City Schools

Update: 2:30 p.m. -- with comments from Benedict

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Alice Ann Benedict was elected president of the Batavia City School District Board of Education on Wednesday morning, replacing longtime board member Patrick Burk.

The unanimous selection of the board took place at a reorganizational meeting at the district’s administration conference room.

Benedict, a lifelong Batavian and former BOE president, was appointed in May to fill the board seat vacated by Zachary Korzelius. She then was elected by district residents to a three-year term in voting announced on June 16.

On Wednesday, Benedict, along with board members Barbara Bowman and Tanni Bromley, were sworn in by Business Administrator Scott Rozanski. Bowman and Bromley were re-elected last month.

As she took the president’s seat at the conference table, Benedict said, “Thank you all for your support and please bear with me. It’s been a while since I’ve been president of the board.”

Her first order of business was to call for a nomination for vice president. The board promptly voted for Peter Cecere to fill that position.

Benedict, a BOE member from 1995-2006, is familiar with the leadership role, having served three terms as president.

She and her husband, Wayne, and their three children are Batavia High School graduates. She also is an alumna of Genesee Community College.

"I am excited to be back on the BOE and becoming president is an added honor," Benedict said. "I take the responsibility very seriously and I know my experience from being on the BOE previously, will serve me well."

She said the board is operating during "an unprecedented and challenging time" and is inundated with information concerning students' academics along with the health and safety of students, teachers, staff and the community.

"I urge the community to get involved, participate in meetings, and engage with our Board," she added. "I want all of us to work together to be stakeholders in the future education of all our students."

Burk, who nominated Benedict for president, called the change a “transitional move.” He said that he had planned to retire from the board at the end of this year.

His term expires on June 30, 2021.

“This was a planned thing to bring in new leadership,” said Burk, a board member for close to 30 years. “With the theater up and moving forward, I will be concentrating in that area, and it really wouldn’t make sense to be president and leave (a void).”

He was referring to the Batavia Players Theater 56, which is in the process of relocating from Harvester Avenue to the City Centre as part of the state’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative. Burk is president, executive and artistic director of Batavia Players.

Burk also serves as the executive director of the Genesee Valley School Boards Association, which represents 22 school boards in Western New York. He is the 2016 recipient of the GVSBA's Albert W. Hawk Award for Distinguished School Board Service for his contributions to public education and children in his community.

“Mr. Burk still is a valuable resource – he’s an active member and has a vote – and brings a ton of historical and institutional knowledge (to the board),” Soler said.

While expressing remorse in having to eliminate jobs, Anibal Soler Jr. today said he is excited over the public’s approval of the Batavia City School District 2020-21 budget and the capital project that will result in a new playground at Jackson Primary School.

The district’s first-year superintendent also said he is looking forward to a revised commencement event on Saturday, June 27 that will feature four or five outdoor mini-graduation ceremonies at Batavia High School on State Street.

“It’s a good outcome for us,” Soler said in regard to Tuesday’s absentee ballot tabulation on the $51.4 million spending plan that passed with 1,489 “yes” votes compared to 862 “no” votes. “We worked hard; it was a tough budget season. Obviously, we had to make some tough decisions.”

Soler said it was difficult laying people off, but admitted the district “had to right some things” in light of its – and the state’s – current financial situation.

“I appreciate the community for supporting our budget with a zero percent tax increase, which is important given the economic crisis caused by the pandemic,” he said. “And we still don’t know what the future will look like as people go back to work.”

Batavia’s budget could be subjected to cuts down the road since Gov. Andrew Cuomo has specified different measurement periods through the end of the year in regard to the state budget. Any revenue shortages incurred by New York State likely will result in reduced state aid to local governments and school districts.

Soler said he hopes for the passage of a federal stimulus package to provide funds to the states, but, if not, the district did include a “pandemic adjustment” line in its budget.

“We hope there’s no impact but we won’t know until the governor makes a decision on his budget,” he said.

Jackson Project Passes by 198 Votes

The superintendent said he is happy that Jackson Primary School will be getting an age-appropriate playground and restroom renovation after residents passed a capital project referendum by a 1,277 to 1,079 vote.

Funded by capital reserves, the $619,151 project will cost the district about $60,000 after state aid is appropriated – and it does not affect the tax levy.

“I’m excited that the kids got an age-appropriate playground as we continue to make Jackson Primary a premier primary school in our region,” Soler said.

He also said he was pleased that three current board of education members – Alice Ann Benedict, Barbara Bowman and Tanni Bromley – will be returning.

“To have consistency on the board always helps us as we continue to work together and implement the mission and vision of our district,” he said.

Soler also responded to questions about the abolished positions and layoffs, public comments criticizing changes in the reading program at the Middle School, and administration’s relationship with the Batavia Teachers Association.

Administrators to be Reassigned

He said that two administrative positions – coordinator of assessment & instructional services, and the other in technology -- were abolished and those two employees will be reassigned to fill two vacant assistant principal positions.

“That was a decision of the board to protect building level administrative positions versus district level – in terms of people who were at a higher level,” he said, noting that the district has two assistant principals at both the high school and middle school and one at both John Kennedy Elementary and Jackson Primary.

Soler did not disclose the names of the new assistant principals or where they would be assigned, only saying that the board of education is scheduled to approve the transfers at its June 22 meeting.

“We’re looking at making sure there are strong teams on every campus, and we may move our assistant principals across the four buildings to make sure we have a balance of talent, also gender, things of that nature,” he said. “There is a plan for reorganization that will be shared publicly once the board approves the assignments.”

Soler said that although the district abolished or eliminated about 33 positions, only about seven teachers were laid off after the district learned of retirements and resignations.

“And recently a special ed teacher told us they are moving out of state, so that will bring back one that was laid off,” he said. “We believe we will chip away, and hopefully, depending upon attrition and retirement and moves, potentially we will have nobody laid off at the end of the day.”

Changes in Approach to AIS Reading

Academic Intervention Services is a program for students challenged in reading and math. Soler said the district is modifying the way it delivers these services.

“Our elementary teachers have been doing the (AIS) math, so they’ll just pick up the reading,” he said, adding that New York State regulations allow for elementary teachers to provide instruction in AIS math and reading. “In the past, they had reading specialists. But we don’t necessarily need a reading-certified person to deliver AIS. An elementary certified teacher can deliver this to the kids.”

Soler said AIS is only for pupils who have been identified as needing additional support.

“We will be able to give kids what they need,” he said. “Yes, we changed our approach a bit but we believe we can still deliver high-quality programming. Plus, we protected all of our electives, which we know kids love – art, music, physical education, things of that nature.”

Lessons Learned During Budget Process

Soler acknowledged some missteps in dealing with the Batavia Teachers Association, which was asked (and refused) to take a pay freeze to avoid layoffs and, later on, voted against a proposal to change the start and end times of the school day.

“I think it was a tough process, and they didn’t know me and they still don’t necessarily know my approach or my focus,” he said. “So, I think that some things may have been miscommunicated given the fact that I came in January and the budget process started a month or so after that. In hindsight, I learned some lessons for myself on communication and trying to get the word out.”

He said he heard “a lot of negative feedback from people assuming that reading was eliminated.”

“We didn’t completely eliminate reading; we did reduce it,” he said. “And those were people who didn’t have 25 kids in their class, or 22 kids; they were supplemental supports.”

Soler said he hopes there isn’t any lingering animosity with the teachers’ union.

“I appreciate them even exploring the scheduling as an option of (cost) savings. That didn’t work out but we’ll continue to work through those conversations and maybe down the road we can re-explore that,” he said.

Graduation Under the Willow Tree

The governor’s mandate that graduations be limited to 150 people have quashed the district’s plan to have commencement at Van Detta Stadium.

“We have more than that graduating (165), so our high school principal, Mr. (Paul) Kessler, has developed a plan to kind of have smaller, micro-graduation ceremonies all on the same day,” Soler said.

