The North Syracuse Central School District is looking at cuts to more than 30 positions as part of its 2014-15 budget, according to a presentation given at the NSCSD Board of Education’s March 24 meeting.
The district’s 2014-15 budget, totaling $145,297,379, is up 1. 2 percent from last year. Most of that increase comes from salaries, benefits and other contractual obligations, over which the district has little control. The budget also includes a reduction of 9 percent in supplies, fuel and other costs.
At the moment, the district is looking at a 2.24 percent tax increase, or $50.82 on a home assessed at $100,000. The current budget projects a $2.2 million shortfall.
The budget also includes significant staffing cuts. The district is proposing cutting the following positions:
Elementary teachers (based on enrollment) (7.0 FTE)
Elementary special area teachers (based on enrollment) (0.8 FTE)
ESL teacher (based on enrollment) (0.2 FTE)
Professional developer at the district office (1.0 FTE)
Nursing staff at St. Margaret’s and St. Rose of Lima schools (0.6 FTE)
Various secondary tenure areas (1.4 FTE)
Speech therapist (1.0 FTE)
Physical therapist (1.0 FTE)
Two occupational therapists (2.0 FTE)
Two resource teachers (based on enrollment) (2.0 FTE)
Special class teacher (based on enrollment) (1.0 FTE)
Director of English Language Arts (1.0 FTE)
Secondary attendance aides (4.0 FTE)
Grounds crew leader (1.0 FTE)
Human resource clerk (0.5 FTE)
Office personnel (0.5 FTE)
Two typists (1.5 FTE)
Teaching assistants assigned to special classes based on enrollment (4.0 FTE)
One-to-one teaching assistant at Gillette Road (1.0 FTE)
The district is also proposing the reduction of reading teaching assistant staffing to the level of other elementary programs (1.0 FTE).
Those cuts, totaling 32.5 positions, would save the district more than $1.9 million. With those cuts, staffing in the North Syracuse school district has decreased by 32.7 percent since 2008-09, a total of 284.3 positions. Meanwhile, student enrollment has declined 7.9 percent in the same time period.
The budget also proposes cutting $323,733.20 in supplies, benefits and capital projects.
There will be a public hearing on the budget at the BOE’s May 6 meeting.
The budget vote will take place from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday, May 20. Voters living south of Route 481 are asked to vote at the district office building, located at 5355 W. Taft Road, North Syracuse. Voters living north of Route 481 should vote at Cicero Elementary School on Route 31.
For more information on the district’s budget, visit nscsd.org/district.cfm?subpage=51895.
