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Kinderhook forum draws many to talk ed future
Jan 27, 2011 6:20 am
[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Ichabod School Board President Andrew Kramarchyk encourages members of the public to offer input in the formation of the 2011-2012 school budget at a recent Community Forum in early January. A second such session was held this past Tuesday, January 25. Image from ICCS website."]
[/caption]For nearly two hours, the Ichabod Crane School District's latest Community Forum on Tuesday, January 25 at the High School auditorium in Kinderhook heard over 30 speakers defend their schools' art, music, theater and languages classes in the face of possible cuts and growing deficit problems, including parents, current students, graduates and other district residents. According to the Register-Star, the meeting, which drew about 300 people, was the second in a series of five forums intended to reach a community consensus about where the community wants to see Ichabod Crane headed, and to inform residents about the current budget crisis. Two previous forums took place in 2010. “We’re in new territory that none of us in education have experienced,” said Interim Superintendent Lee Bordick. Enrollment is declining precipitously: The senior class has 183 students, while the kindergarten has 119. The district’s population — 1,961 students — is below 2,000 for the first time. Meanwhile, state aid is declining, and a probable 2 percent property tax increase cap threatens to leave the district with a $3 million shortfall. An 18 percent tax increase would cover this, but even without the tax hike cap, officials want to prevent that scenario and have been speaking about closing one or two elementary schools and possibly cutting kindergarten to half days and getting rid of a pre-K program started in recent years.
[/caption]For nearly two hours, the Ichabod Crane School District's latest Community Forum on Tuesday, January 25 at the High School auditorium in Kinderhook heard over 30 speakers defend their schools' art, music, theater and languages classes in the face of possible cuts and growing deficit problems, including parents, current students, graduates and other district residents. According to the Register-Star, the meeting, which drew about 300 people, was the second in a series of five forums intended to reach a community consensus about where the community wants to see Ichabod Crane headed, and to inform residents about the current budget crisis. Two previous forums took place in 2010. “We’re in new territory that none of us in education have experienced,” said Interim Superintendent Lee Bordick. Enrollment is declining precipitously: The senior class has 183 students, while the kindergarten has 119. The district’s population — 1,961 students — is below 2,000 for the first time. Meanwhile, state aid is declining, and a probable 2 percent property tax increase cap threatens to leave the district with a $3 million shortfall. An 18 percent tax increase would cover this, but even without the tax hike cap, officials want to prevent that scenario and have been speaking about closing one or two elementary schools and possibly cutting kindergarten to half days and getting rid of a pre-K program started in recent years.