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Acting Lansing School Superintendent Chris Pettograsso is spearheading a two-tiered long-term approach to raising revenues without high tax increases.  Last week she and her team rolled out this initiative in a community forum on budget and advocacy that attracted more than 50 Lansing school taxpayers.  Pettograsso said Monday she plans to take a proactive approach, lobbying Albany to restore state aid.  She is also working with Town officials to increase the kind of economic development that will help fund the schools.

"The overall approach is to start talking about advocating to New York State for Lansing education, but specifically for public education," she says.  "We want to ask for adequate funding, or the renewal of adequate funding that went away a number of years ago.  The other piece of it is to work closely with the Town and community regarding economic development, including ways to create revenue that hasn't existed here."

Lansing Schools Business Administrator Mary June King said Monday that the district may raise the tax rate by 4.26% to fund the 2013-2014 budget, in part because of the declining value of the Cayuga Generating Facility, Lansing's biggest taxpayer.  Pettograsso says that successful advocacy in Albany could reduce the local levy.

Pettograsso and King gave a presentation at a community budget forum.  Retired teachers helped facilitate the session, which broke down into table by table individual discussions.  Lansing Town  Supervisor Kathy Miller gave a presentation on how the Town's economic development plans ill help mitigate rising school taxes, especially in light of the the declining value of the power plant.

"People were working together to view the budget process in a very positive, proactive way," says Lansing Middle School Principle Jamie Thomas.

Pettograsso says that she and Miller are considering more community outreach together to advocate for projects that will increase the kind of economic development that will help fund the schools without raising taxes onerously.

"I had a great conversation at my table," School Board member Glenn Swanson says.  "I enjoyed meeting some people I hadn't met before, including three young families who moved to the area based on the reputation of the Lansing schools.  (That reputation) is hard to create and easy to lose."

Pettograsso says she is also working with TST BOCES to create a regional advocacy board.  A page on the school Web site encourages district residents to write their legislative representatives to advocate for the schools.

"This is not just about Lansing," she says. "This is about our region and how we can continue to have a strong region."

Electronic invitations and more than 100 paper invitations were sent to community members to get them to attend.  Pettograsso says the majority of those who came have children in the schools.  She says she wants to broaden the scope of stakeholders at the next forum.

"The people who came had some great ideas.  We also got a lot of positive written feedback," she says.  "We also want people who don't necessarily use the schools for any services or have any personal investment in the schools to understand why its important to have a strong school district.  It is important for maintaining the type of community you want to live in, for the value of your home and land, to maintain the businesses we have, and to grow."

The next community forum is scheduled for March 18 in the Lansing High School Cafeteria at 6pm.

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