Otselic Valley Central School District

At the Board of Education meeting on September 17, 2020, Interim Superintendent Michael Drahos and Assistant Superintendent of Business and Finance Dan Silky shared the significant financial challenge our district is facing due to cuts in state aid. Nearly two-thirds of the funding for Otselic Valley comes in the form of state aid, they explained in a presentation led by Mr. Silky.  Last spring Governor Cuomo indicated that schools would face the possibility of a 20% cut in state aid due to the economic impact of the pandemic.  Previous cuts to school aid have been in the foundation aid category and our district, along with others, made contingency plans accordingly. In August and September Otselic Valley experienced a 20% reduction in state aid but unexpectedly, these cuts were to additional types of state aid categories, not just foundation aid!  It soon became apparent that all forms of state aid could be cut by 20%.  For Otselic Valley that is almost double what was anticipated. The New York State Division of Budget very recently made comments suggesting that districts were overreacting to the reductions that were already seen and likely to continue. While we hope our concerns are overreaction, we do not have any assurances that future cuts are not yet to come, Mr. Silky explained. The harsh reality is that if there is no state or federal relief, Otselic Valley will need to cut nearly $1.5 million from our 2020 – 2021 budget. Mr. Drahos and Mr. Silky shared actions that the district can take to begin to address the state aid shortfall.  The goal is to prioritize those cuts which are going to have the least impact on our mission to educate and inspire every student to achieve excellence.  These actions include: reductions in administrative pay, taking advantage of health insurance savings, utilizing reserves, placing a freeze on supplies and equipment, cutting a capital outlay project, reducing BOCES services and expenditures, reducing labor hours where possible, considering retirement incentives, and seeking input for further savings from both negotiating units.  If there continue to be no state or federal assistance to minimize these cuts, future considerations will likely need to include staff layoffs and cuts to our interscholastic and co-curricular programs. "The Otselic Valley Central School District will continue to do everything possible to ensure a quality education for our children," said Mr. Drahos. "We will get through this, as we have in previous economic downturns.  None of the cuts or reductions will be easy or painless, but as long as we continue to be strategic and focused on our kids, we will persevere."