a recurring narrative for Eamonn Scanlon, director of community impact at the Children's Agenda who has been studying the district for nearly a decade.
“What you usually see is this pattern of cutting back on those extra things ... even though they're rated very highly by parents as an essential need, right? Safe schools, mental health, all of those types of supports are the things they take away first, so that they can hold on to buildings, and there can be enough schools,” Scanlon said. “But then eventually that that breaks and then you do have to close schools.”
A survey of 164 staff, students, families and community members, showed a significant interest in prioritizing safe and supportive schools, academic achievement, and student mental health.
In that same survey, perceptions of the district’s greatest challenges leaned toward leadership stability, academic performance, and student behavior. While investment recommendations pointed to early literacy support, more counselors, and more attendance support.
“It's not likely that in the future, without a lot of public support for increased investment from the state, that we're going to reach the level of supports for mental health, for reducing suspensions, for really supporting kids ... because local leaders are put in a very tough position,” he said. “We wish they would make better decisions, but they still need resources to make the best decisions.”
One goal Alicea highlighted, that doesn’t have a dollar amount attached to it, is greater integrity and stability. That recommendation is backed by feedback in the stakeholder survey.
“There's a need for stronger communication and transparency,” he said. “There's got to be a greater accountability expectation for the leadership in the district. ... In every relationship out there, there are two things: trust and communication. You got to trust the people that you're working with, and you got to communicate with them, and you trust someone until that person, or until that group of people give you a reason not to.”
