School districts across the state are reeling from the cuts proposed in Gov. David Paterson’s executive budget, and North Syracuse is no exception.
The budget proposal calls for a 6.31 percent cut in state aid to the North Syracuse Central School District, a total of $3,614,413 from last year. Those cuts will come out of the BOCES and special services; hardware and technology; software, library and textbook; and supplemental public excess cost line items.
Superintendent Dr. Jerome Melvin said the district isn’t sure yet how it will affect their budget next year.
“We haven’t projected it out to see what it’s going to mean for us next year,” Melvin said. “Obviously, it’s a huge shortfall. But we’ll be looking at it in detail over the next couple of weeks.”
Most shocking, Melvin said, was the state’s demand that the district pick up 15 percent of the cost of the Main Street Early Education program, which has always been funded by the state and the county.
“We’ve never had to provide any revenue for the program before,” Melvin said. “If we’re picking up 15 percent, we’re talking about $300,000 to $350,000.”
Melvin said the logistics of that part of the budget will have to be examined.
“Kids from all over the county go to Main Street,” he said. “It’s not fair to ask just the North Syracuse district to pick up that tax increase.”
For more information, see the Dec. 24 edition of The North Syracuse Star-News.
