|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The Rochester City School District is one step closer to passing its largest budget yet.
On Monday, the 2025-26 school year budget draft was approved by all five present members of the RCSD board of education. The spending plan goes to City Council next month for final approval.
“Adopting an annual budget is one of the most critical responsibilities of this board. I want to assure our community that we do not take this responsibility lightly,” RCSD board president Camille Simmons said at the vote. “This budget process has been a challenge due to the unpredictability of federal and state funding, and as a result, there have been revisions and things of that nature to really ensure that we have everything up to par.
“This board is committed to ensuring that all RCSD students have access to high-quality learning experiences in alignment with the district’s strategic plan and board goals,” she added.
Totaling $1,117,571,955, the draft budget is 4.3 percent higher than the 2024-25 adopted budget.
As with other RCSD budgets, the majority of the general funding (84 percent) comes from state sources, with real property taxes (12.3 percent), local sources (3.1 percent), and federal funding (0.4 percent) making up the rest.
Interim superintendent Demario Strickland said developing the budget was a “strenuous process” due to uncertainty at the state and federal levels, but credited his staff and the board for their hard work. He also credited representation at the state level, where funding came in higher than anticipated.
“Our (state aid revenue) came in at $613 million, and we were only expecting $604 million,” said Strickland. “Fortunately, those funds have been redistributed for teaching and learning, curriculum adoption, and for our health care, which continues to go up, like many districts across the United States.”
Rightsizing positions was a major goal of the draft. According to a comparison of full-time employee hours, the biggest position cuts include roughly 4 administrators (a 1.5 percent decrease compared to the 2024-25 school year), 18 civil service positions (a 1.3 percent decrease), and 92 teachers (a 2.9 percent decrease).
Categories that added positions included roughly 107 paraprofessionals (an increase of 20.4 percent compared to last year) and 22 teaching assistants (7.7 percent). The draft also calls for hiring one additional building substitute, bringing the total to 26 FTEs. Total FTEs will grow by about 15 positions across the district with this draft.
In addition, the district’s fund balance was not used in this budget, an objective prompted by potential changes or backlash at the federal level. Strickland called it “the biggest goal from day one.”
He also said the budget will be amenable for the incoming superintendent, Eric Rosser, who will likely make changes. (Rosser begins his role about a month after a City Council vote on the draft.)
Board commissioner Jacqueline Griffin complained that some of her questions were met with unresponsiveness from Strickland’s administration, but she still voted in favor of the budget.
“I will say openly to the public and for the record that there are questions I still have (about the budget) that are not answered and I believe are critical to how we move forward in this district,” Griffin said. “We cannot evade questions, and we should not be refusing to answer questions, which has happened to me over and over again from the time I came into this seat.”
All other board members who gave public comments thanked Strickland and the finance department for the answers they received. Simmons also noted that the budget process allowed for three days of deliberations between the board and the superintendent.
Commissioners Cynthia Elliott and Beatriz LeBron-Harris were absent for the vote. The two formerly served as president and vice president of the board until they were voted out in favor of Simmons and Amy Maloy in January.
Elliott has notably been absent from a number of recent meetings, including all three budget deliberation sessions. The longtime board commissioner, with nearly two decades of experience, failed to gather enough ballot signatures and has said she will retire from the position at the end of her term in December.
LeBron-Harris has been more present than Elliott and has passionately spoken publicly about the potential impact of the Trump administration on the school district. However, she declined to participate in the superintendent search. LeBron-Harris cited changes at the federal level as a reason not to hire an outsider at this time.
The next step in the budget approval process is a public hearing on June 12. The City Council vote is scheduled for June 17.
Jacob Schermerhorn is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer and data journalist.
The Beacon welcomes comments and letters from readers who adhere to our comment policy including use of their full, real name. See “Leave a Reply” below to discuss on this post. Comments of a general nature may be submitted to the Letters page by emailing [email protected]
Unless my math is wrong the $1.1 billion school budget calculates to approximately $55,000 per student. That is outrageous!
