FIle photo by Howard Owens.
Increased costs, even with a dip in enrollment, is driving a $986,846 budget increase in the Le Roy Central School District, Superintendent Merritt Holly told the Board of Education at Tuesday's regular meeting.
"You get the rising cost of doing business and what I would call employee costs, (such as) health insurance," Holly said. "Just inflationary costs, again, of doing business, our buildings and the repairs. People sometimes forget that Woodwood Memorial Library is our responsibility and there's no aid back to that, and that falls on our budget to make that happen."
Business Administrator Brian Foeller said there will be six staff retirements and only two positions will be replaced.
Foeller also mentioned other cost pressures, including employment contract obligations, increased enrollment at BOCES and the P-Tech Academy, and repairs needed at the junior/senior high school parking lot.
The district plans to purchase choral risers, wrestling mats, musical instruments, and utility vehicles in 2025/26.
The total proposed spending plan is $32,055,588. The levy is expected to increase 1.7%, which is below the tax cap limit. The district won't calculate the new tax rate for property owners until assessments are settled in August.
The board will vote on the budget at its April meeting, with a public vote in early May.
After the meeting, Holly spoke with The Batavian about national and state issues that may or may not affect the school district.
A looming issue is the possible closure of the Department of Education. On March 20, President Donald Trump signed an executive order eliminating the department, but even Republican members of Congress reminded him that Congressional approval is needed to eliminate the department, a point Trump has conceded.
Holly said the biggest issue the district might face is the potential loss of Title 1 funds. The executive order carved out Title 1 as a program to continue, but perhaps run by another agency. Title 1 assists schools with a high percentage of students from low-income families.
The funds can account for 10 to 15 percent of district spending each year, Holly said. That could mean a $3.5 to $5 million in lost revenue for the district if Title 1 is eliminated.
In the near term, Holly isn't worried about closing the DOE. So long as the Title 1 funds remain in place, the federal department has little to do with local schools.
"Yeah, I think the impact could be more down the road," Holly said. I think some of the movement by the Trump Administration, and what they're doing is, at face value, trying to look at costs, just like everybody else is trying to do to be efficient. I think the part that's most concerning for schools is, will those federal dollars come back to our schools, and to our states, then back to our schools. And I think that with that being said, that's the part of it that's the unpredictable nature of where we don't know where that's going to end."
Even though Congressional approval is uncertain, and there are lawsuits pending that attempt to block the executive order, and Trump has said Title 1 should continue, Holly thinks the district should ponder a future without the department and the funds.
"What will that impact mean if the federal dollars are not coming our way?" Holly said. "What's that going to mean for states? What are they going to do, and then what are we going do at the local level? So, I think we can start to gear up for some of those conversations."
Other than funding, most of the operations of the DOE -- collecting data on schools and education research, recommending education reforms, enforcing enforcing civil rights laws, and administering Pell Grants -- have little to no impact on local schools.
Some of the arguments about whether to keep the DOE is a two-sided coin. Elimination, theoretically, helps return control of schools to the state and local districts. On the other side, the DOE doesn't interfere with local schools.
"I think, listen, I want -- this is my opinion --I want to have local control," Holly said. "I think that's what originally started -- our Board of Education, our community. I want local control as much as possible on that always; it is hard because at the same time, we're asking for federal dollars back but again, the impact should be local, local decision-making is where I believe education should start and end."
Which brings up a natural question: how about state control of local school districts?
"I think the unfunded mandates place huge burdens on districts that they don't think about that sometimes," Holly said.
An example, he said, is the electric bus mandate.
"I still don't think it has been well thought out, though the other side would disagree," Holly said.
Another mandate Gov. Kathy Hochul is pushing is for a ban of mobile devices by students during school hours. Holly said that is another issue that should remain up to the local school districts.
"That shouldn't be handled at the state level," Holly said. "It should be handled at the local level where we know what is best for students."
At the end of the interview, Holly provided The Batavian with a list of 152 state and federal unfunded mandates.
These include:
- Charter school payments from district aid
- Claims auditor
- School district property tax report cards
- Segregation of duties (increased staffing)
- Five-year capital facilities plan
- Building condition survey every five years
- Environmentally sensitive products ("green cleaning")
- Academic intervention services
- Coaching certification
- Statewide data collection
- Duel enrollment for non-public students
- Curriculum requirements include Conservation Day and programs for the Irish Potato Famine, Humane Treatment of Animals, Patriotism and Citizenship, and Care for the Flag.
- Seat time requirements
- Staffing ratios and class sizes
- Costs for students attending state schools for the blind and deaf
- Children of Vietnam Vets must file a form
- Nonpublic school healthcare services
- Nonpublic school software loan
- Nonpublic school textbook loan
- Nonpublic school transportation
