Archive: News

As Lansing school officials ponder the challenges of next year's school budget they are faced with a complex matrix of what-ifs.  What if they cut this?  What if they cut that?  What if taxpayers want to pay more to preserve the other thing?  What if they don't?  In an environment where New York State is threatening ongoing aid cuts, the federal stimulus money is drying up, and the district's largest taxpayer has negotiated an enormous reduction in its valuation the district is facing a $2.3 million budget gap.  By using reserves and strategic planning Superintendent Stephen Grimm plans to reduce the gap by more than half.

Only three weeks away from the day when the Board Of Education will have to decide how much to ask taxpayers to pay they were presented with a draft of potential cuts.  As they are considering many alternatives of what the tax levy will be they will have to sanction more or fewer cuts in the range of nearly $1 million.

I order to fill that bill personnel, the largest piece of the school budget, is on the line.  Actually everything is on the line, but school officials have said that with cuts that deep some jobs will have to be cut.  Grimm presented a two-tiered list of possible cuts.  The first tier would account for $927,500 in savings.  If the school board has to cut deeper a second tier could account for an additional $438,000.

Most controversial are cuts to core curriculum teachers and the high school swimming pool.  Over $400,000 in teacher and teaching assistant and aid cuts are proposed in a variety of disciplines including English, social studies, math, and physical education.  $84,500 in a physical education teacher, teaching assistant and two assistant coaches are listed in the Tier I cuts.  Closing the pool entirely, proposed in the Tier II list, would save an additional $120,000.


$70,000 could be saved by eliminating the 5pm bus run and consolidating the remaining runs to eliminate one bus from each.  Extracurricular activity cuts would yield $46,695.

By eliminating the Athletic Director/Assistant Principal position and replacing it with a $10,000 stipend to a teacher on 'special assignment' the district can save $70,000.  $25,000 in reductions to athletic programs would combine 7th and 8th grade boys basketball, 7th and 8th grade girls basketball, and 7th and 8th grade girls volleyball.  Also included in that figure are the elimination of winter cheerleading, the weight room, two assistant swim coaches, and intramural sports.

Eliminating sabbaticals would equal $20,000, and teacher conferences would take $15,000 out of the budget.  Staff cuts are also on the line.  Reconfiguring the department responsible for computers and the school network would save $26,000.  Other cuts include a high school receptionist, secretaries and clerks, computer aids, a library clerk, and an attendance clerk.

Tier II is a much shorter list with more big-ticket items.  The biggest is the pool, at $120,000.  The list also includes two teaching assistants, the possible renegotiation of a BOCES computer lease contact, a special education teacher and a clerk, one buildings and grounds position, a microcomputer specialist, and a nurse.

"The next thing we'll do is start going through the list," said Superintendent Stephen Grimm Monday.  "We can see percentages and start to make comparisons, and that's how you start to equalize (cuts across constituencies)."

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