New RCSD Budget Could Lead To Massive Cuts
Written by wdkxwp on March 20, 2019
According to the proposed budget for the Rochester City School District’s 2019-2020 school year, more than 300 jobs could be in jeopardy.
If approved by interim superintendent, Dan Lowengard, the new $925 million budget could lead to a loss of 194 teaching positions within the district.
Special education programs will take a hit as well. Forty full time coordinating administrator roles and fourteen special education teaching roles would be eliminated under the new budget.
School board President Van White opposes the proposed cuts, telling 13 Wham News, “I’m not willing to jeopardize the progress that we’ve made – the good faith effort – to reorganize special education services just on the issue of economics.”
In a special Rochester City School District Board of Education meeting on Tuesday night, Lowengard stressed that job reductions would come as a result of retirements, not layoffs.
$119 million of the proposed budget would come from the City of Rochester. Mayor Lovely Warren is pushing for a portion of this money to be spent on turning additional buildings into community schools that will provide extended learning time, health services, and outreach efforts, like food pantries, to provide additional support to students and their families.
Warren Letter by on Scribd