The new arrangement is to have 30 or so seniors with their parents and some staff taking part in the smaller graduation ceremonies – in front of the high school under the willow tree that has been the backdrop of numerous commencement exercises in the past.

Soler said the first one will start at 11 a.m. Each ceremony will run for about 45 minutes and will be followed by a 30-minute intermission to allow for people to leave and the new group to enter. Each student will be allowed to invite a maximum of four family members and/or friends.

Voting on Batavia City School District's $51,470,726 budget, capital project and board of education election:

Proposition #1 – Budget
Yes – 1,489
No – 862

Proposition #2 – Capital Project (Jackson Playground, Restroom Renovation)
Yes – 1,277
No – 1,079

School Board – Three Positions
Alice Ann Benedict – 1,828
Barbara Bowman – 1,779
Tanni Bromley – 1,623
Write-in candidate – John Reigle – 489 out of 544 total write-in candidates

Library Trustee – Two Seats
Kristie Evans – 2,096
Write-in candidate – Leslie Moma – 45 out of 234 total write-in candidates

Over the past couple weeks, Genesee County school districts -- like others throughout the state -- have been gearing up for Tuesday’s counting of paper ballots that will determine the outcome of 2020-21 budgets, propositions and board of education elections.

Now, per an executive order signed on Sunday by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, it looks as though they’ll have to wait a bit longer.

The legislation extends the deadline for submitting school budget absentee ballots by mail through June 16, while retaining the requirement that ballots can be delivered by hand to school offices through 5 p.m. tomorrow.

“Obviously, it will delay our process by a week,” said Scott Rozanski, Batavia City School District business administrator. “Tentatively, we will begin to count on June 16 once mail is received.”

Rozanski said he has yet to receive specific guidance on the legislation, which also extends the deadline to submit absentee ballots for the Primary Election until June 23 -- the day of the election.

In a press release, Cuomo said “the COVID-19 pandemic has changed our world, and while we are making great progress and the numbers keep going down, no New Yorker should have to choose between their health and their right to vote.”

Robert Schneider, executive director of the New York State School Boards Association, said, in a press release, the delay muddles the school budget process even further.

“The executive order will likely cause confusion among voters in districts that did not face supply chain issues, thereby adding to what has been an extremely frustrating, costly and cumbersome board election and school budget vote process,” Schneider said.

Rozanski and John Fisgus, Oakfield-Alabama Central School superintendent, said they are ready to count their district’s ballots, and both are reporting a significant increase in voter participation.

“We received over 300 ballots a day for the first four days (since May 29) and now they're coming in at around 150 per day,” Rozanski said. “This will be the highest number of votes since I arrived in 2003. We have already exceeded the highest number, which was in 2012-13.”

Last year, about 550 votes were cast in Batavia.

At Oakfield-Alabama, Fisgus said that more than 700 ballots had been received as of last Friday – more than three times the number of voters in 2019.

As far as counting the ballots is concerned, both districts have their teams in place and will be forming an “assembly line” with different people assigned to specific tasks – opening the envelopes, distributing the ballots and counting the votes separately for the budget, other propositions and school board election.

They also said that guidelines are in place to ensure voter anonymity since the outside of the envelopes have to be signed in order to be considered. 

“(Starting at 5 p.m. on June 16) we will open the envelopes but the ballots will remain folded as not to see the information checked as it must remain anonymous and separated from the envelope,” Fisgus said.

He said the ballots will be placed in a secure lock box, and the two teams counting the ballots will be charged with tallying the budget votes, capital project vote, bus purchase and board member votes.

“Once all the legal ballots have been counted, the teams will come together for a final tally of the propositions and board candidates,” said.

Rozanski said the Batavia district is using a local vendor to assist in the process.

“We have partnered with ABS (Applied Business Systems) to have the mailed ballots delivered to them using their Business Reply Mail permit,” he said. “Each day we receive notification of the ballots received and an employee picks up the mail. In addition, ballots could still be dropped off at the Administrative wing at Batavia High School (by 5 p.m. tomorrow).”

To be eligible to vote, persons must be a U.S. citizen, 18 years of age or older, and be a resident of the school district for at least 30 days prior to June 9 – all in accordance with the provisions of section 5-106 of the Election Law.

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Reigle to Run for Batavia Spot

The Batavia City School District has another candidate for the school board as John Reigle has thrown his hat into the ring as a write-in.

He joins incumbents Tanni Bromley and Barbara Bowman as well as recent appointee Alice Ann Benedict in the race for the three open board seats.

The two candidates receiving the most votes will serve from July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2023, while the third-place candidate’s term will be June 9, 2020 through June 30, 2021.

Batavia City School administrators emphasized average class size, non-mandated programs and the property tax rate in making their final presentation of a $51.4 million 2020-21 spending plan to the public at tonight’s board of education budget hearing and meeting on the district’s YouTube channel.

Superintendent Anibal Soler Jr. and Business Administrator Scott Rozanski utilized PowerPoint slides during their 30-minute overview, touching upon several metrics, including the budget process, enrollment, demographics, employee structure, outcomes, program offerings, finances, tax implications and voting details.

BUDGET PROCESS

The district was facing a $1.9 million budget shortfall on March 31, Soler said, even before the economy felt the full effects of the COVID-19 pandemic that had forced the closing of school in mid-March. Since then, teachers and students have been interacting on a remote learning basis.

“The current fiscal challenge … was already going to be there even if COVID happened or didn’t happen,” he said. “We were going to have some tough decisions to be made as an institution.”

Batavia’s student count has dropped by 100 over the past seven years, Soler said, noting that enrollment dictates staffing levels, student-teacher ratios and the amount of state aid the district receives. He also said that state aid has been flat during that time while contractual obligations have increased.

The board adopted the budget on May 19 (almost three months after the process started), achieving its goal of formulating a budget with no increase in property taxes to homeowners.

The proposed budget includes one new item -- a $100,000 capital outlay project to install security door upgrades and landscaping at the Middle School.

ENROLLMENT AND DEMOGRAPHICS

As the school year ends, the district’s K-12 enrollment is at 2,284, with 358 in K-1, 492 in grades 2-4, 705 in grades 5-8, 641 in grades 9-12 and 88 in K-12 out-of-district placements. Another 112 were enrolled in Universal Pre-Kindergarten to raise the total to 2,396.

The average class size, which Soler said was “pretty phenomenal,” is 18 for UPK, 20 for grades 2-4, 20 for grades 5-8, and 22 for grades 9-12.

He said that 62.8 percent of the students are eligible for free or reduced lunch.

Seventy-two percent of the students are white, 13 percent black or African-American, and 9 percent are Hispanic or Latino, and the average daily attendance is 92 percent, Soler said.

EMPLOYEE STRUCTURE

Without specifically mentioning the nearly 30 jobs that were terminated or abolished to balance the budget, Soler provided an update on staffing on a full-time equivalent level.

The district employs 245.9 (FTE) teachers, plus 121 teacher aides/clerical staff, 37 maintenance staff (including a School Resource Officer), 24 nutritional services staff, six assistant principals (two each at the high school and middle school), four principals, five administrators and five information technology staff.

Soler said the student to teacher ratio last school year was about 8.2 to 1.

OUTCOMES

“At the end of the day, we’re measured by our outcomes. We’re expected to graduate kids, get them ready for college and career or the world,” Soler said.

The Batavia graduation rate of 92 percent is 9 percentage points higher than the New York State average, Soler said.

However, the district’s state English Language Arts and Math proficiency rates for grades three through eight of 38 percent and 43 percent, respectively, were slightly below the county average of 41 percent and 47 percent, respectively.

“If you look at similar size small city school districts, our rankings are usually in the top five or six …,” he said. “We are a pretty high performing school district in comparison to where we’re supposed to be.”

