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The original defeated school budget for the 2006/2007 school year proposed by the Lansing Board of Education (LBOE) was $21,553,679. On Tuesday June 20, 2006 the board and administration are proposing a budget to the voters showing a reduction of the original budget by over $185,000 through cuts in supplies, material, new staff positions, and optional BOCES programs.

If this budget does not pass we must by law go to contingency. This means additional reductions in excess of $355,000 are required. The total reduction based on State Education Department formulas would total over $540,000 from the original budget. They would, by necessity, take the form of cuts in staff positions, interscholastic athletics, non-mandatory bus runs, staff and curriculum development, and technology. The musicals and drama productions at the HS and MS would be considered with all the extra-curricular activities, just like interscholastic sports. Some of the art and music classes are required by SED; per Mark Lewis a high school student must have 1 art/music credit to graduate and a middle school student must have 1/2 year each of art and music.

As you know we offer a program well beyond the minimums because it makes for a strong well-rounded education. These electives may be considered when establishing a contingency budget. Other things that would have to be considered are: the elimination of certain non-mandated curricular offerings and an increase in elementary class sizes. Computers and related technology purchases might be cancelled for the 2006-07 school year. Ultimately the board would have to decide what cuts should actually be made in order to meet the spending ceiling that the state imposes.

As it stands the second proposed budget cuts into the overall program that the Lansing Central School District offers to its students this year. A failed vote this second time around will be devastating. Consider the fate of this year’s junior class. Under a contingency budget many of the extra-curricular activities that they have come to enjoy participating in may not be available to them next year. This lack of extra-curricular activities will be reflected on their HS transcripts. Lansing has a proud tradition of placing a very high percentage of their graduates into Universities and Colleges across the county. If a college admissions board is weighing a Lansing senior without extra-curricular activities on their transcript for their senior year against a non-Lansing senior with similar academic achievements, whom do you think they will choose? Even if our graduates have an asterisk on the transcript explaining the contingency situation why wouldn’t they go with the sure thing?

There are many other ramifications of a contingency budget that will have an adverse effect on issues outside of the school district. If you were looking for a house in Tompkins County and you have children of school age, are you going to buy a house in Lansing with a school district operating on a contingency budget, a school district not supported by the very residents who live there???

So what can you do to help? Use any e-mail or phone lists from your community, civic, or work related activities to target people and encourage them to vote. You can write, call, or put up signs and otherwise advocate for it to pass. Remind your 18+ year olds and their friends to vote. Drive a neighbor to the polls. Anything that you think will help with this important cause.

From Mike Cheatham

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