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General News: School District Moves to Slow Spending
November 17, 2008
The Cornwall Central School District is taking action in the face of $1.07 million in cuts in state aid for the current fiscal year that have been proposed by N.Y. governor Paterson. A letter from schools superintendent Timothy Rehm went out on Friday outlining steps the district is taking to slow spending.
On Tuesday, members of the New York state legislature will meet in special session in Albany to debate how to cut $2 billion from the current budget and a total of $5.2 million over two years. Cuts in school aid and the Medicaid reimbursement program top the governor’s list of proposals.
State senate Republicans are lining up behind their majority leader to oppose the school aid cuts, but school administrators in Cornwall say that some belt-tightening is inevitable. The current 2008-09 school budget is $54.1 million dollars and $17.4 million of that, or 32 percent, was expected to be covered by state aid.
In an interview, Superintendent Rehm said he is not sure that the proposed cuts will be approved by the legislature this week but when Democrats take control in January, he predicts that Governor Paterson’s proposals will get more support. “We are monitoring it and the prudent thing to do is to slow spending and to cut costs where you can now,” Rehm said. He also noted that the cutbacks should not impact the high-performance achievements of students in the district.
In the letter to faculty, students, staff and parents, Superintendent Rehm announced a freeze on all discretionary purchases for materials, including supplies, books and equipment. Courtesy water, coffee and other food-related items would be cancelled as well, along with conference requests that have not been previously approved.
In the area of personnel, Rehm wrote that personnel replacements are being closely scrutinized and a freeze on most overtime has been put in effect. Field trips, stipends and compensation for after-school, extra curricular and athletic events will now also be closely reviewed.
Rehm said that the budget process for next year, when even more cost-cutting measures by Albany are expected, will be difficult. He stressed that the cut in state aid should not become a burden for the local taxpayer. “We absolutely know that the taxpayer is stretched as far as it can go,” Rehm said, “We are very, very aware of that.”
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