By Mark Laurrie
Niagara Falls School Superintendent
Developing and approving a school district budget is always a complex and challenging process. This year in particular, that job became even more difficult. School officials are required to finalize their budgets in time to notify taxpayers, yet New York State failed to meet its own budget deadline. This hypocrisy is unfair to the students, schools, and taxpayers who will be adversely impacted.
Nevertheless, the Board of Education did its job exceedingly well despite limited concrete information. For the first time since 2014, our district has opted to utilize reserve funds. This occurred not because of poor planning, but as a result of multiple unexpected and uncontrollable factors, including a $450,000 Child Victims Act settlement, a $511,000 generator failure, and a $500,000 state-mandated increase in charter school aid. Additional pressures arose as a result of frozen federal funds, the addition of two special education classes mid-year, a utility rate pricing increase, and additional busing for more than 100 students. The Governor also implemented a consumer price index lower than originally proposed, further imperiling the matter. Despite all of this, we delivered a high-quality product and remained under budget.
I am extremely proud that over the course of my 11 budgets as Superintendent, the tax levy has never been raised. Take a look at surrounding districts and municipalities, and I’m certain the same cannot be said. In my experience, fiscal responsibility never calls for that decision. For one, our community cannot afford raising taxes. Secondly, any auditor or comptroller would tell you that building reserves by raising tax is not a fair practice to taxpayers. Raising taxes or closing schools when we hope to keep students close to their homes is unacceptable to us.
Over the course of seven arduous meetings, the Board of Education studied expense and revenue charts closely to make comprehensive determinations. Providing students with the tools they require to learn and grow has always been the top priority. Therefore, attrition through retirements (as opposed to layoffs) is a tactic we utilized purposefully. Our approach also prioritized increasing safety and security, providing alternative education programs, getting ahead of updated graduation requirements, bolstering mental health supports, and maintaining lower class sizes and smaller school populations.
While some practices implemented this year will not be sustainable forever, $40 million still remains in our reserve funds. Worth noting is that none of our employees will receive a layoff notice due to budgeting constraints this year and all of our students will continue to receive every form of academic and social-emotional support they deserve. I have unwavering confidence that the incoming leadership team, led by Superintendent Stan Wojton, will endeavor to continue all the good work we’ve begun. Mr. Wojton’s task is not easy, but fortunately the district is not in crisis. It is, however, facing declining enrollment which reflects New York State, Niagara County, and Niagara Falls trends. This is no dire emergency, but rather a matter to watch closely.
Enhanced security measures, consistently improving academics, and well-maintained facilities, coupled with the Say Yes, Niagara Falls initiative for college and career readiness, are only a few examples of how healthy and strong our district remains. The Niagara Falls Board of Education and district leadership team are poised and ready to achieve even greater results.
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