CAZENOVIA — On March 25, the Cazenovia Central School District (CCSD) held a School Budget Community Dialogue Night in the high school gym to inform the public about the current budgetary landscape, existing challenges, and potential avenues for growth. Attendees also had the opportunity to share their priorities and offer insights on key school programs and initiatives. “We seek your valuable input to ensure that our resource allocation reflects the community’s highest priorities and maintains the quality of education our students deserve,” the event announcement said. “Your participation will be instrumental in shaping a responsible and sustainable budget for the upcoming school year.” Superintendent Christopher DiFulvio began the event by highlighting the complexities of the annual budget process and explaining that it requires collaboration between district administrators, the CCSD Board of Education (BOE), and the local community. The district submits a budget proposal to the BOE for adoption, then the proposed spending plan must be approved by eligible voters in the district. “New York is one of the only states in the country that does budgeting this way,” DiFulvio said. “Most school budgets in the rest of the country are simply set by the board of education.” The CCSD BOE anticipates adopting its final budget on April 21 and putting it up for a public vote on May 20. “As we look at this budget, what we are trying to focus on as an administrative team is sustaining our identity and providing opportunities for children,” said DiFulvio. “We want to provide a high-quality education that is aligned with our district’s mission. We also recognize that we need to maintain financial responsibility and long-term financial stability.” CCSD’s mission is to nurture, inspire, and empower students to make a positive impact in the world by building healthy relationships in a safe, diverse, and welcoming environment that encourages learning and growth for all. DiFulvio explained that upholding CCSD’s identity means sustaining the guaranteed curriculum, maintaining high school-level advanced courses and Career and Technical Education (CTE) offerings, and preserving extracurriculars at all school levels. CCSD highlights Assistant Superintendent of Instruction, Equity & Personnel Kevin Linck shared the district’s achievements in two areas of its strategic plan, which aims to enhance the school community through fostering mental wellness, ensuring curriculum alignment, cultivating an inclusive culture, strengthening special education support, and expanding student opportunities for academic and personal growth. Linck focused specifically on curriculum alignment and special education. He first presented 2024 English language arts (ELA), math, and high school Regents proficiency data demonstrating that the district’s efforts to establish a vertically aligned curriculum, prioritize grade level standards, and eliminate redundancies have yielded positive results. “There is a lot to celebrate with this data,” he said. “This shows that we are challenging our students; we are pushing our students. This shows that they are meeting those challenges. This shows that we have very high standards for our students. . . . We also have a high percentage of students who are gaining advanced Regents diplomas. We have anywhere between 61 and 78 percent getting advanced Regents diplomas based upon [their success] on these Regents exams.” Linck also reported that for the past 15 years, Cazenovia’s graduation rate has been between 94 and 98 percent. Students can earn college credits through the high school’s 12 AP classes and 12 concurrent enrollment offerings. According to Linck, students have left CCSD with as many as two years of college already completed. Last year, 48 percent of students who graduated had taken at least one AP class. Two graduates had passed nine AP classes, and one student had earned a five, the highest score, on all nine AP exams. When discussing special education, Linck explained that the district’s goal is to provide the education and support students need in the least restrictive environment — the classroom, ideally — and help the students develop independence by the time they move on from the district. Linck shared a figure showing that CCSD special education students outperformed students at three comparable schools on eighth-grade ELA, math, and science assessments. “We see strong academic performance, we see opportunities, and [we see] a focus [on] an inclusive environment and an opportunity for all students to be successful,” said Linck. Next, DiFulvio spoke about the value of the district’s extracurricular programs, including the Cazenovia High School (CHS) InterGroup Dialogue Club, which helped lead the evening’s table discussions; the CHS Academic Decathlon Team, which will compete in this year’s national championship in Iowa; Cazenovia’s championship-winning First LEGO League team; the CHS Drama Club, which recently presented a successful production of “Legally Blonde — The Musical;” Project Café, which helps organize the Fourth of July Parade and other events; and all the athletic teams. “The more connected students feel [to school], the better they are going to perform in the classroom,” DiFulvio said. The superintendent also discussed the district’s partnership with the Greater Cazenovia Area Chamber of Commerce and its Caz Life events committee. He explained that the chamber’s brick-and-mortar location is now inside CHS, providing opportunities for students to collaborate with local businesses through internships and help plan and market events. “All these things that make our community great, the students in this school have a hand in,” he said. “. . . These are the great things that make people want to come visit Cazenovia, make people want to live in Cazenovia, and make people proud to be here.” Enrollment, wealth ratio, class sizes DiFulvio presented a table showing that CCSD’s enrollment has “just about leveled off” since 2019. He also addressed the misconception that the amount of state funding a district receives is based solely on its enrollment. “One of the things that you may hear about from Albany or lawmakers [is], ‘We are lowering school funding because enrollment is going down,’” he said. “Well, I think the reality [is] that school funding has really been going down across the country since 2011. [So, the] enrollment is one piece. There is a formula that the state is