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March 29, 2024
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Schools: School Board Creates Contingency Budget

Diana McNally spoke in support of sports programs
Diana McNally spoke in support of sports programs
Superintendent and board president listen
Superintendent and board president listen
March 27, 2007

On Monday night, the Cornwall Board of Education took a knife to the proposed $50.9 million school budget, cutting out items that the school district would have to live without if the budget fails to pass when it is put to vote in May. By the end of the night, it had created a contingency budget that eliminated sports programs, after-school programs, and academic programs.

As they debated which spending items to remove to reach their enforced goal of $1.27 million in cuts, board members said they hoped that the cuts would never have to be made. The board was working off a list of proposed cuts put together by the school district’s budget office. None of the items included salaries for teachers or administrators or operating costs.

“I go to church each Sunday and pray that it doesn’t come to fruition, “ school board member Richard Romano told the group of 50 or so concerned residents who stayed for the three-hour discussion. Board member David Carnright noted that falling back to a contingency budget shouldn’t happen because “it is our job to pass a fair budget.”

The most difficult choices facing the board came down to the sports program, after-school programs, a program to focus on special education students in a mixed classroom setting and tutorials for students preparing for tests.

Several parents attending the meeting spoke in favor of keeping the sports and after- school programs.

Dave Moretto, the president of Cornwall Youth Football, spoke about the importance of sports to Cornwall’s identity as a community and noted that it has a lasting impact on students. “Sports can build character more than any classroom,” he said.

Jim Roth, a father of three students, asked what kids will do after school if they are forced to get rid of junior varsity sports. “There are already kids burning down buildings,” he said. “I am afraid of what they are going to do.”

Despite the parental focus on the need to include sports in schools, the board eliminated the modified sports program at the middle school and the junior varsity sports program at the high school, a move that was heckled by a couple of people in the audience. It spared only the varsity sports program and the pool.

The nearly quarter-million dollars that has been budgeted to hire three special education teachers remained in the budget, in part because of a study presented earlier in the meeting that warned Cornwall school administrators that the district’s special education program was in dire need of revision. (see related article here)

Most of the board members were reluctant to cut programs in the educational curriculum, and member Greg Whalen said that he would cut sports before any education items. The board voted to eliminate summer school for elementary students, two library positions and one of three computer lab teaching assistants, but they kept a summer curriculum program and tutorials for students preparing for tests.

Board president Brendan Coyne proposed ways to reduce spending on after-school programs, including music, but at the end of the night, with a gap of $78,000 to meet its goals, the board cut all after-school programs from the contingency budget.

When the meeting ended, no one was happy. Board vice president Sue Lennon had warned people at the beginning that “it will be a difficult night” but one, she hoped, “that never comes to fruition.”

Voters will have a chance to vote on the original proposed budget on May 15th. If it fails to pass, the contingency budget will take effect.

Voters will also be asked to vote on a separate $3.6 million bond that would pay for facilities’ upgrades and to bring the schools into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.



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