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SCHENECTADY
School budget choices tough
Revenue shaky while costs rise, Yagielski warns
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter

    The Schenectady City School District is facing a $4 million to $7 million shortfall in next year’s budget — and that’s without taking into account the cost of already-approved raises and an anticipated large kindergarten class.
    “It shouldn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out we won’t be able to do everything we’re doing this year, exactly the same way,” interim Superintendent John Yagielski told the school board Wednesday after explaining the situation. “We’re going to have to spend more time thinking about how we do things and how we can do them differently.”
    He told the board that it must rebuild its budget, not increase taxes, “Because they’re about exhausted, when it comes to property taxes.”
    The district’s financial woes stem from three problems:
    Most seriously, it has only $3.1 million in savings for the next budget year. The district used $8.4 million from savings to hold down taxes in this year’s budget, and can’t possibly repeat that next year, Yagielski said. “This is not something we have the funds to overcome.”
    That leaves next year’s budget $5.3 million in the red.
    The district also got $2 million less than budgeted in tax revenue this year after some property owners won reduced assessments in small claims court. Those assessments are likely to remain the same next year, so the district will receive less tax revenue than last year, cutting another $2 million from the budget. (Taxpayers paid $56.4 million after court reductions this year.) ...........................>>>>.............................>>>>...........http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00102&AppName=1

Only $7 MILLION? Superintendent Yagielski is a huge improvement but he doesn't want residents to assume he means "cut, cut, cut"? That leaves "tax, tax and tax some more". Plenty of double talk here. The worst part is that the School bored had no immediate response to the presentation. What have they been doing for months? Stop taking victory laps and showing up at City Council committee meetings.

      Reorganize to K-6 neighborhood schools, return 9th grade to Middle School taking 950 students out of the overcrowded High School, end all magnet schools, reopen Howe K-6 and slash busing-saves $7 MILLION. Then cut half the electives in the High School. This is a spending problem. Spending too much and receiving too little in education. Superintendent Yagielski should study the record from the BAC of top City business people last year. Its all in there.  

Quoted from benny salami

      Reorganize to K-6 neighborhood schools, return 9th grade to Middle School taking 950 students out of the overcrowded High School, end all magnet schools, reopen Howe K-6 and slash busing-saves $7 MILLION. Then cut half the electives in the High School. This is a spending problem. Spending too much and receiving too little in education.

Why does the Superintendent do something of value like Benny states above? Point blank, your high school is not working and hasn't been for years. Instead of the dozen administrative/office positions in the High School, scrap the entire lot. Start fresh with less admin and a concentration on the kids.

Over $10 million spent in transporting kids? Stop the contract padding. Shop around.

It's adding insult to injury when a tax hike is stated for a school system which is grossly subpar and doesn't have any direction for the future. It's like putting money in a toilet and flushing over and over again.

The answer is always throw more money at the problem. Never increasing educational demands. When you demand little-you get less. Busing, electives and "magnets' must be the first on the chopping block. The course offerings for the High School rivals any large college. And only half graduate. Get back to mandatory requirements.

     This educational implosion was decades in the creation and can't be turned around over night. The spending orgy better. But stop asking for "public input". You got an earful last year and it all went nowhere. The public demands CUTS not more buzzwords.

Consolidate the 6 school districts in the county into a single school district  -- that will save a boat load of money.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

Consolidate the 6 school districts in the county into a single school district  -- that will save a boat load of money.

It's not a spending issue, it's a revenue issue.  Tax the residents more.  In Schenectady there should be "Graveyard Usage Tax, or the "Getting Blood From A Head-Stone Tax".  They can levy the tax against the closest blood relative of every person buried in Vale Cemetery.

Your talking to a rock. DVR is from the "understands to importance of high taxes" school.

     He's not interested in school choice, he's not interested in cuts, he's interested in making proposals he knows are going nowhere to maintain the pathetic DEM status quo. After you flush City Hall, Town Hall and the County Building then you can get to these other tentacles.

I will tell you that one of the magnet schools received pretty much nothing last year.  They cut a lot out of the programs and the field trips were funded ONLY through fund raisers and parents pockets.  There were some grades that didnt even get a field trip simply because there wasnt any money.  Its like this through the whole district.  

It hurts the tax payers AND the kids.  

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

Consolidate the 6 school districts in the county into a single school district  -- that will save a boat load of money.

And start busing kids all over?   That costs money.  You know darn well if it was one school district then city gangs from SHS would be going out in your neighborhood.

DV, how about the better idea.  Have the millionaires on the downtown buildings pay their taxes.  Simple solution.  Why do you constantly refuse to suggest that the millionaires pay their taxes?

You're right Mike...  But that alone won't solve the fiscal fiasco that is Schenectady and NY State.

The NY Times article on states declaring bankruptcy...  Now that's where there's hope.

The magnet school got nothing because all the money went to the bus company. $10 MILLION for busing with $1 MILLION of that to bus our kids to Albany Charters. A new charter high school and return to neighborhood schools K-6. Win-Win. Only bus high school kids. This would save millions while improving academic performance.

And think of the less polution factor with those buses going idle.   And our overweight children could become healthier by losing all that soda, junk food eating, living in front of the video games fat by walking to school.   A WIN-WIN.  P.S.  Known health fact exercise lessens tension/hyperactivity.  Helps out the parents this way too,less nervous energy bottled up in the children.  A WIN-WIN-WIN

Any more property taxes on the decimated homeowner and it just might be time to pile high the textbooks 100 feet and "go flying".

What the hell does this school, that can't graduate 1/2 of it's students, do with these millions and millions of dollars? Oh don't get me wrong here......the city is a hellhole at best. Between increased crime, 1/2 of the population on welfare/section 8, a corrupt police dept and one of the highest taxes in the country, is not helpful.

The school officials need to get out of bed with the unions and the government leaders and help do something to clean up this hellhole called Schenectady. IMHO

Cathy Lewis complaining in the TU today that Schenectady City Schools $7.1 million (7.3 %) state school aid cut. " I don't understand why ours is so high" she stated.

Maybe because the high school alone has one super, 4 principals, 4 deans and 10+ secretaries. There are more admins than most fortune 500 companies and a Superintendent makes more than the Governor. Even Albany schools cut 100 staff and placed a pay freeze on teachers. What has Schenectady done? Oh, that's right, they just keep on increasing taxes.....good plan.