PROGRAM OFFERINGS

Soler said that two dozen programs that aren’t required by New York State are in the Batavia budget because they are “important to this board of education (and) important to this community.”

Those non-mandated offerings include full-day UPK, kindergarten, transportation, art/music/plays/musicals, counselors/social worker, advanced placement courses, sports, teaching aides and a school resource officer agreement with the Batavia City Police Department.

“(There are) no compromises in anything that we’re offering in either extracurricular or athletics,” he said.

SPENDING PER PUPIL

The district’s expenditures per pupil were broken into three categories – general education, special education and total.

Batavia spends $11,655 per general education student, about $2,000 less that the New York State average, and $33,848 per special education student, about $1,500 more than the state average.

Overall, the total expenditure per pupil at Batavia is $20,892, about $4,000 less than the state average, Soler said.

FINANCES & TAX IMPLICATIONS

Rozanski reported the $51.4 million budget is an increase of $952,000 (1.8 percent) over last year, but the tax levy of $19.5 million is a decrease of $7,362 (0.038 percent).

“For comparison, the CPI or Consumer Price Index is 1.81 percent,” Rozanski said.

Speaking about the state tax cap, he said it fluctuates from year to year, with the district’s 2020-21 tax cap number at negative 0.038 percent.

The district’s nine-year average tax cap allowable increase is 3.51 percent, Rozanski pointed out, but the actual nine-year average tax levy increase is only 1.03 percent – or 2.48 percent less than the average allowed.

“That translates to 71 percent less than what the district could have taxed the taxpayers or about $455,744 more per year on average,” he said. “Over that nine-year period, over $4 million more could have been collected by the district.”

Using current assessed property values from Genesee County, the projected school tax rate will decrease by 26 cents in 2020-21 to $21.30 per thousand of assessed value, Rozanski reported. That figure – and it could change -- is $3 less than the tax rate from 2006-07.

Rozanski said that over the past six years, district residents have received $4.6 million in rebate checks from New York State (as a result of the district’s compliance with the tax cap) while paying $1.36 million in school taxes – “for a net positive to the community of $3.2 million.”

The state will not be offering rebate checks this year … “and probably won’t be anytime soon,” he said.

RESERVES & REVENUE SOURCES

Rozanski said the appropriated fund balance (non-reserves) will decrease by $250,000 to $1.75 million while the appropriated fund balance (reserves) will decrease by $132,143 to $975,146 per the 2020-21 budget.

“(The $250,000) is the surplus in this year’s (2019-20) budget, Rozanski said. “That’s how much we projected to be available as of June 30^th to offset next year’s (budget).”

The district is anticipating $27.1 million in state and federal aid for 2020-21, which represents 52.6 percent of its revenue, while taxes will bring in another $19.5 million or 38 percent, Rozanski said. Support from the state is unclear, though, due to revenue losses caused by the coronavirus.

As far as appropriations, about $30 million (57.5 percent) will go to instructional support (payroll), $11 million (21 percent) to employee benefits, and $5.6 million (11 percent) to general support (administration, buildings and grounds). Remaining costs are transportation, debt service and interfund transfers.

VOTING DETAILS

By executive order of the governor, voting will be done by absentee ballot only. Ballots were mailed to district residents and must be received by personnel in the district’s administrative offices at 260 State St. by 5 p.m. June 9 to be considered.

Rozanski recommended that residents mail them back in the postage-paid envelope on or before June 5.

Beside the budget, residents will vote on a referendum for a $619,151 capital project at Jackson Primary School. The money will be taken from the Capital Reserve fund for restroom renovation and an age-appropriate playground.

“This will not impact the tax levy at all as it is coming from our reserve fund,” Rozanski advised. “Our net cost will be about 10 percent ($60,000) when we get aid on that and the rest will go back into the reserve fund.”

Three incumbent board members are running for the three open positions. They are Alice Ann Benedict, Barbara Bowman and Tanni Bromley.

LOOKING AHEAD

Soler said plans for an outdoor commencement ceremony at Van Detta Stadium on June 27 are still on the table, with a meeting with Genesee County Health Department officials scheduled for this Thursday.

June 17 is the last day of remote learning for students and teachers and June 26 is the last day of breakfast and lunch meal distribution.

The superintendent said that he will be forming a “reopening task force” to look at three options for this fall – traditional classroom setting with social distancing, a hybrid model of traditional and distance learning, and exclusively remote learning.

“We have to thank about what this will look like, the implications,” he said, adding that he expects to receive guidance from state leaders within a week or so and have plans in place by July.

The Batavian has reached out to school board candidates in Genesee County to get their answers to five questions prior to voting on June 9.

The questions are as follows:

1 -- What is your position on your school district’s proposed budget for 2020-21? What parts do you support? What parts would you change if you could?

2 -- Are teachers in your district compensated adequately?

3 -- With what we know now about COVID-19, should schools reopen in the fall?

4 -- Are you satisfied that your district responds to parents’ complaints and concerns in a way that ensures the parents know they have been heard?

5 -- What two books published since The Enlightenment have influenced you the most?

BARBARA BOWMAN

1 -- After careful consideration and further conversations, the board unanimously approved the proposed budget. We supported the budget in its entirety. I cannot stress enough how important I feel it is to support the teachers and to support the community. I believe to be of substantial help to our students, who are our first priority, we need to be able to use collaboration and work together as a team.

2 -- The Teachers Association negotiates their compensation on a 3-4-year contract. The Board of Education approves the final negotiation contract on the recommendation of the Superintendent of Schools.

3 -- I believe Batavia CSD should follow the guidelines that will be provided by Governor Cuomo and the Genesee County Dept of Health, on the advice of the CDC and WHO. Having said that, as a grandparent, I support the reopening of school in the fall, provided we can follow all safety guidelines put forth. Technology is an amazing tool and should be used but it can never replace teacher- student interactions and relationships.   

4 – The Board of Education allows the opportunity for all public to be heard during public session in addition to allowing questions to be submitted for review on the district website. We obviously cannot answer every question that is received however when there are several questions with similar content, we as a board, take time to consider them and provide thoughtful answers.

5 -- To Kill A Mockingbird; Night.

TANNI BROMLEY

1 -- After careful consideration and further conversations, the board unanimously approved the proposed budget. We supported the budget in its entirety.

2 -- The district continuously has a full pipeline of candidates for open positions, this is in part due to having competitive compensation as compared to similar districts. Additionally, our Teachers Association negotiates their compensation on a 3-4-year contract which The Board of Education approves on the recommendation of the Superintendent of Schools.

3 -- I believe Batavia CSD should follow the guidelines that will be provided by Governor Cuomo and the Genesee County Dept of Health, on the advice of the CDC and WHO. If the guidelines are to open in the fall with certain restrictions and accommodations, then yes.

4 -- The Board of Education allows the opportunity for all public to be heard during public session in addition to allowing questions to be submitted for review on the district website. We obviously cannot answer every question that is received, however, when there are several questions with similar content, we as a board, take time to consider them and provide thoughtful answers.

5 -- Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom; Being Mortal by Atul Gawande.

The agenda for Tuesday night’s Batavia City School District Board of Education meeting sheds more light on the jobs earmarked for termination or abolishment under the 2020-21 budget,

According to the agenda of the meeting, which can be viewed on the BOE website’s YouTube channel, the following positions are being terminated, effective July 1:

-- Five elementary teachers (who worked at either Jackson Primary School or Batavia Middle School);
-- A special education teacher (middle school);
-- A reading teacher (middle school).

Additionally, numerous positions will be abolished. They are:

-- Coordinator of assessment and instruction (administration);
-- Instructional technology coordinator (administration);
-- Deputy school district treasurer (district-wide);
-- Math teacher, science teacher and social studies teacher (high school);
-- Half-time music teacher (high school);
-- Library media specialist (middle school);
-- Reading teacher (middle school);
-- Special education teacher (middle school) and special education teacher (high school);
-- Nine elementary teachers (six at Jackson, two at John Kennedy Elementary and one at middle school);
-- Clerk-typist (middle school);
-- Building maintenance worker (middle school).

