The Rochester city school board is preparing its legislative priorities going into 2027.
The board develops those priorities each year ahead of the state's legislative session, which begins in January.
A potential moratorium on opening new charter schools is one of several proposed priorities that the board highlighted.
The board also wants lawmakers to boost state funding for community schools, Medicaid-supported mental health services, and career and technical training programs — with emphasis on programming for disabled students as they transition into young adulthood.
"We have BOCES and we have other programs," board member Kareem McCullough said during a meeting this week. "But looking for funding to go along with that special service aid would be beneficial in making sure that those particular students get to transition out of school into that adult life."
In a 2027 Legislative Priorities Feedback document, the board stated that "Urban districts like RCSD face unique funding and access challenges in providing these specialized opportunities," referring to career and technical education for students with disabilities.
The board also emphasized in that document that there needs to be adequate state funding for special education services.
About 5,000 of the district's 22,000 students are classified as having a disability, according to RCSD data.
Board member Heather Feinman said the full age spectrum of students the district serves needs to be accounted for in state funding, particularly when it comes to transportation aid and reimbursement for transportation costs for getting students as young as three years old to and from pre-kindergarten.
"It's not [grades] K through 12, it's [ages] 3 through 22," she said in the Oct. 27 board meeting. "I think we don't emphasize that enough, and when we put these legislative priorities forward, we need to make sure that our legislators understand."
The school board is expected to vote on a finalized list in December.
