arrow icon 2009-2010 Budget

Mohonasen expecting $1.5 million cut in state aid

Dec. 16, 2008

After the release of Governor David Paterson’s executive budget, Mohonasen is preparing for a $1.5 million, or 8 percent, cut in state aid for the 2009-2010 school year.

“We’re still reviewing the details of the Governor’s budget, but the long and the short of it is that we’re looking at huge cuts in our funding for next year,” Superintendent Dr. Kathleen Spring said, adding that the state budget—and any cuts to education funding—is now in the hands of state legislators.

In his budget proposal, the Governor indicated that school foundation aid – aid on most operating expenses – would remain flat for the next two years. However, because of the dire economic times, all districts would receive a “Deficit Reduction Assessment” (DRA) – or one time cut in aid based on need. For Mohonasen, it appears that the DRA is $1.5 million.

“Like many school leaders around the state, I’m concerned about being able to maintain quality programs while holding the line on taxes,” Spring said.
Mohonasen has always been careful and conservative with taxpayer money, which unfortunately means there are very few areas where it will be easy to cut costs, she added.

Because education is a people-intensive business, almost three-quarters of the district’s budget is devoted to the salary and benefits of personnel. School administrators recognize that a reduction in state aid of this scale will most likely mean that Mohonasen will be forced to reduce staffing.

“State aid may be going down, but many of our costs are going up,” Spring said. “The only way to make up for increases in health insurance, special education or other areas will be through local taxes or deep cuts to the many programs we currently offer.”

District administrators will be meeting in the coming weeks to begin planning for the 2009-2010 budget.

“We’re going to be making some very tough decisions this year—decisions that could affect the future of our district and our students,” Spring said. “For this reason, input from our staff and community will be more important than ever this year.”

The Board of Education will be holding several public meetings, at which members of the Mohonasen community will be able to learn more about the budget process, ask questions and raise concerns.

The first of these public meetings will be on Monday, Jan. 12 at 6 p.m. See the budget development timeline for details relating to this meeting and others.

School leaders are also urging residents to voice their concerns about the impact state aid cuts will have on local schools and school taxes.

Residents can contact local legislators as follows:

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