Personnel cuts were approved by the board of education at its April 28^th meeting in order to close a significant gap in a $51.4 million budget. Staff reductions and other cost-saving measures enabled the board to present a budget with no property tax rate increase.

Previously, Business Administrator Scott Rozanski reported that 12.5 positions were reduced through retirements and resignations, with 10 more full-time-equivalents cut via long-term substitute assignments ending June 30.

Board of Education President Patrick Burk today said he thinks this action will have minimal impact upon students.

“We’ve done this with the cooperation of our building leaders and principals and we are working very hard to make sure that the impact on students is minimal. I believe that it will be,” he said. “All we can do now is plan and see what is going to be happening for the upcoming year – and all that’s up in the air still. We’ll find out what the actual impact is as time goes on.”

Burk said that the process has been very difficult as well as “sad and nerve-wracking.”

“I’m a big supporter of our staff as people will tell you,” he said. “I think we have an excellent staff. We do a great job of hiring. We do a fantastic job with making sure students are cared for. Anytime that things are interrupted for any reason it’s a very sad situation.”

Voting on the budget is taking place by absentee paper balloting.

Absentee ballots must be returned by mail no later than 5 p.m. on June 9 to the Office of the District Clerk at Batavia High School Administrative Offices, 260 State St., Batavia, NY 14020. Any absentee ballot received after 5 p.m. on June 9 will not be considered.

When asked if he was concerned about the reduction of so many elementary teaching positions, Burk explained that decreased enrollment in the younger grades played some part of that decision.

 “I do know that two or three of those were because of enrollment. If we don’t have the enrollment, we can’t maintain the number of sections we have in a specific grade,” he said. “All people in all positions who work for this district are very important to me, and I think that that message could be lost. My hope is that eventually we will have some sort of rebound and not all the negative that seems to be out there – with what could be coming down the road.”

Burk responded to a question about the cost per pupil by stating that it’s not a true assessment of a district’s effectiveness. He said the district’s total enrollment (Universal Pre-Kindergarten through 12^th grade) is around 2,400 students.

“I know that we’re much lower than many other small city schools, and obviously, in some cases we might be a little bit higher, but it’s not a good practice to really compare from that level because a lot of it is dependent on what has to be made available in the district,” he said.

He said a particular small city school has less students than Batavia, but a larger budget because it services a “tremendous number of students with special needs – especially English language learners.”

“So, right there you’re bringing in a tremendous amount of people to work and develop language skills, plus special ed and more. Plus, when you’re in a situation like that, it’s over every grade – not just one grade that you have to add someone to,” he said.

Burk said Batavia supports a wide variety of educational programs at all grade levels, including elementary music and art.

“Kindergarten isn’t even mandated in New York State; we offer full-day kindergarten,” he said. “There are a lot of things that are really comparing apples to oranges unless you’re looking at the services that are provided.”

Burk also commented on last week’s vote by the Batavia Teachers’ Association to reject a proposal by administration to change the school day starting and ending times. If it had passed, the district would have realized an additional $200,000 in savings that were not part of the 2020-21 budget.

“If the staff and the families are not in favor of the proposal …that’s certainly understandable," he said. "It was done in a way to make sure that we can keep everything going properly for our kids – and everything’s going to same this year anyway. I’m fine with the vote, and I thank them for putting it to a vote. It’s pretty much what I expected.”

There will be no change in the daily schedule for students at the four Batavia City School District buildings.

“After thoughtful consideration and collaboration over the last six weeks, the members of the Batavia Teachers’ Association voted against a proposal to change the start and end times at all district buildings,” BTA President Mark Warren said following today's online voting by union members.

District administration had suggested the change during the 2020-21 budget process, maintaining that the proposed starting and ending times would save $200,000 in transportation costs. The outcome of the vote will not affect the passed budget.

With the “no” vote by the teachers, the school day will continue as follows:

-- Batavia High and Batavia Middle, 8 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.

-- John Kennedy Elementary and Jackson Primary, 8:15 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

The proposal called for BHS and BMS to be on 7:30 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. schedule, and for JK and Jackson to be on a 9 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. schedule.

Warren said he exit polls revealed two main concerns.

“The current research on sleep patterns and the school day for teenagers supports a later start time for secondary students, and concerns were also expressed over modifying the students’ schedule in the midst of all of the changes going on due to the pandemic,” Warren said.

He said the BTA’s goal moving forward is “to work collaboratively with district administration as we determine the best path to reopen the school buildings in the fall to ensure the safety of students and employees.”

Warren said all four building votes would have had to be favorable for the measure to pass, but indicated that it was rejected at all four schools.

As the Batavia City School District’s Board of Education worked to reach its goal of a 2020-21 budget with no property tax rate increase, tough decisions had to be made -- most notably the need to cut a significant number of jobs.

At its April 28^th meeting, the board announced an across-the-board reduction of at least 30 positions, including administrators, teachers, aides and clerical staff.

Earlier this week, the board passed a $51.4 million spending plan and, according to Business Administrator Scott Rozanski, the impact of those cuts, when converting them to “full-time equivalents,” isn’t as severe as originally believed.

Rozanski today said that 10 of the 33 FTE positions removed from the budget are reductions to existing staff, with seven teachers and one clerical employee losing their jobs. The other two of those 10 FTEs are vacant positions in administration that won’t be filled, he said.

“So, technically, eight permanent employees are affected at this point in time,” Rozanski said.

The remainder of the reductions is as follows:

-- Five FTE via retirements;
-- Seven and a half FTE via resignations;
-- Ten FTE via long-term substitute assignments ending June 30;
-- One half FTE via reductions to the budget (contracted new position).

A public hearing on the budget is scheduled for the board’s next meeting at 6 p.m. June 2, and voting will take place by paper ballot on June 9. Ballots were mailed to all eligible voters and must be returned (in a provided postage-paid envelope) by 5 p.m. June 9^th to be considered.

The public also will vote on a $619,151 capital project to construct an age-appropriate playground at Jackson Primary School, he said.

In a related development, the Batavia Teachers’ Association will vote next Thursday (May 28) on a proposal to change the school day schedule. 

BTA President Mark Warren said today that voting by employees who work at the four district schools will take place by an online balloting system, and results will be available that evening.

“Each of the four buildings will have separate votes and if they all vote in favor of it, then it will pass,” Warren said.

If approved, it reportedly would save the district about $200,000 in transportation costs.

The proposed schedule change is as follows:

 -- Putting Batavia High and Batavia Middle on a 7:30 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. schedule. Currently, the schedule at those two schools is 8 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.

-- Putting John Kennedy and Jackson on a 9 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. schedule. Currently, the schedule at those two schools is 8:15 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

As Genesee County school districts gear up for 2020-21 budget voting and school board elections, The Batavian is providing the following capsule summaries to keep residents informed about key dates, propositions and candidates.

Per Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s order, all school districts in New York State will hold annual budget voting and board elections on June 9 through absentee balloting.

Absentee ballots will be mailed to eligible voters and must be returned to the district offices by 5 p.m. on June 9 or they will not be considered or counted – no exceptions.

It is essential to remember that additional state aid cuts could be coming and would affect districts’ budgets going forward.

Details about the schools’ budgets and candidates as well as contact information can be found on their respective websites.

ALEXANDER CENTRAL

Budget by the numbers -- The proposed budget is $18,540,258, an increase of $315,497 from the 2019-20 plan, with no increase in the tax levy. The budget (virtual) hearing is set for 7 p.m. on May 26 via Zoom using the log-in details posted on the district website, and will be available for viewing on the website’s BOE link starting on May 27.

School board election – One position is up for election for a term of five years commencing July 1, 2020 and expiring on June 30, 2025 to succeed Richard Guarino, whose term expires on June 30, 2020. Candidates are Christopher Mullen and Diane Steel.