“Elliott has notably been absent from a number of recent meetings, including all three budget deliberation sessions. The longtime board commissioner, with nearly two decades of experience, failed to gather enough ballot signatures and has said she will retire from the position at the end of her term in December.” THE SO-CALLED “COMMUNITY” IS ALLOWING Cynthia Elliott TO ABDICATE HER RESPONSIBILITIES AS A BOARD MEMBER, BUT SHE’S STILL GETTING PAID (WITH TAX-PAYERS MONEY), AND NO ONE IS SAYING A DAMN THING ABOUT IT (ONLY IN MODERN-DAY-SLAVE-TOWN U.S.A)!!!
And if she’s served for twenty or more years, I think she will also receive a pension and health benefits. Cynically, I believe that she and previous “retired” Commissioners were only interested in staying on the public dole, with an air of respectability and service. Elliot has never been an asset to the school system. She’s a David Gantt, Lovley Warren, accolite, and a huge disruptor. She’s also one of the main reasons that RCSD hasn’t been able to keep a Superintendent. I, for one, will not be sad to see the back of her, and by not attending the last three meetings, perhaps the other commissioners will finally make some progress.
School Board work is not supposed to be like JURY DUTY, where you just vote.
I have tried to talk to a few members of RCSB, over the years, and it has never been satisfying. I am not sure that school board members care much about education, itself.
============================================================
They seem to worry about BUDGETS and getting RE-ELECTED, too much, but not about BUDGING STUDENTS, and TEACHERS and PARENTS, with the joy of learning and sharing, to the MAX… Let us hope for a new ATTITUDE in EDUCATION…
COMMON CENTS vs COMMON SENSE in Education for RCSD?
Yes, money talks ! But when do people at Rochester schools, Board members, etc, even pay any attention to the IDEAS and CONCERNS of people in the community, like Frank Orienter?
“Common Sense is not so Common” Voltaire (1764)
====================================
I set up a very crude web page, http://www.SavingSchools.org years, ago, to collect ideas to motivate myself and others. So far, I haven’t seen any attempt by RCSD to put motivational ideas, online. Motivation can help students, teachers, and parents. Why not give it a try, right now?
=================================================================
TIME = EMIT backwards
Let me add that I think RCSD wastes too much TIME, focusing on finances and administration. Learning takes TIME to EMIT. Educators also need TIME to EMIT.
Let me suggest, again the funny ALTERNATIVE MATH YouTube video, of 8 minutes.
Is there one school official, teacher, School Bored Member, or parent who has 8 minutes?
Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh3Yz3PiXZw&t=414s
=================================================
Yes, learning takes TIME. So, I challenge RCSD people to watch this film.
The clock is ticking away. Are we wasting TIME for learning and UNLEARNING, tick tock?
As a retired individual who has lived and paid taxes in the city for the last fifty years and has never had children, I find the total disregard for taxpayers in the current RCSD budget proposal to be obscene. Schools are being shuttered, and the number of students being served is continually shrinking. So why the budget increase? No matter what is promised by the Superintendent and the Board, for as long as I’ve lived in Rochester, the quality and quantity of proficient graduates have been subpar. I’m willing to wager that the new superintendent won’t last more than three years, if that.
I will be contacting my city council members and the Mayor, asking them not to approve the budget. I want to see the budget remain flat until there is a measurable improvement. Not just the margins, but a substantial improvement. We need far greater accountability for the people and businesses that are funding this enterprise. With a shrinking tax base, fewer big businesses, and less federal and state aid, it’s time for the administration and school commissioners to conduct a reality check on how much of the proposed budget is allocated directly to educating students and how much is being spent on the central office and administration. I want the city council to demand a detailed audit of every position, especially those that are not directly involved in instruction, along with a functional job description and a detailed cost breakdown. And as a final thought, it doesn’t matter where the money comes from — local, state, or federal — it all comes from taxpayers’ pockets in the end.