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March 6, 2008
Challenges Presented by the
NYS Budget
Dear Community Members:
As you are aware from recent media attention given to the New York
State’s fiscal outlook, every taxpayer has been and will continue to be
affected by the state’s budget.
However, each public school in New York State must prepare a budget
for the following school year and present that budget to its community for
approval on May 20th. We
have no alternative but to remain focused on preparing a budget that will
allow us to meet the needs of the children of the Central Square School
District. The district has begun to
plan and construct its annual budget from a fiscally conservative perspective,
always aware that state and federal funding commitments can be reduced.
Our yearly budget is supplemented by approximately 65% state aid,
based on unique formulas derived in Albany. All businesses, including school districts, have fixed costs
that we cannot control, and all of us face the challenge of budgeting for
the spiraling costs of health insurance, retirement contributions, and the
cost of fuel. The Central Square
School District is one of the largest employers in Oswego County and just
as all of us individually are facing the increase in fuel at the gas pumps
or as we pay our gas and electric bills, these unanticipated increases have
been staggering for our school district.
Board of Education members and Administrators attended the Central
New York Legislative Breakfast held at East Syracuse Minoa High School on
Saturday, February 9th, as well as the Oswego County Legislative
Breakfast held on Saturday, March 1st to hear from our
representatives in both the Assembly and Senate and to express our concern
for the need to develop a dependable formula for school aid that all New
York State school districts can count on to prepare timely and effective
budgets.
In planning next year’s budget, all administrators and supervisors
have been directed to plan their respective budgets by reflecting the same
funding allocation that they received this past year. We have monitored all expenditures throughout
the school year very closely and have considered each new request and its
impact on the district as a whole.
You may be aware of the numerous unfunded mandates at both the
federal and state level that continue to cripple school districts. We will continue to work together and to
think creatively of ways to address these issues.
These are challenging times for all residents of New York State.
Carolyn F. Costello
Superintendent of Schools
 since 3/6/2008
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