Website – www.alexandercsd.org

BATAVIA CITY SCHOOLS

Budget by the numbers – The board approved a $51,470,725 spending plan with cuts in staffing and other items but no property tax increase. The public hearing on the budget is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on June 2.

Additional propositions – Richmond Memorial Library trustee voting, with Kristi Evans the only candidate at this time for a five-year term starting on July 1, 2020. As two seats are open, the other will be filled via the write-in candidate process. Jackson Primary playground, a $618,000 capital project to construct an age-appropriate playground at Jackson Primary School.

School board election – Incumbents Barbara Bowman and Tanni Bromley along with recent appointee Alice Ann Benedict are running for three board seats. The candidates receiving the most votes will serve from July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2023, while the third-place candidate’s term will be June 9, 2020 through June 30, 2021.

Website – www.bataviacsd.org

BYRON-BERGEN CENTRAL

Budget by the numbers – The board adopted a proposed budget of $24,599,800, including a tax levy of $9,024,961 – an increase in the property tax rate of 1.99 percent. The public hearing on the budget is set for 5 p.m. on May 28, and will be recorded and placed on the district website.

Additional propositions – Bus purchase, proposal is for two 70-passenger school buses at a maximum cost of $246,000, with 90 percent covered by state aid. The tax income is estimated at $2 per year on a house assessed at $100,000, according to Superintendent Mickey Edwards.

School board election – Three people are running for two open trustee positions – incumbents Tammy Menzie and Amy Phillips and challenger Lynn Smith. The terms are for three years, beginning on July 1.

Website – www.bbschools.org

ELBA CENTRAL

Budget by the numbers – The board is meeting tonight via Zoom to consider the $10,269,322 spending plan that calls for a slight tax increase that equates to an increase of $39 for the entire year based on a house assessed at $150,000. The public hearing is set for 6:30 p.m. on May 27, also via Zoom.

Additional proposition – Re-establish a vehicle and transportation reserve and school bus purchase. Superintendent Ned Dale reporting that the district wishes use existing reserve funds to purchase a 65-passenger bus and a 24-passenger bus with a handicap lift.

School board election – Incumbent Michael Riner is the only slated candidate for his seat, which expires this year.

Website – www.elbacsd.org

LE ROY CENTRAL

Budget by the numbers – The board approved a $26,334,488 budget that includes a 1.99 percent property tax increase (which is below the district’s tax cap of 2.8 percent) and does not add new positions or programs. The budget hearing presentation will be posted on the district's website at www.leroycsd.org on June 2.

School board election – Incumbents Richard Lawrence and Jacalyn Whiting are running for the two three-year terms.

Website – www.leroycsd.org

OAKFIELD-ALABAMA CENTRAL

Budget by the numbers – The board approved a $21,123,746 budget, up 1.4 percent from last year, with a zero percent property tax increase. Superintendent John Fisgus reported that the budget preserves all educational programs and extracurricular activities, adding that tiered plans are in place if the state makes additional cuts in aid. The public hearing on the budget is set for 10 a.m. on June 1 and will be considered “adjourned” as it will be conducted remotely.

Additional propositions – Capital improvement project, $15.3 million, with no impact upon taxpayers. Major goals of the project include safety/security measures, code and handicap accessible updates, building repairs, infrastructure upgrades and landscaping. School bus purchase, $135,000, to be financed.

School board election – Five candidates are running for three open positions – Jackie Yunker Davis, Daniel N. Groth, Douglas Russo, Shanda Spink and Pete Zeliff. The candidate receiving the most votes will begin serving on June 10 with the term ending on June 30, 2023. The terms of the two candidates with the second and third most votes will be July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2023.

Website – www.oahornets.org

PAVILION CENTRAL

Budget by the numbers – The board adopted a $17,684,182 budget with no change in the tax levy and no major changes beyond contractual increases and expected costs related to the coronavirus. The public hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m. on May 26 via Zoom. Links will be provided in the district newsletter and on our web page once they are created. 

Additional propositions – Change of board of education term, with the proposal calling for making all seven seats five-year terms – an increase of two years from the current term.

School board election -- Incumbents Margaret Gaston and Callin Ayers-Tillotson are running for re-election.

Website – www.pavilioncsd.org

PEMBROKE CENTRAL

Budget by the numbers – The board adopted a $23,679,522 budget with a zero percent tax levy increase and no property tax increase. The budget hearing will be held remotely on May 26, and the adjourned budget hearing will be available to view on the district website BoardDocs link beginning on May 27. The district's Dragon Tales publication will be mailed next week with all the details.

Additional propositions – Purchase of buses, with no impact upon taxes.

School board election – Dan Lang is running for a one-year unexpired term and Heather Wood is running for a new five-year term. Additionally, an election to fill three seats on the Corfu Public Library is scheduled. Kristie Miller, Julie Hengenius and Tony Kutter are up for election for three-year terms.

Website – www.pembrokecsd.org

The Batavia City School District Board of Education tonight unanimously passed its 2020-21 budget, a $51.4 million spending plan that does not raise property taxes but comes with personnel reductions that were made to close what previously was a $1.6 million shortfall.

Voting took place at the board’s videoconference meeting on its YouTube channel and all seven members cast a “yes” vote.

The board also voted on the district’s yearly capital outlay project, choosing to fund the replacement of exterior doors and landscaping at the Batavia Middle School on Ross Street. The other options were a new restroom at the Jackson Primary School gym and a new stage floor and new clocks at the Batavia High School auditorium.

Board members cited safety of the students as the main factor in selecting the middle school project.

The capital outlay project will cost the district only $10,000, with the other $90,000 covered by an aid appropriation.

A public hearing on the budget is scheduled for the board’s next meeting at 6 :30 p.m. June 2, and voting will take place by paper ballot on June 9.

Business Administrator Scott Rozanski said that ballots will be mailed to all eligible voters by the end of this week, and must be returned (in a provided postage-paid envelope).

The public also will vote on a $618,000 capital project to construct an age-appropriate playground at Jackson Primary School, he said.

Concerning the budget, the board was forced to make numerous spending cuts over the past few weeks due to a significant decrease in state aid and having to meet a “negative” tax cap figure.

It slashed about 30 positions – some full-time, some part-time, and some long-term substitutes – and followed that up by scaling back three BOCES programs.

Other cost-cutting measures included delaying equipment and supply purchases, putting a moratorium on conference attendance and holding off on the hiring of a second School Resource Officer.

At tonight’s meeting, Superintendent Anibal Soler Jr. reported that only about a dozen individuals will be losing their jobs due to shifting positions around, retirements and vacancies that won’t be filled.

Rozanski said not much has changed since the board’s last meeting two weeks ago.

“If the state reduces state aid – and there has been no notification as of today -- then the district will need to decide on further reductions or using more reserves,” he said.

Pertinent financial information can be found on the BOE’s website at www.bataviacsd.org, and then scroll over the District Information tab before clicking on the Board of Education tab.

The district's Property Tax Report Card will be posted on the website homepage's "Spotlight" section sometime on Wednesday.

Rozanski also said that a vote of the Batavia Teachers’ Association on changing the school day schedule has yet to take place, but “will not impact this budget, although it might assist moving forward if there are more state aid reductions.”

Soler has proposed altering the schedules at the four schools, a move that would save $200,000 in transportation costs by having to use fewer buses.

BTA President Mark Warren told The Batavian that a vote of employees who work at each of the schools will take place sometime next week and definitely by June 1. It is believed that each school would have to vote in favor of the schedule change for the measure to pass.

The proposed schedule change is as follows:

-- Putting Batavia High and Batavia Middle on a 7:30 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. schedule. Currently, the schedule at those two schools is 8 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.

