The Trumansburg Board of Education faced the difficult decision to approve the layoffs and abolishment of positions of several employees, which caused contention and lengthy community feedback at the last meeting on March 19. 

The board is cutting a multitude of positions, some of which are empty and some of which are filled, and making several reductions to expenditures. 

Instructional positions that will be cut include two special education teacher positions, one sixth grade teacher position, one fourth grade teacher position, one second grade teacher position and a high school library media specialist. Non-instructional positions include a head mechanic, a director of facilities, an IT Network specialist and a district office clerk. 

Other areas that have been reduced include supply lines, contractual lines, BOCES Services, school lunch supplemental budget and professional development lines. 

School Business Administrator Jon Koeng explained that the instructional reductions reflected about $450,000 while the non-instructional positions reflected about $900,000.

These cuts would allow the district’s 2024-25 budget to stay nearly the same as this year’s, with a .01% increase. The district is also increasing their use of reserves and fund balances to help balance the budget. 

Koeng said that although the cuts seem harsh, their priority is to continue to provide the same programming to students. 

“The program itself is remaining intact,” Koeng said. “The offerings that we give to our students, for the most part, remain intact.”

Superintendent Kimberly Bell emphasized that the cuts were not an easy decision for the district. She said that a major issue that the smaller schools in New York State are facing is that when the state cuts their funding, regardless of their class sizes, they still have to provide the same programming as they did before. She said that this is unlike larger schools who, when faced with cuts, would still retain a robust program. 

“Careful consideration has been given to maintain all quality programs and facilitate the continuous growth of our students,” Bell said. “I’ll say it again; these reductions are painful. We search long and hard for quality people to bring to our district, we know that’s what our community wants, that's what we want.”

Koeng and Bell explained that the cuts were largely due to declining enrollment, as described at the last meeting. The declining enrollment affects the amount of state aid that the school districts receive. 

“It’s fiscally responsible, and we don’t have the numbers [of students] to support those same numbers of educators as we have had in the past,” Bell said. 

There was a reduction in full-time special education positions, specifically a cut of one full-time faculty for grades seven and eight and one full-time faculty in the high school. Grades seven and eight now have two full time special education faculty members instead of three. At the time of the reductions, this was an unfilled position. 

Director of Special Education Angie Gemigna reassured the board that although the school was facing cuts, the special education programming would still continue as normal. 

“I really wanted to highlight that even with the reduction, we’re continuing to move forward in our services,” Geminga said. 

Trumansburg’s issue of overall declining enrollment is reflected in the special education enrollment data. While the district saw a total drop in the number of students K-12 from 936 last year to 906 this year, the special education program saw a drop from 164 to 155. 

“Our special education numbers are decreasing right along with our enrollment numbers, almost simultaneously,” Geminga said. 

The layoffs and cuts will be effective June 30 if the proposed budget passes the public vote. The budget hearing will be May 7 in the High School Library at 5:30 p.m. The public vote for the budget will be Tuesday, May 21 from noon to 8 p.m. at the Ulysses Historical Society.