At last month’s Board of Education meeting, Superintendant Mike Chirco announced a lot of important information concerning the district. The first of these is the problem concerning the realignment program that was brought to the board of education at the meeting the month before. The second was how the schools’ state aid funding is being cut 10% this month throughout New York State.

Each month, public schools throughout the state are given aid from the government to help pay for all of the expenses necessary to run the building. In January, before the fiscal year begins on the first of April, a budget is prepared until next April. This budget shows how much money the state has and how much of that will be spent on various organizations and projects. It is after this that the schools find out how much money they will be receiving and will be able to spend the following school year.

Last January, the state promised our school an exact dollar amount of $1,064, 886.43 each month, roughly $14,000,000 throughout the year. However, due to a "cash flow problem" the Governor has announced that the state doesn’t have the money that was promised and being the largest portion of the state’s budget, school funding had to be reduced by ten percent this month. The outcome: $106,488.64 worth of the Marcus Whitman budget disappearing.

For now, Mr. Chirco assures us we are okay financially; we have millions of dollars in the bank, plus an emergency fund safely away. Zoe Kolczynski, business official for the district, says "We will be fortunate if the state aid stays flat," (if it stays where it is and doesn’t decrease). If this does happen, initiative will have to be taken but for the 2009-2010 year, we will be okay. Next March, when the budget for next year is established, will be a very important month for the district.