-- Putting John Kennedy and Jackson on a 9 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. schedule. Currently, the schedule at those two schools is 8:15 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Board President Patrick Burk answered several questions he received via email from the public and invited people to submit questions to be addressed at the next meeting as well. To submit a question, send an email to:   bawitkop@bataviacsd.org and include your name, address and contact information.

In another development that hopefully will bring some joy to the seniors who have seen their school year cut short, Soler announced that the BHS Commencement is tentatively scheduled (contingent upon the COVID-19 situation) for 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 27 at Van Detta Stadium at Richmond Avenue and Union Street.

The superintendent also advised that the last day of remote learning will be June 17, thus fulfilling state and union contract requirements.

The Batavia City School District Board of Education tonight postponed adopting the 2020-21 budget for two weeks in anticipation of receiving word from Albany on the amount of state aid it will receive.

Over the past few weeks, district officials have had to take drastic measures to close a $1.6 million budget gap, most notably the elimination of about 30 jobs across the district. They still were about $47,000 short of reaching what is a “negative” tax cap (minus .38 percent) before making some more changes earlier today.

Those adjustments determined the tenure status of five elementary teachers who also are certified to teach reading, at a cost of $130,382, and scaled back three BOCES programs – alternative education, Instructional Support Services and model schools -- resulting in a savings of $177,649.

This enabled the district to hit the desired target, which unfortunately has been a moving target. However, with the state aid situation in flux, further financial modifications may have to be made.

Subsequently, Business Administrator Scott Rozanski recommended that the board wait until news of additional state aid adjustments and call another meeting to adopt the $51.4 million budget on May 19, two days before the deadline.

Board President Patrick Burk, mindful that district residents and media were watching the proceedings, explained how the board has reached this point.

“The current budget shows the decrease in state aid … through the budget that has been proposed to the state, which is $453,327, on top of the flat expenditure from the governor’s budget, and we have had a couple of questions that can be explained a little bit further,” he said.

Burk said the board was informed that the district would be getting an increase of $800,000 in state aid, based on Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s first abstract of the budget.

“Since then … state aid is actually minus $453,327 as opposed to a plus $800,000,” he said. “On top of that, we were working with an unknown tax cap that, rightly or wrongly, the assumption in the past has at least given us some leeway in letting us raise some increase in taxation, although in our past years, it’s been relatively modest.”

He added that by the time the district’s tax cap was determined, the board “realized we were at a negative tax cap, and there goes some revenue that could possibly have been raised through the tax cap – and we ended up with a minus between $7,500 and $8,000 tax cap.”

Burk said he expects further state aid reductions that will affect the 2019-20 district budget – the first of the state’s four specified “measurement periods” is set for this month – but has not received word if any current year reductions would carry over to 2020-21. Any cuts in 2019-20 state aid would have to be made up by tapping into reserves, he said.

After that, Burk recommended that the board push the budget adoption meeting to May 19 “so we can know what the reduction will be for the current year and whether or not that is going to impact the 2020-21 year.”

His suggestion was accepted by the board.

Superintendent Anibal Soler Jr. said he agreed with the decision, adding that conversations are taking place with state education officials this week, which leads him to believe actual monetary amounts will be revealed soon.

He also mentioned the “political posturing” that is going on between the governor and President Trump in regard to the possibility of a federal stimulus bill to support states and localities.

“The hope is that we get something, but I just want everyone to be reminded that when the new budget was proposed, there was already a pandemic adjustment line in there that literally washed itself out … if we do get a bailout, I don’t necessarily think it will help us, I hope it will,” Soler said. “But I think they already have preplanned a lot of this stuff and we’re caught in some of that political posturing that goes on.”

In other developments:

-- The board tabled decisions on a $618,000 capital project to construct an age-appropriate playground at Jackson Primary School and a singular $100,000 capital outlay project at either Jackson, Batavia High School or Batavia Middle School.

Burk said that the current playground at Jackson is for intermediate or elementary pupils, not primary, and that capital project funds can't be transferred into the general fund.

Rozanski said that the capital outlay proposal comes with a 90 percent aid appropriation, reducing the district’s final cost to $10,000. He also noted that the capital outlay program, in its fifth year, identifies one location and is completed by a general contractor.

Eventually, the board will decide on one of these three options:

-- Jackson Primary: New restroom in the gymnasium;
-- Batavia High: New stage floor and new clocks;
-- Batavia Middle: Exterior doors and landscaping.

-- The board did approve taking $55,720 from the district’s repair reserve fund (which was at $173,782) to replace the gymnasium floor at the high school, a move that followed a public hearing at which no public comments were submitted.

Rozanski said the work will level the gym floor and eliminate the “dead spots.”

-- Burk said the budget vote and school board election will be done totally by a mail-in ballot, with postage paid envelopes to be mailed to district residents after May 19^th and before June 9^th.

Burk said it will cost $1.16 for every ballot – possibly as much as $32,000 total – since law prohibits electronic balloting. He said that the Richmond Memorial Library ballots will be included with the school’s ballots.

The board meeting took place via videoconference on the board’s website YouTube channel -- www.bataviacsd.org.

New York State schools are officially closed for the remainder of the academic year, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced today.

Despite the news that students won’t populate school buildings, the educational process and plans for a meaningful commencement experience continue.

“We’ll stay the course and hope that we'll get better guidance from the governor in the coming weeks,” said Anibal Soler Jr., Batavia City School District superintendent, moments after the governor’s announcement.

Distance learning will remain in place, while a decision on summer school is expected to come at the end of May.

Soler said his district will continue to provide meals, remote instruction to those who have internet access and dropping off packets of school work for those who don’t.

“We have to graduate kids and we have to provide grades; we still have those expectations regardless of traditional brick and mortar, coming-to-the-building experiences,” he said. “We will continue to try to keep our kids motivated and excited about school even though it’s such a weird time for everybody.”

Commencement was supposed to be on June 27, and Soler is holding out hope that Batavia’s seniors will “get a ceremony that they deserve.”

“I think time is in our favor here. Hopefully by then we’ll have some guidance on what we’re supposed to do, such as keeping everybody six feet apart,” he said.

He said having the ceremony at Van Detta Stadium, even if it’s late in the summer, would work well.

“We want to do it right and make sure people are protected and healthy as much as possible,” he said.

The Batavia Teachers’ Association has postponed a vote on a proposal to modify the school day at the four Batavia City School District buildings.

BTA President Mark Warren on Thursday night said that the vote – actually four separate votes by those who work at Batavia High, Batavia Middle, John Kennedy Intermediate and Jackson Primary schools – will not take place today as originally planned.

“We want to work out some of the wrinkles and provide answers to the questions that some of our members have before voting,” Warren said. “We haven’t set a new date yet, but it will not be before the next Board of Education meeting on May 5^th.”

School Superintendent Anibal Soler Jr. raised the possibility of changing the school day schedules earlier this week as a cost-cutting measure as the district maneuvers to close what once was a $1.6 million budget gap.

Soler said that $200,000 in transportation costs would be achieved by the following:

-- Putting Batavia High and Batavia Middle on a 7:30 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. schedule. Currently, the schedule at those two schools is 8 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.

-- Putting John Kennedy and Jackson on a 9 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. schedule. Currently, the schedule at those two schools is 8:15 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

This would enable the district to use fewer buses across the four schools, a tiered approach that also would give every student in the district the opportunity to ride a bus if they so desired, Soler said.

On Tuesday night, the Board of Education authorized the cutting of 30 positions to slash more than $1.5 million in expenses.

A favorable vote on the school day schedule – in all likelihood all four buildings would have to pass it -- would enable the district to wash away a $47,000 budget shortfall and meet the state-mandated property tax cap, thus avoiding a 60-percent plus one supermajority vote of the public to pass the budget.

Contacted this morning, BOE President Pat Burk said he hadn’t heard about the vote postponement, but didn’t think that would affect the board’s plan to vote on the budget on Tuesday.

