Rochester, N.Y.— On Tuesday night, about one hundred people gathered at a public hearing about the Rochester City School District’s budget proposal. Many people spoke out against the proposed budget cuts that could lead to defunding arts programs and the elimination of at least 900 city school jobs. The district is tacking an $80 million budget deficit.
Daniella Rivera, a 7th grader at Wilson Foundation Academy, was one of about 30 people who spoke before the school board. She says she’s familiar with the effect budget cuts can have.
“At my school, we’re not even allowed to take art because our school has already been affected by it,” Rivera says.
Now she hopes there won’t be more cuts that would eliminate music, art and P.E. classes at many city elementary schools.
“It’s really wrong of them to try to take out the arts, music and gym because we need that. It’s how we express ourselves and it’s wrong for them to not even listen to our pleas.”
Other parents and staff members spoke out against cuts against music and arts programs. They say cuts should come from the Central Office or from the administrative staff not from the schools.
Superintendent Jean-Claude Brizard says that cuts have been spared from the classrooms for years and are now unavoidable.
“We don’t look for this kind of angst,” Brizard says. “Wouldn’t it be easier to have no budget shortfall and none of these forty people would be yelling at [the school board] about what we’re not doing for the kids?”
He says cuts from the Central Office aren’t enough to make up for the $80 million budget shortfall.
“You can’t run a district without a central office,” Brizard says. “Otherwise no one get paid, the buses won’t run and no one gets fed. There is an overhead to running an organization whether it’s a business or school district.”
Parents, students and teachers at the hearing say they feel the district has largely ignored them. David Ells, a Rochester city school parent, says he wishes the district had consulted with parents and teachers before announced the drastic potential cuts.
“We got to work together as a team in the city to make sure the kids are provided for. The children are the ones who are going lose out.”
On Tuesday, April 12 there will be another public hearing on the budget proposal at 6 p.m. at the Rochester City School District Central Office on W. Broad Street.
