Warwick ‘exploring all options’ to keep school programs intact
WARWICK — As it searches for a way to close a projected gap of $2.4 million in its 2013-14 budget, the Warwick Valley School District is keeping its options open, including the possibility of closing another elementary school – likely either Kings or Park Avenue (Pine Island was shuttered by the district two years ago) – or by reconfiguring the elementary and middle schools.
Warwick’s school board – like many around the state and across the country – is striving to meet rising expenses, such as fuel costs and staff salaries and benefits, APPR and unfunded mandates, combined with declining student enrollment.
The board also faces the challenge of adequately funding public education in light of New York State’s 2 per cent property tax cap law, as well as decreases in state and federal aid.
Options considered, discarded
Schools Superintendent Dr. Raymond Bryant laid out some of the potential scenarios regarding closing one of the schools:
Create three K-6 schools, close the middle school and move the seventh and eighth graders to the high school.
This option was rejected for several reasons: middle school parents generally do not want their kids in the high school and moving middle schoolers to the high school would leave no space for any kids who might potentially transfer from Greenwood Lake.
Another possibility: Create a K-2 school, a 3-4, a 5-8 middle school and the high school.
This option also got the thumbs-down, as it would require a return to the three-tier busing system.
The most likely scenario would be the creation of two K-4 schools and the moving of fifth grade to the middle school where the students would share a separate wing with sixth graders. High school would remain as-is.
This option would save programs, including specials (for example, music and art).
“Let’s look at protecting program,” said board member John Connolly. “We’re just trying to stay ahead of a tsunami.”
While no decision has yet been made in terms of building closure or student moves, the board is in the process of evaluating which school makes the most sense to close, both financially and in terms of the best academic interests of the students, as well as being able to plan for staffing and moving.
Shortfall, not deficit
In contrast to several other districts, Bryant reassured those in attendance that “We don’t have a budget deficit. We have a revenue shortfall … not because we don’t plan but because things cost more, (because of) mandates. We always finish in the black.”
Bryant also noted that since U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer helped bring FEMA aid to New York in the months after Hurricane Sandy, there is about $225 million dollars not yet spoken for in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s budget that should be available to help school districts like Warwick.
According to Bryant, state Sen. John Bonacic said that some of those funds should come back from the state – potentially as much as $200,000 to $300,000 – but it’s up to district parents to keep the pressure on Albany.
Bryant said that closing down another school is only a temporary solution – a “band-aid;” student transfers from Greenwood Lake represent a “tourniquet,” but changing the way education is funded (for example, increasing state aid) is ultimately the “cure.”
Parental advocacy
One such group is doing just that: the recently formed advocacy group Parents for Change (https://www.facebook.com/ParentsForChangeWarwick) is “a group of parents committed to ensuring that Warwick Schools continue to provide quality education and programs to our children through lobbying efforts.”
According to school board president, David Eaton, Parents for Change has been “a wonderful conduit” to get the board’s message out to the public. Eaton’s impression of the group has been “nothing but positive,” and hopes that the Warwick group will network with similar advocacy groups across the state.
(A letter to the editor from an organizer for Parents for Change appears on page 26.)
Charter schools may complicate the matter
Eaton said that he went to the DIRT charter school meeting and noted that the board of the charter is resubmitting its application to the state. Eaton expressed concern that each student who leaves the Warwick Valley School District to attend the charter school takes $12,000 a year with him/her.
If the DIRT charter school gets off the ground, “it could affect us greatly,” he added. “ Ten kids (leaving Warwick for DIRT) would be $1.2 million. What do we do – close another school?”
He added that the district will wait and see what Albany does.
Eaton also mentioned Tuxedo’s proposed conversion of an existing school to a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) charter school.
Bryant voiced concern about charter schools peeling off students from Warwick’s two Blue Ribbon schools.
Not all ‘doom and gloom’
In a telephone interview, Eaton said he expects Bryant to release his proposed budget within the next three weeks. Despite the general anxieties surrounding the budget, “we’re in better shape than most,” the school board president said.
As an example, Eaton said: “We don’t have to raise class size” or harm the curriculum.
He also noted “we have sports (and other programs).”
The board is doing all it can, he said, “to keep program, above all else. Things are still awfully good – (our) kids are getting what they need for the foreseeable future.
“But if something doesn’t change,” Eaton said, “we’ll be like everyone else.”
Next:
Regular Board of Education meeting, March 4, 7 p.m., High School Auditorium.
By Abby Wolf