supposed to use to fund schools every year, and there are over 50 variables in the formula. What happens — it’s happening right now, and it happened last year — is lawmakers negotiate which variables they want included. Almost always, one of the ones they talk about is enrollment, but that doesn’t [show] the whole picture.” CCSD is particularly impacted by its high wealth ratio, which can limit state funding. According to the superintendent, New York State determines a school district’s wealth by considering its residents’ income tax returns. Shifting his attention back to historic enrollment trends, DiFulvio remarked that as student numbers declined from 2013 to around 2022/23, the district rightsized its programming. “From where I sit, I think we have the appropriate amount of programming,” he said. “Our students have what they need, and I want to make sure our children continue to have what they need next year.” DiFulvio then discussed CCSD’s class sizes, sharing that the average at Burton Street Elementary School is 21, the average in the middle school is 22, and the average at the high school is 14-30. According to the superintendent, CCSD closely monitors its class sizes to ensure its teachers and students can build the relationships necessary to be successful. CCSD’s financial situation and how it got here CCSD anticipates facing a significant budget gap again this year. According to DiFulvio, projected federal funding decreases for schools and NYS’s failure to maintain previously promised funding levels have contributed to the district’s challenging financial situation. The CCSD Winter 2025 Newsletter reports that, according to the state aid projections from Governor Kathy Hochul’s Executive Budget Proposal, CCSD faces a “diminutive increase” in projected Foundation Aid — the primary source of state funding for NY schools — for the 2025/26 school year. “They are cutting [funding] at the federal and state level,” said DiFulvio. “Now it’s [up to the locality] to decide if you want to fund the school adequately.” The district’s projected budget gap is also a consequence of rising expenses related to inflation on goods and services, contractual salary increases, benefit cost increases, growing student needs, etc. In past years, CCSD has had low or no tax increases. While those decisions were considerate of local taxpayers, the lack of consistent revenue increases has made the district vulnerable to economic downturns. The administrators’ presentation emphasized the district’s history of efficient spending and its demonstrated ability to operate effectively with limited resources. However, it also acknowledged that a tax levy increase at the district’s tax levy limit (cap) is insufficient to address the current financial shortfall. “Really, we are at a point where we would have to take away programming,” said DiFulvio. “We recognize that it is our responsibility to be fiscally responsible, but it is also our responsibility to provide the programming that our children need.” DiFulvio turned the microphone over to Assistant Superintendent/School Business Official Thomas Finnerty, who explored how CCSD’s current financial situation has been “years in the making” and can be traced back to the implementation of the Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA). The GEA was a policy designed to help NYS close its budget deficit. To achieve this, the state reduced the amount of money it provided to public schools from fiscal year 2009/10 to fiscal year 2016/17. “The first year, they withheld over $1 million in state aid from Cazenovia,” Finnerty said. “The second year, [it was] similar, over $1 million. The third year, almost $1.9 million of our state aid [was withheld]. Ironically, at the same time, that was the year Governor Cuomo’s tax cap legislation came into being. Now, we can no longer raise taxes above two percent without getting a supermajority. So, we are getting strangled from the tax cap line, and we are also getting [almost] $1.9 million taken away.” A budget requires approval by a supermajority of voters (60 percent or more) if the proposed tax levy increase exceeds the district’s tax levy limit, calculated using the NYS property tax cap formula. If the proposed tax levy increase is within the limit, a simple majority of voters (50 percent + 1) is required for budget approval. According to Finnerty, CCSD saw a total loss of $8,102,722 from 2009/10 to 2016/17 due to the GEA. During that period, the district took drastic measures, such as cutting positions and programs and using fund balance (the district’s savings account), to continue operating and attempt to maintain its identity. “This really started what we are seeing today,” said Finnerty. He added that once a district removes something from its budget, it is difficult to add it back in. “You have growth every year, expenses go up every year, but once you have taken something away, how do you put it back on top of the things you still have to pay for, that you still have?” he said. “We keep cutting and nibbling and cutting and nibbling away at our budget. I started here in 2015, and I have not had one budget yet that has been a piece of cake. We have had to look at lines every year and say, ‘Take a little [here], take a little there . . .’ We are in a place now where it’s just not safe; it’s just not smart to keep taking away.” Funding considerations and future planning According to the administration, CCSD has been actively exploring various budget funding avenues and considering long-term forecasts while remaining focused on funding its strategic plan, preserving core programming, and maintaining a healthy fund balance. The district’s current options are to decrease spending through cuts; increase revenue through grants, the tax levy, and/or fund balance use; or do a combination of those approaches. DiFulvio noted that Cazenovia’s high wealth ratio makes the district ineligible for many grants that other schools might receive. He also expressed his belief that the district is at a point where there is nothing left to cut if it wants to preserve its identity and give its kids the same programming as other schools. According to Finnerty, the administration and BOE believe in using a little bit of fund balance every year. For example, the current budget includes $1,641,005 in fund balance use, some of which CCSD plans to put back into its savings account. “We have contingencies built into the budget for the worst-case