Mid-year freeze halts spending at area school

POSTED: 02/13/15, 8:31 AM EST 

WATERVILLE>> The Waterville Board of Education unanimously passed a resolution to freeze spending on Feb. 3.

In 2010-11, the Gap Elimination Adjustment cost the district $5.97 million in state funds. Since the 2007-08 school year, Waterville has seen a total aid loss of $15.23 million, putting the district in a difficult situation to plan for the future, said Superintendent Charles Chafee.

The school district has frozen all non-health and safety expenditures that have not been budgeted for or otherwise funded; that means field trips, unless funded by the Parent Teacher Association, will not happen; neither will visits to local colleges. The district will continue with sports for the rest of the year. Chafee said if the freeze continues to the 2015-16 school year, they will have to look at funding sports differently, but the goal is to preserve educational programs.

“Gov. Cuomo is using a broad brush to paint a picture over all schools and teachers,” Chafee said.

At the Feb. 3 meeting, the board also drafted letters to Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi, D-119, Sen. Joe Griffo, R-47, Assemblyman Bill Magee, D-121, Assemblywoman Claudia Tenney, R-101, and Sen. David Valesky, D-53, asking them to stand up to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his “draconian budget” to ensure that not only the Waterville School District but others as well “receive sufficient funds in order to provide a sound, basic education; something I believe we both will agree has not been occurring for the past several years.” The letters go on to thank them for their work to eliminate the GEA and to fund schools at the $2 billion level, which was proposed by the Board of Regents as well as several other organizations.

“We want this to have the least impact on the students as possible,” Chafee said. “There are some students that would drop out of school at 16 without sports or extracurricular activities. Extracurricular activities keep them here – it makes them a better person when they leave here.”

Chafee added that it is hard to plan when 65 to 75 percent of the budget comes from state aid and they’re not sure how much they are going to receive.

Cuomo has also proposed revising teacher evaluations with half their scores based on students’ scores on state tests, up from 20 percent, and half based on classroom observations. In his State of the State address, he noted that while low percentages of students scored well on statewide tests, high percentages of teachers were rated effective. Chafee said Cuomo’s proposal is causing undo stress on teachers and they are making improvements to instruction.

“We’ll get there, you just can’t expect us to get there in a year,” Chafee said about adjusting to Common Core. “We graduated 97 percent last year.”

“Legislators understand school funding, they just have to stand up to the governor,” Chafee said. Currently Waterville is creating two budgets for the 2015-16 school year – one regular and one freeze budget – in case the freeze lasts through next year. “It’s putting us in a really difficult situation to be able to plan,” Chafee said.

Waterville is a part of Rural Schools Association of NY with about 350 schools.

The schools are calling for the elimination of the GEA; no diversion of essential funding to private, parochial or charter schools; the creation of charter schools only where educational performance demands them; raising the cap on BOCES teacher reimbursement; authorizing a TRS reserve fund similar to the state and local governments; and capping school district health care costs.

Chafee added that it’s up to the legislators now and that’s why they wrote the letters, but it’s going to take a lot more than that and he wants parents to get fired up about what is happening to their children’s education. “We have to give kids the chance to succeed academically,” Chafee said.

Chaffee was the superintendent in Stockbridge Valley district from 2008 to 2012.

http://www.oneidadispatch.com/social-affairs/20150213/mid-year-freeze-halts-spending-at-area-school