As budget season kicks off, officials expect the Syracuse City School District to have a deficit of $24 million next year.

The deficit has been as high as $40 million in the past, said Suzanne Slack, SCSD’s chief financial officer.

“Each year, when we start the budget process, we roll over this year’s budget into next year,” she said. “We look at what it would cost to do business next year exactly the same way we did this year, if we don’t open a new school, add a new teacher or program.”

Moving forward, Slack said the district wants to slowly eliminate the entire deficit, over several years. To meet the deficit this year, Slack said the district plans to use $12 million from its savings and hopes to make up the rest of the gap from state funding. The remaining deficit will need to be offset by cutting costs internally, she said.

The district will also use money from its reserves. If that’s not enough, the district will apply for more funding from the state or federal government.

Due to collective bargaining requests from teachers and other staff members, the cost of doing business will rise each year, adding to the deficit, Slack said.

School Board Commissioner Katie Sojewicz said state representatives are always receptive to the needs of the community, but there’s too little money to go around to other high-need districts in the state.

“I never think it’s a matter of our local state reps not working hard for us, I really think they do,” Sojewicz said. “Across the state, everyone’s state representatives are fighting to get what they need.”

Slack added that the district has not been able to go to the city for additional funding because the past few mayors and their administrations have been reluctant to raise taxes.

One thing the district has done in the past few years, Slack said, is make use of a legislative mechanism called chapter one accrual. It allows the district to receive an advance of state funds from the upcoming year to fund its current budget.

“Each (school) ramped up that accrual over three years to the maximum of about $31.7 million,” Slack said. “The state legislation allowed us to do that, so that was a huge help from them.”

Sojewicz said a community organization called Uplift Syracuse this year spearheaded a postcard- and letter-writing campaign, in which residents of both Syracuse and Onondaga County came together to advocate for more resources for the school district.

“So often, we’re in our little siloes as school districts,” Sojewicz said.

She added that it was exciting to see that county residents understand the school district’s need for more resources.

Uplift Syracuse also invited SCSD Superintendent Jaime Alicea and Slack to open community meetings to educate residents about why operating costs for the district continue to rise and how they can help.

The board of education also negotiated with health insurance providers to allow employees of the district to keep their current plans, Slack said. More costs were offset by the providers, she added, which saved the district about $4 million.

“We try to keep cuts as far away from the classroom as possible,” Slack said. She added that the cuts mostly come from miscellaneous supplies or professional contracts.

The district’s goal is to work slowly over several years to completely eliminate the deficit, Slack said.

“Education is so important,” Sojewicz said. “Unless we really address what our students need in the school district, we won’t be able to fully reach our potential as a community, as a city and as a county.”

Published on March 18, 2018 at 9:31 pm

Contact Charlie: cesawyer@syr.edu