Three Village Recovers More Than $900K in School Aid

The announcement was met with applause from community members on Thursday night: Following the state's adoption of a budget, Three Village school officials said the district will be receiving about $928,000 more in state funding than initially projected, and will be the recipient of a special $100,000 legislative grant secured by local state lawmakers.

The district's budget gap now falls around $7 million, instead of $8.02 million, which the district will still have to make up for in cuts to staffing and programs. The administration is now recommending cutting 60.4 full-time equivalent teachers, instead of 65.1 – and significantly less than the 81 layoffs the district initially said could take place as a worst-case scenario.

"It's still our goal to make it as small of an impact on the kids as possible," said Jeff Carlson, assistant superintendent for business services.

Superintendent Cheryl Pedisich said the state aid total was "the best news we could have gotten given the circumstances."

"I am feeling more optimistic because any time we can restore staffing, it's a wonderful thing," she said. "Any time that students can get out of a study hall and into an elective class, or we can reduce the class size of an English or math class and make it a little smaller for students, is a positive."

After the governor's initial budget yielded in state aid over last school year, the recovered funds bring the total increase in state aid from last year to $978,000. The district will receive $36.23 million in state aid, though it's still less than what the state's own formula says the district should receive, Carlson said.

"I felt that a $600,000 increase was the most we could hope for, and it turns out we'll have a $978,000 increase from last year," he said. "I don't think we can complain about that."

Now that the state aid totals are in, the Consumer Price Index has been set, and health insurance increases are solidified, there aren't really any more variables the district can count on to help the district close its budget gap, Carlson said.

Except for one remote possibility: Following Thursday's board meeting, both Pedisich and Carlson alluded to a "conversation" school officials are having with the Three Village Teachers Association, which had already opened its contract for re-negotiation twice in the last four years.

"We're having ongoing conversation, and of course I can't specifically comment," Pedisich said. "We have not closed the door on ongoing conversations with our teachers' union at this point."