“Actually, we have been looking at areas other than personnel to find another $47,000 to cut,” Burk said. “The vote to change the school day schedule, if passed, would provide extra funding that we likely will need down the road not knowing what is going to happen with state aid.”

Burk said he thinks changing the schedules could help attendance, since all students would be able to get a ride to school, and have little impact upon extracurricular afterschool activities such as sports and music.

Batavia City School Board President Patrick Burk described having to cut 30 staff positions as “incredibly sad” and said he hopes that New York State doesn't inflict any more pain upon the district.

On Tuesday night, by a vote of 4-1, the Board of Education cut 30 full-time positions and one half-time position to produce personnel cost savings of $1,586,513 -- and move the district within $47,000 of complying with the state mandated tax cap.

Burk, Barbara Bowman, Shawna Murphy and John Marucci voted in favor of the reductions while Tanni Bromley voted against the measure. Peter Cecere was absent.

“Today, in reflecting on it, it is just incredibly sad that we have to look at ways to bring the services needed within our school community by not having some of the people that have provided those needs,” Burk said. “And it affects people in several areas. The cuts were across the board."

The positions to be cut are as follows:

-- Two district administrators;
-- One treasurer;
-- One secretary;
-- One Grade 7-12 math teacher;
-- A second school resource officer;
-- Two special education teachers;
-- One clerk-typist;
-- Five reading teachers across the district;
-- Five elementary teachers;
-- One maintenance worker;
-- Ten teaching aides (most long-term substitutes);
-- One half-time music teacher.

Burk: 'The best we can do considering' ...

“For me to have to do something that there’s no other answer to was, and is, probably the saddest thing,” Burk said. “We had to do this one other time, reducing staff when gap elimination aid started, but I think it’s hard when everything in the world right now is so uncertain, and to keep everybody employed to the end of the school year is the best that we can do considering the situation.”

Superintendent Anibal Soler Jr. said the positions marked for deletion were decided in a previous executive session, with last night’s action “getting us pretty close to where we need to go to (toward balancing the 2020-21 budget).”

By eliminating these positions, the district’s proposed budget increases by $999,440 (1.98 percent) and the tax levy climbs by only $39,905 (0.2 percent), Business Administrator Scott Rozanski said.

But since the district is in a “negative tax cap situation,” it needs to come up with another $47,000 to meet the cap and avoid a 60-percent plus one supermajority vote of the public to pass the budget.

Soler said about $200,000 in transportation budget savings can be achieved by modifying the school day schedules at the district’s four locations.

Soler proposes changing school hours

His plan, which needs support from the Batavia Teachers’ Association, would put Batavia High School and Batavia Middle School on a 7:30 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. schedule, and John Kennedy Intermediate School and Jackson Primary School on a 9 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. schedule. By doing this, the district would be able to use fewer buses across the four schools, thus saving money.

Soler said that every student in the district would be able to ride a bus, calling it a "huge win." He said that he expects the teachers’ union to vote on the proposal this Friday.

The superintendent said he is wary of more state cuts to school aid, offering that another 20 percent reduction would result in a $6 million shortfall and “would decimate us.” He is hopeful that it would be much less than that, if at all.

“We’re at a good spot with the budget but I’m still concerned about what is coming (from Gov. Andrew Cuomo),” he said. “There was talk about this being an opportunity to reimagine schools. I really don’t know what that means with all the contractual obligations (that we have).”

Burk said the board plans to adopt a budget on May 5, but may have to convene earlier depending upon news out of Albany.

More state aid cuts down the line?

“I’m concerned that we may have more adjustments at the state level. If federal money doesn’t come through, districts could be cut by 20 percent,” he said. “There could be reductions in the current 2019-20 school aid formula that will result in further reduction. I’m hoping that we have enough left over from a couple of areas to cover those reductions.”

As far as who will be laid off, Burk said decisions are based on longevity, with the school board and the unions coming to an agreement on employees’ service time.

“The way the system works is that we announce the positions and then the bargaining units are given the sheets to determine if their records of longevity match our records of longevity. Once those are merged and both parties agree (then individual employees will be notified),” he said. “If there’s a position being cut in a specific area or tenure, the person who has been here the shortest time is cut.”

He said that the teacher aide positions were long-term substitutes “who would have been gone at the end of the (school year) anyway and then repositioned as needed starting in September.”

Burk said three points come to mind when looking at the current budget scenario:

“The three things that are probably the most disturbing are that instead of an increase in aid that originally was proposed by the governor …, we’re actually getting a slight decrease; that our tax cap because of the economy and building, and so forth, which is far too confusing, has actually ended up being a negative number; and that while we knew we had some increases going into next year, we didn’t really know to what extent the retirement and health insurance total number would be.”

Burk, who has led the board for many years, said a major problem with the entire process is that the school district has to present a budget in May without knowing what the local tax dollars or the actual state aid figures will be until September.

Benedict voted in as new board member

In other action, the board voted unanimously in favor of Alice Ann Benedict filling a vacant spot on the board.

Benedict previously served on the school board for 10 years, including three as president.

“Alice Ann is a real solid person, she’s from the community – a Batavia graduate – and when the vacancy occurred she expressed interest,” Burk said. “We need as many minds and as many thinking people on this process from now until whenever it ends up being as possible.”

Burk said Benedict will serve until there is another election, with the date unknown at this time.

The Batavia City School District is facing the possibility of cutting up to 9 percent of its staff to close a $1.9 million gap in its 2020-21 budget.

Superintendent Anibal Soler Jr. on Monday said that up to 30 employees – from administrators to part-time clerical workers – may have to be laid off as a result of the Board of Education’s decision to deliver a final budget with little or no property tax increase.

“The original plan was to propose a tax cap override, with a 2.66 percent property tax increase that would have meant (an additional) $60 per year for a home assessed at $100,000,” Soler said. “Now it’s gone up to 9 percent, which is not possible. The board’s position is to have a zero percent tax increase, especially with so many people losing their jobs.”

Longtime Board President Patrick Burk concurred, adding that seeking a tax cap override – and the 60 percent plus one vote to pass – would put the budget in jeopardy and “undermine any stability that we could give for the coming year.”

Soler said the district was looking at a shortfall of about $1.5 million when he was hired in January. That number grew by another $400,000 (less state aid) when the New York State budget was adopted earlier this month.

The initial $1.5 million deficit is directly related to personnel expenditures, Business Administrator Scott Rozanski said.

“The increase in salary from the rollover of current staffing and the collective bargaining agreements and benefits associated with payroll” are key factors in the gap, Rozanski said, adding that the COVID-19 impact has yet to be fully determined.

Additional state aid cuts approaching?

He said that because the state also foresees a budget shortfall projected to be as high as $15 million, there could be more school aid cuts down the road.

“The state has set four separate measurement periods where state aid could be adjusted,” Rozanski explained. “Locally, we will need to put more resources towards cleaning and our technology needs will change as our instructional program changes. Next year will not be a normal year. Everything we do will be evaluated and potentially impacted.”

In an effort to avoid large-scale layoffs for the next fiscal year, which starts on July 1, Soler said that he asked the Batavia Teachers’ Association to consider a one-year pay freeze. About 70 percent of the district’s expenses are related to payroll and fringe benefits.

“My priorities are, one, no increases in taxes to the community; second, balancing our budget and (third) trying to protect people during what are unprecedented times that we haven’t seen since the situation we had in 2008 with the economic fall nationally,” Soler said.

As it stands now, Soler may be able to accomplish two of those three objectives because the teachers’ union declined to accept his call for a wage freeze.

Soler: Seeking ‘to protect teachers’

“When I spoke to the union president, I was told that they were not interested in discussing any options regarding a pay freeze. My understanding is that they didn’t even put it out there for their members to vote,” Soler said.