scenarios,” Finnerty said. “Why should we tax the taxpayer for that every year? We should plan on using our savings just in case those things happen.” Long-term forecast Finnerty described the budget process as one big exercise in estimation. In November 2024, he looked at CCSD data from the past 16 years and used averages to forecast the estimated revenues — tax levy, miscellaneous income, state aid, and fund balance — and expenditure budgets for the next five years. The graphic he created shows a gap between the revenues and expenditures for each of the five years, with the gap increasing in size from 2025/26 to 2029/30. “As I say year after year, between declining state aid and a tax cap that puts a stigma on exceeding [the district’s levy limit], the revenue does not keep up with the expenditures,” Finnerty said. “So, we have to take drastic measures; we have to use more fund balance, we have to get rid of programs, we have to get creative. We are at a point where we can’t do that anymore. We are going to run out of [our savings] account if we keep using it. . . . We are hoping for more state aid, but I think [the answer] is going to need to be tax levy because we can’t keep relying on fund balance to bridge the gap.” According to Finnerty, failing to safeguard the district’s reserves could decrease its credit rating and put it in “moderate fiscal stress,” a rating given by the NYS Comptroller’s Office to local governments or school districts experiencing financial strain but to a lesser degree than those in significant fiscal stress. Long-term plan to close the gap The administration has developed a plan for the next five years that is subject to change due to state and federal funding variables. CCSD is proposing a 7.55 percent tax levy increase for 2025/26, a 9.49 percent tax levy increase for 2026/27, a 4.66 percent increase for 2027/28, a 4.65 percent increase for 2028/29, a 4.63 percent increase for 2029/30, and a 4.62 increase for 2030/31. Finnerty pointed out that Cazenovia’s tax rate on true/full market value is the second lowest in Madison County. He also stated that although he does not have this year’s complete data, he can report that CCSD’s 2023/24 tax rate on true/full market value was the sixth lowest of the 23 districts in OCM BOCES. “Again, revenues aren’t keeping up with expenditures if [the tax levy increase] is two percent; it is just not happening,” Finnerty said. “We have got to make decisions, so this is our plan. We have cut as much as we can cut. It is time to support kids.” In addition to the 7.55 percent tax levy increase, the district’s tentative plan calls for appropriating $1,641,005 of fund balance, and a one-time injection of funds from the debt service fund to balance the 2025/26 budget. “The 7.55 percent tax levy increase is still subject to change, as we have not yet received the state budget,” said Finnerty. “If we get more aid than the governor proposed, the 7.55 percent could — and likely will — go down. If we get less, 7.55 percent could go up. In either case, it is up to the board [to decide] what to do with more or less state aid.” Finnerty estimates that if voters approve the proposed 2025/26 budget, taxpayers in the Town of Cazenovia will see their bills increase by $154.17 per $100,000 of assessed value. His estimation is based on 2024/25 property assessments and equalization rates. “So, for a $200,000 house, you’re going to expect about a $308 increase with the budget as proposed,” he said. The district’s proposed 2025/26 expenditure budget is $40,446,980, representing a $2,019,758 increase over the current budget. According to a figure comparing CCSD to Madison, Cortland, Onondaga, and Oswego County school districts with similar student enrollments, Cazenovia has one of the lowest 2024/25 expenditure budgets and the lowest budget per pupil. Even if all the other districts were to freeze their spending for 2025/26 while CCSD increased its expenditures to the proposed $40,446,980, Cazenovia would still have the lowest budget per pupil. DiFulvio concluded the presentation by stating that he would be derelict in his duty as superintendent if he did not express his belief that the district’s proposal is what CCSD students need and what the community will support. Table discussions The presentation was followed by small group discussions guided by the following questions: 1. What makes Cazenovia Schools a source of community pride? 2. What are your top priorities for ensuring our district not only continues to excel but reaches even greater heights? 3. How can we, as a community, maximize our collective support for our students’ success, well-being, and overall development? 4. What suggestions and ideas do you have for optimizing our resources, further strengthening our schools, and building an even brighter future for Cazenovia students? Discussion facilitators recorded the public feedback for the district’s consideration. The event concluded with a question-and-answer period. DiFulvio announced that the district will update all the information on the budget section of its website, and the questions raised during the Q&A will be used as frequently asked questions if they have not already been added. Next steps The BOE is anticipated to adopt a proposed budget on Monday, April 21. A public hearing on the proposal is scheduled for Monday, May 12, and the budget vote and BOE election will be held on Tuesday, May 20, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., in the middle school auxiliary gym. If the proposed budget fails, the BOE can choose to put the same budget up for a vote a second time, put a revised budget up for a vote, or go directly to a contingency budget. If the district decides to go out at the tax cap for the revote, the budget will be reduced by $1,008,117. If the June 17 revote fails, the board must enact a contingency budget without a tax levy increase. That would mean reducing the budget by $1,726,636. CCSD BOE meetings are open to the public, and community members are encouraged to attend. Meeting dates are listed on the district website and the school calendar. For more information, visit cazenoviacsd.com/board. To contact the entire board, email boe@caz.cnyric.org. Anyone not directly affiliated with CCSD can sign up for the ParentSquare Community Group to receive newsletters and other information. Sign up at parentsquare.com/community_signups/94dc9c19-0570-4ecd-bd7a-868cb499bc46/new.   ...read more read less