About 60 strong, Cobleskill-Richmondville teachers attended the school board meeting Monday night to show support for co-workers likely to lose their jobs in a cost-cutting budget.
Although she was sympathetic, Superintendent Lynn Macan said the district now needs public support, and drastic spending cuts are necessary to garner that support.
C-R started the 2009-10 budget process with a $1 million gap, and officials have been cutting to close the gap. Ms. Macan said two weeks ago that layoffs were likely.
To show their concern Monday night, most of the teachers wore blue tee shirts with the legend “Proud to be a member of the Cobleskill-Richmondville Teachers Association” on the back.
Union President Richard Clements stressed that concern, telling the board that teachers are the backbone of what makes a good school district.
He read the names of six teachers, five to be laid off, one going to part-time, adding, “those are real people with 15 years of service.
“We’re seeing cuts in the faculty. We need to be sure to look in all areas. Let’s find solutions together.”
Ms. Macan reviewed a list of cuts, including fuel, sports, summer school, field trips, overtime and more, before personnel.
“The majority of any school district’s budget is in people,” Ms. Macan said. “When you have to cut $1 million, you have to reach to people.”
She also said that although cuts are deep, the present budget draft “does not eliminate any program that students have available to them today.”
Acknowledging that “the strength of this district is in its people,” Ms. Macan said “the next most important thing” is to raise community support to pass the budget.
Deep cuts were necessary to reach budget numbers the public might accept, she said.
“I think some people in this district have the opinion that we wouldn’t bite the bullet and make these hard decisions,” Ms. Macan said. “We did. We have to.”
Concerned about the cuts, Mr. Clements argued that the school district is a major attraction for people looking to move into the area.
“That’s why people come here. We can’t let that slip,” he said.
But Ms. Macan said the economic conditions are so unusual, the cuts were necessary this year.
“We don’t want the message to be that we will continue to cut,” she said.
Ms. Macan didn’t release preliminary budget figures except to say that the current draft would raise the tax levy .64 percent above this year’s.
The proposed budget, not final yet, would increase spending by $164,000.
C-R officials want to see the final aid figures that will be in the state budget, which may be approved this week, Ms. Macan said.
C-R’s projections are based on what the state has released so far.