“I had to ask it before I went through the process. Would you be willing to take a pay freeze so that we can protect teachers and not lay off somebody who just came into the profession – first- and second-year teachers? Now, I may not be able to protect people with these additional adjustments,” he said. “I thought I was going to be in a pretty good spot if we were to have taken a pay freeze and protected the entire workforce – at least guaranteed them employment into next year and see what these adjustments look like from the governor.”

Soler said that the average salary with benefits for the district’s educators was around $80,000, with first-year teachers’ total compensation package valued at $64,000. “Some are making over $100,000,” he said, while some administrators earn substantially more than that.

Burk said he also was hoping that the union would agree to what he called a “one-year extension of what currently is in its contract.”

“I was told that the teachers didn’t vote on it … it was just decided that that was not going to be part of the discussion,” Burk said. “If we can’t come up with payroll lessening by wage freeze, we have to look at other areas. But that doesn’t come up with the $1.5 million that is required at this time.”

BTA President: Don’t pin this on us

Mark Warren, president of the Batavia Teachers’ Association, said the burden of correcting the budget gap shouldn’t rest on the shoulders of the union, which is completing the first year of a three-year contract.

“All I know is that before state (aid) runs came out, before they decided not to go with a tax levy increase, they already had a deficit (for 2020-21),” Warren said. “They were talking about that at the budget ambassador meetings prior to the closure. They’re going to say that flat state aid is part of it, but they were already talking deficit before state aid was flat.”

Warren, a math teacher in is 16^th year at Batavia, said he discussed the proposal with membership, but the feeling was that the request wasn’t justified.

“When they first brought it up, he (Soler) mentioned that we have added 30 or so teachers in the last eight or nine years, while enrollment has basically stayed flat. He characterized it as an overstaffing issue in the beginning and then asked for a pay freeze after that,” he said.

“To be clear, the only real proposal was ‘I’m going to lay off a bunch of people if you don’t take a pay freeze.’ If we are overstaffed like he claimed in the beginning, then why would we take a pay freeze so that we’d be overstaffed a year from now? It’s not like we’re suddenly going to get this influx of students where we are going to need another 20 extra teachers, where we don’t need them now. If we are overstaffed now, we’d be overstaffed a year from now.”

Burk said that roughly 30 positions could be cut, with the dollar amount of those cuts to be determined by the next board meeting on April 28.

Executive vs. open session discussions

Soler said that position cuts were discussed in executive session at a recent meeting, a move that was appropriate since it focused on specific people in some cases.

“Some of the positions are standalone positions, so there’s only one person attached to it. So that’s why that we didn’t discuss them publicly,” he said. “The next time we meet you’ll probably see more of a public discussion around that only because the board would have had the opportunity to process that, make some recommendations and give me some guidance. So, I’ll be going in and trying to adhere to that guidance.”

The superintendent also said his request for a pay freeze was discussed in an open session, but there was no talk of changes to the union’s contract.

“What I asked them to do was, if you want to help us avoid layoffs, we would love for you to take a pay freeze for the year. That was the only contract item that was discussed, and that would not be something that would require to reopen their contract,” he said. “If all of our employees, if all of our bargaining units were not to take a pay increase, it would save the district $1.5 million. And I even included myself it that conversation. I would not take an increase as well.”

Staff cuts to be across the board

With a moratorium on pay increases off the table, Burk said the board is taking steps to reduce expenses on a department-by-department basis.

“As far as specific positions, we haven’t gotten into that, but we have said what we would do with specific departments,” he said. “This is going all the way across the board. This is administrators being cut, teachers, teacher aides, custodial, food service, clerical. It’s everybody.”

The board is proceeding judiciously, Burk said.

“Our goal is to have the highest contact with students and the greatest impact with students that we possibly can,” he stated. “Cuts would be people who do not have direct, hands-on daily contact with our students; that’s obviously our most important thing.”

Soler said he expects more clarity at the April 28^th meeting, mentioning a detailed list of recommendations that will be shared with the “greater public.”

“Then we can say that it is this many science teachers, it is this many math teachers, it is this many reading teachers and it is this many administrators because it’s every group that is going to be impacted.”

Interview with Superintendent Anibal Soler Jr. about City Schools' budget.

Batavia City School District leaders are making plans for a graduation ceremony, even in the unfortunate event that students are unable to return to the classroom.

That’s the latest word from Superintendent Anibal Soler Jr., a couple days after he received news that June Regents exams were cancelled and nearly a month into a prolonged “recess” caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic.

“We’re looking at a couple of different options … and whenever it happens, we will give our kids the graduation ceremony they all rightly deserve,” said Soler, who was hired in January.

Currently, graduation is scheduled for June 27 at Genesee Community College but that could change depending upon the status of mandated social distancing.

“If we get clearance, we’ll have it there,” he said. “If not (and it has to be postponed) we’re thinking about a summer graduation – maybe on school grounds or at Van Detta Stadium. We definitely want to celebrate our kids.”

Soler said he agreed with the state Education Department’s decision to forgo the Regents exams.

“I think it’s good. It was tough decision but it was made in favor of our students,” he said. “We have guidance now of what the rest of the school year will look like. It’s a weight lifted off the kids’ shoulders.”

The superintendent said that remote learning continues at the various grade levels through Google classroom, with students equipped with Chromebooks.

“We’ve been a one-to-one district for a couple years now, but what was a supplemental thing now has moved to a primary (position),” he said. “With kids not dependent upon an exam to graduate, they can get their course credit by getting those assignments in.”

He said he hopes that students will be able to come back to school – “maybe June 1^st,” he said – and spoke of school’s role in students’ “social and emotional well-being.”

Soler also said he is pleased that the district has been able to keep kids fed during the coronavirus shutdown.

“As of Monday, we’ve provided 30,000 meals – breakfast and lunch – to the community,” he said, noting that meals are available for pick up from 9 to 11 a.m. on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays at both Jackson Primary School and John Kennedy Elementary School.

Interview with Anibal Soler Jr., superintendent, Batavia City Schools.

If you can't view the video stream directly on our home page, click here.

Announcement from Batavia City Schools:

Due to Genesee County declaring a countywide state of emergency, Batavia City School District will remain closed until further notice, including all school-based activities.

However, the District is taking steps to do whatever it can to support our students and our families during this unprecedented time of uncertainty.

Our nutritional services department will be providing free “grab and go” breakfast and lunch bags for all students (and all household family members under the age of 18). These will be distributed each school day from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. by the entrance of all District building properties, including the Robert Morris building, as pictured and as described here:

• Jackson: Pick up will be from the loop in front of the building (via Jackson Street);
• JK: Pick up will be in the parent loop (Vine Street);
• MS: Pick up will be on the side of the building; Please enter via Walker Place;
• HS: Pick up will be from the loop in front of the school (State Street);
• RM: Bus loop on side of the building (Union Street).

If this arrangement for food distribution poses a challenge for your family, please call your child’s school’s main office. The number for all District offices is 343-2480, then add the appropriate extension for your school building as follows: Jax is ext. 4000, JK is ext. 5000, BMS is ext. 3000, BHS is ext. 2000).

In addition, the District is collaborating with community partners about additional resources regarding food distribution and will provide updates as they become available.

Instructional information for students is also being made available so that students can continue to engage in their studies as much as possible.

All students, K-12 will have access to materials through the COVID-19 tab on our website, or through this direct link. In addition, Jackson Primary and John Kennedy will be providing paper packets for K-4 students that will be distributed with the “grab and go” breakfast/lunch bags.

Please continue to check our Facebook page and website. We will be providing updates as they become available. In addition, if you have specific questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us by email, the “Let’s Talk” app accessed through our website, or a phone call to the appropriate office or building.

For further guidance and recommendations for staying healthy and protecting yourself, your family, and others during this outbreak, please consult the attached document about "social distancing" as well as these helpful guidelines and information sources:

~ https://www.cdc.gov/coron…/2019-ncov/prepare/prevention.html

~ https://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/communicable/coronavirus/

~ https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/