NEWFANE — The Newfane School District would cut 32 full- and part-time positions and,

along with other spending reductions, still have about a $600,000 deficit remaining for next

school year, under the second phase of a budget proposal outlined at a School Board meeting

Tuesday night.

District leaders face a loss of $1.9 million in state aid, Superintendent Gary J.

Pogorzelski told a crowd of more than 200 people who jammed the gymnasium in the Newfane Early

Childhood Center on Godfrey Road.

The latest round of proposed cuts calls for the elimination of a full-time administrator,

music teacher, a remedial reading teacher, as well as part-time foreign language, business,

counseling and art positions.

Sports programs would remain mostly intact under the spending plan, a point several

residents and the Newfane Teachers Association questioned Tuesday night. School officials said

they are still considering the district's sports budget.

Total costs under next year's spending plan will jump $900,000, leaving a total budget gap

of $2.8 million, Pogorzelski said.

"We're still short," Pogorzelski told the crowd. "Does anybody in this room like this? No,

we hate it, but we do not have the money."



Listen to the Superintendent's full budget presentation











In total, the equivalent of 20 full-time positions are on the chopping block. In

some cases, class sizes will go up, Pogorzelski said.

If the district made no cuts and raised taxes to cover the deficit, the tax rate would

increase 23 percent, school officials said.

Figuring out where to cut has made for some difficult choices, especially because the

district already has the highest tax rate — $26.13 per $1,000 in assessed valuation

— in Niagara County, the superintendent said.

Still, some members of the public asked district officials to consider putting forth a

budget with a slight tax increase in order to give the voters a look at their options and a

chance to decide.

Listen to Newfane Teachers Association President Henri Kursten address the crowd











Sophomore Donny Yung, who said he has been in two school musicals and was on the swim team

this year, told the board he believes leaving the sports programs budgets in place seems to

favor students who excel in athletics.

Yung proposed the district allow anyone who wants to play sports to make the teams, if cuts

are made to other extra-curricular activities.

"I would just like to make sure that every sport that a student decides they want to do,

they should be able to," Yung said. "There shouldn't be cuts because students don't have

anything else besides sports if this is how the cuts go."



Listen to Yung's full comments to the board











The savings of the cuts announced Tuesday total $400,000, while the earlier round of cuts

trimmed about $900,000, Pogorzelski said.

The total cost of clubs in the district is about $69,000, or about .2 percent of the total

district budget.

Under the latest proposal, the district will increase the amount of reserves it plugs into

next year's spending plan from $900,000 to $2.1 million.

State aid represents about 59 percent of the district's revenue under the current budget, a

figure that would drop to 52 percent next year under the current proposal.

Last May, voters approved a $32.8 million spending plan for the 2009-10 school year. The

budget included no increase in the tax rate.

Under the round of cuts proposed earlier this month, two elementary teachers, all modified

sports, a special education teacher, office support staff, and field trip buses would be

dropped.

The School Board needs to finalize a tentative budget by April 23 and will hold its next

meetings April 6 and 21.

There are three ways the district can make up the $600,000, Pogorzelski said: more cuts,

using more of the district's reserves or a tax increase.

Board President James Reineke told the crowd the board is listening to their opinions and

will try to save as many programs as they can. "This is a difficult time for everybody,"

Reineke said, "and we are doing our best."



A tax increase is being considered, and is "likely," Reineke said.

Any future cuts would be difficult to make and "would not be pretty," he said.

Douglas Mandel Jr., a senior at Newfane High School, said much of the discussion among

students over the past week has been over their futures and the potential impacts of budget

cuts on younger students.

"I just hope that we can find a way to make it work, and unfortunately Albany is going to

push around the small school district that we are," Mandel said. "And I just hope that we can

find a way to push back."



Listen to Mandel's full comments