Archive: News

Lansing School Superintendent Stephen Grimm tried looking into his crystal ball Monday to show the Board Of Education what the district's future may look like.  The picture was bleak.  While Lansing is in better shape than many school districts across New York State, it faces the same challenges as schools across the state are being pushed over the so-called 'funding cliff'.  While reserves could take care of a $2.5 million budget gap, like a savings account once the money is spent it is gone, and what do you do next year?

"You have to start thinking about what does a million dollars look like?" Grimm said.  "What does another two million dollars look like?  What do we want education to look like for kids, and at what point do we say to taxpayers, 'we know you're fatigued, but we have to have a tax levy that's 12%.'  That's what some districts are talking about: get some money now 'cause when the tax cap comes..."

That cap is a 2% cap on property taxes being proposed by State legislators.  Municipalities and school districts across the state have been demanding that unfunded state mandates be removed before any cap is legislated, making it possible for districts and municipalities to set their funding priorities locally.  But those pleas are largely falling on deaf ears.  In fact the State is taking back more from local governments.  On Wednesday Tompkins County Legislator Pat Pryor told the Lansing Town Board that the State is reneging on about $1 million of promised funding, which she said will decimate social programs in the County.

Lansing's dilemma seems to come down to its pride and history of excellence versus the dwindling funding from the State, federal government, interest income, and the AES Cayuga power plant's PILOT (Payment In Lieu Of Taxes) agreement.  The coal-fired electricity plant is Lansing's largest taxpayer.  The PILOT is currently in the last stages of its second renegotiation, and while Grimm and Town Councilwoman Kathy Miller have both been privy to those negotiations they are bound to silence by a nondisclosure agreement.  What they will say is that the prospects of that agreement yielding more tax money are very, very poor.  She noted the Lansing plant is going up for sale, which adds a new element of uncertainty to the mix.

Grimm has been juggling reserves and the possibility of increased taxes in his recommendations to the board.  There seems to be no question that the district will use some of its reserves to narrow the gap between projected revenues and expenditures.  The challenge the he and the school board face now is how much to cut in the 2011-2012 budget and how much that will mean cutting in future budgets.  Grimm made a point of saying that while other districts may be facing their first significant cuts, Lansing has already made significant cuts.  He asked how much more can be cut before program quaility significantly suffers.

In his first couple of years as Superintendent he and Business Administrator Mary June King seemed to be miracle workers, pulling rabbits out of their hats like capital projects that had no new tax impact, or low tax rate increases.  But as resources dwindle those rabbits are no longer inhabiting their hats.  That could mean a big rise in property taxes this summer.  In the wake of the large rise in County taxes and water rates this year that's bad news for Lansing taxpayers.

Grimm called his look at alternative budget cut scenarios 'The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly', noting that 'The Good' isn't good at all -- it's just a better scenario than 'The Bad, and The Ugly'.  It showed four teacher positions eliminated, plus a teaching assistant, for a savings of $240,000.  'The Bad and The Ugly' included a menu of cuts that include non-varsity athletics, closing the pool, co-curricular activity cuts, 4 elementary school teachers, 13 teaching assistants, and a number of other personnel and program cuts that total $2,529,000 (the whole budget gap).

Cuts could be at either extreme or anywhere in between, depending on how reserves are spread out over the next three years.  If the district spends the money now, cuts will be virtually mandatory sooner.  If it spreads out the cuts over three years the pain will be spread out over time.  One parent asked the board not to cut at all this year to give the community time to raise money for the schools privately.  Board members seem to be split on how much cutting to do this budget round.  Board member Aziza Benson said the board should not be thinking of it in terms of the word 'cuts' but more as a challenge to make positive adjustments to the way the school operates in the new economic environment.  And Grimm seemed to favor cutting as little as possible this year to take the time to determine what to do next.

Grimm presented state testing scores from grades 3 through 8 that show Lansing ahead of every other district in the county.  Board member Christine Iacobucci noted with some dismay that some taxpayers have told her that the district can't afford to be number one, and it would be OK not to be three or four.  But Grimm passionately defended the idea of continuing the district's record of achievement.  He worried about dismantling a program that took 40 years to create.

"We are number one," Grimm said.  "We're doing the best in this region.  When you are the best, you're the lead dog.  When you're the lead dog you don't look behind you to see where you're going.  We're defining the new path.  In Lansing we know what we're about.  The schools are the center of the community.  We are the town center."

He went on to ask key questions:

• Can we expect these results in the future?  He noted that if the district cuts a million dollars it may still be number one if the other districts cut as well, but it won't be possible to get the same academic results.
• What quality of education are we responsible to deliver to this generation of kids in Lansing?
• What do we owe to this generation of students and what quality are we willing to support in Lansing?
• What is appropriate class size?
• Do we transport everybody?  Or just students who live more than two miles away?
• Should we support a comprehensive educational social experience in our schools?  (Partnering with other entities such as the Town Recreational Department, or county wide youth orchestra, band, and chorale instead of the ones currently offered at Lansing)?
• Are we willing to sacrifice the general conditions of our buildings and grounds?  If so, by how much?
• Are we willing to minimize reduction and opportunity children?
• Are we willing to accept that no matter what solutions we implement all stakeholders are not going to be satisfied?

"How many of these reductions are we willing to do before we say that we have to balance them with the tax levy?" he asked.  "If we split the difference and cut a million dollars, that's 6% of the tax levy.  So where does that 6% go over the course of these next three budgets?  I think we have to have that three year picture so we can prepare the community that it's not going to be a 0% tax levy.  I will not recommend a budget to you that I can't support."

Grimm said he wants to have definitive answers to these questions by December.  He proposed an ad hoc committee to determine how much the community is willing to support and recommend a higher tax levy to support it.

"If I'm going to come out and say we need more tax levy, it's because we really need it," Grimm said.  "I am definitely not a tax and spend person.  But when you look at kids, what are we providing for this child?  Get prepared for next year: if AES Cayuga is going down and the state doesn't recover, we're either cutting or raising taxes.

"We have to accept that as one of those brutal facts.  Not everybody is going to be satisfied.  If we just do business as usual not everybody's satisfied.  But we have to know that the important thing to to stay collaborative and come together as a community to solve this problem.  This is not the school's problem.  This is the Lansing community's problem."

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