State and county have cut funding, while districts pay more in salaries, health insurance and retirements.
Teacher Telia Finck works with students Zoey Kuyendall (middle) and Hunter Dumas at Fairley Elementary School in Hannibal. The school’s Reading First program is being scaled back for the next school year as a result of budget cuts.Compare the districts
We have collected how much the budgets and tax levies are going up or down for you. You can compare your district here.What's on the ballot?
We have information about each district's budget, who is running for school board and any propositions on the ballot. You can it all here.New York state is cutting state school aid by $1.4 billion, costing Central New York districts millions of dollars.
Onondaga County government cut schools’ sales tax revenue for next year by 50 percent, with more cuts in the future.
At the same time, salaries, health insurance premiums and retirement benefits are rising in every district.
In such a climate, school districts have struggled to draft the budgets that will go to taxpayers who’ll vote on the plans today. Some districts cut jobs and/or programs; a few closed schools.
In the end, 19 of the 43 school districts in the region delivered budgets that are the same or lower than the current year’s. That’s highly unusual, superintendents and experts said.
When it comes to taxes, however, almost all districts are proposing increases. The proposed tax levies range from no increase in Altmar-Parish-Williamstown, Oswego and Sandy Creek, to 3.90 percent jump in Oneida City District. The levy is the amount of money to be raised through taxes.
In Onondaga County, Fayetteville-Manlius proposed the lowest tax levy increase — 1.89 percent, while North Syracuse has presented the highest, 3.54 percent.
Oneida Superintendent Ron Spadafora attributed the tax levy hike to the loss of $1 million in state aid, which made balancing the budget difficult. “We’re bare-bones right now,” he said. “We’re running out of places to go.”
F-M was able to hold the line on its tax levy by using more of its fund balance and making cuts in supplies, materials, postage and more, officials said. Some of those cuts were made last year and carried over into this year, also saving some money, said Mike Vespi, F-M assistant superintendent for business services.
Oswego’s budget increase is the highest in the area, but most of that is from a first payment on a 2007 EXCEL construction program. Superintendent William Crist said the district is using reserves and surplus to keep the tax levy the same as the 2009-10 budget.
Administrators in most districts have said holding tax levies to reasonable levels has been their goal.
“In general, tax levy increases at school districts around the region are very conservative this year,” said William Silky, chairman of the education department and director of graduate education at Le¤Moyne College, who’s worked with school budgets for 40 years. “School boards have worked hard to be fiscally conscious, and they’ve kept the line on school budget increases often by making painful cuts.”
Silky said school budgets typically have about a 90percent passing rate; he said he wouldn’t be surprised to see that dip into the 80percent range this year, even in Onondaga County. Part of that is because when voters are frustrated and dealing with tough economic times, they sometimes take it out on school budgets.
“There’s a lot of frustration out there,” he said. “Hopefully people will see that school boards have clearly done everything they can to hold the line on expenses. But it’s been an unparalleled year in terms of being extremely difficult for school districts who had had their revenue cut.”
Jordan-Elbridge had the largest budget cut of any district in the area: 3.23 percent.
Keeping the property tax levy increase down as much as possible was something Jordan-Elbridge board members were adamant about, J-E Superintendent Marilyn Dominick said.
“People are suffering in this economy, and we just couldn’t do that to them,” she said. “The public can’t bear much more. “
As soon as J-E learned it would get $75,000 from the finalized sales tax agreement with Onondaga County they put that against the tax levy, reducing the increase from 2.88 percent to 2.19 percent, Dominick said.
Substantial cuts in state aid have forced districts to draw on their reserves and in many cases cut staff and reduce programs and extracurricular activities. In several districts, residents turned out in force to protest some of the proposed cuts.
In Hannibal, the district decided to cut 10 teaching posts and sharply scale back its Reading First program at Fairley Elementary School after much debate.
Kindergartners Kaleb Sidman (foreground) and Austin Wing (back) read in class at Fairley Elementary School in Hannibal. The Reading First program is being scaled back for next year because of budget cuts.
Districts made other cuts.
In North Syracuse, the district is reducing its work force by 102 positions, 65 through layoffs; and the district cut most freshmen sports team. The district made $9.2 million in cuts, but still had to increase the tax levy after losing $7.4 million in state aid, said Wayne Bleau, assistant superintendent for management services. Retirement costs also are up 45 percent. “That really hurt,” he said.
Liverpool is closing an elementary school, cutting 130 positions and eliminating its universal pre-K program.
All the school districts in Cayuga County except Cato-Meridian are planning to cut some full-time teachers.
Auburn is cutting 12 full-time teachers, an administrator and a school resource officer and eliminating eight vacant positions. It is also cutting back its modified sports teams.
Oswego cut 33 staff positions.
Keeping class sizes stable, an academically rigorous program and driver’s education in place were goals officials at Union Springs focused on, Superintendent Linda Rice said. The district was able to limit its property tax levy to a 0.89 percent increase by using some of its fund balance and money from deferred building aid.
Rice echoed what experts and superintendents all seem to say: the worst is yet to come. Federal stimulus money runs out and the state is still in a dire economic crisis, Le¤Moyne’s Silky said.
“This year was very challenging, no question about that,” Rice said. “But I don’t believe that challenge is over.”
Staff writer Debra J. Groom and Alaina Potrikus contributed to this report. Contact Elizabeth Doran at edoran@syracuse.com or 315-470-3012.