The Friday edition of the Lockport Union Sun and Journal featured a story about Roy-Hart's budget woes. It ended with this prose....
....the district received a report concerning staffing and enrollment. The study was done by the Western New York Educational Services Council and presented by Thomas Ramming and Gerald Glose.
According to the enrollment results of the study, Roy-Hart is projected to lose about 80 kids over the next five years. Compared to other school districts in New York that is not unusual, Glose said.
But with the staffing, which makes up about 80 percent of any school budget, there’s not much the study would recommend changing in Roy-Hart, Ramming said. Teachers and staff are already spread thin, Ramming said.
“Your staffing in this district is very tight, very efficient with few opportunities for reductions without it affecting programs,” he said.
Ramming said the class sizes for students in seventh grade through 12th was in the higher range of what he’d recommend. But that doesn’t mean Roy-Hart can’t go higher with class sizes, Ramming said.
At the elementary school there are very few places to cut, Ramming said. The areas of art and music would offer very little reduction, he said.
Roy-Hart could cut 3.2 positions at the middle school, if teachers pick up academic intervention services or enrichment as their sixth period. At the high school, the district did not have much room to cut.
According to the enrollment results of the study, Roy-Hart is projected to lose about 80 kids over the next five years. Compared to other school districts in New York that is not unusual, Glose said.
But with the staffing, which makes up about 80 percent of any school budget, there’s not much the study would recommend changing in Roy-Hart, Ramming said. Teachers and staff are already spread thin, Ramming said.
“Your staffing in this district is very tight, very efficient with few opportunities for reductions without it affecting programs,” he said.
Ramming said the class sizes for students in seventh grade through 12th was in the higher range of what he’d recommend. But that doesn’t mean Roy-Hart can’t go higher with class sizes, Ramming said.
At the elementary school there are very few places to cut, Ramming said. The areas of art and music would offer very little reduction, he said.
Roy-Hart could cut 3.2 positions at the middle school, if teachers pick up academic intervention services or enrichment as their sixth period. At the high school, the district did not have much room to cut.
Read the entire article -- which analyzes our dire straits -- online at:
http://lockportjournal.com/local/x740872565/Roy-Hart-talks-budget
