By JIMMY LAWTON

POTSDAM – Superintendents at Canton and Potsdam schools say a merger study completed earlier this year shows a joint school district would reduce tax rates and offer more educational opportunities to students.

Both superintendents are working to share the results of the study prior to a straw poll in both districts on Oct. 30 from 9 a.m. – 9 p.m. In order for the merger to go through, voters must approve the merger in two separate votes.

If measure passes, a binding referendum would finalize the merger in December.

Savings

According to the study conducted by Western New York Education Council, Buffalo, Canton Central School will become insolvent as early as next year if no merger takes place. Canton Superintendent William Gregory said schools can’t go into the negative financially when passing a budget, so the costs would need to be balanced with cuts to academic programs, sports, staff and extracurricular activities. He said even kindergarten, which is not mandatory in New York state could technically be cut.

Potsdam Central School, while in slightly better financial shape than Canton, would follow approximately two years down the road.

Superintendents said both districts have reduced staffing and trimmed budgets as much as possible, but the reduction of state funding in 2008-2009 created loss in revenue that can’t be balanced without impacting the quality of education offered at the district.

The study estimates a savings of $1 million in the first year of the merger. The savings is largely due to a front-loaded $35 million grant from the state that rewards schools for merging.

The study projects the tax rate in Canton School District would drop approximately 43 cents. In Potsdam the tax rate would drop by $2.97 per thousand.

Under the merger, the new district would be able to operate with all of the current offerings of both schools for seven years before funding becomes a problem. At that point, the new district could be in a similar financial position.

Potsdam Superintendent Patrick Brady said this is due to a lack of equitable funding from New York State. He said current funding levels are actually lower than the 2008-2009 school year, but operating costs have climbed significantly.

Both superintendents agree that regardless of the outcome of the merger vote, rural districts will need to advocate for a new state funding formula, but they added that legislation to address the issue doesn’t seem to be on its way.

Gregory noted that districts have lost out on more than $20 million in aid over the past few years due to cuts in state aid.

Staff and Programs

All current course offerings at Canton and Potsdam would be offered to all students of the merged district. This would greatly expand the range of instruction currently provided to students at either school, according to the superintendents.

The study shows a reduction in staff from 506.85 positions to 492.9 positions, a difference of about 14 full-time equivalent jobs.

However, the superintendents said the majority of the cuts would be administrative and the number of teachers would increase by one.

Among the administrative cuts would at loss of one superintendent and a building and grounds administrator.

Current contracts for both superintendents would be honored, despite the fact the district would only one superintendent would be retained.

Although the $1 million savings may seem low for a merger, both the schools have been making deep cuts.

Consultants who performed the study said the districts have already realized about $6 million in savings from cuts to staff and programs.

Since that year, Canton has cut 52.7 full-time equivalent jobs, of which 41.7 were instructional. Potsdam school has cut 48.2 full-time equivalent jobs, including 34.8 instructional positions.

Transportation

Gregory said actual costs for transporting students would likely remain near current levels, but added that it is very hard to get an accurate estimate because there are many variables.

With transportation as one of the more controversial issues, Canton and Potsdam held a separate study to determine travel times for students.

Gregory said that 90 percent of all students in the district would reside within 15 miles of the school they would be attending; these students could expect to spend between 10 and 45 minutes on the bus.

That duration is similar to current riding times, according to the study.

The report shows about 18 percent of students attending Canton’s J.M. McKenny Middle School would walk to school. Travel times for about 75 percent of middle school students riding the bus would range from 10 to 45 minutes. About 6 percent, or 35 middle schoolers, would ride the bus for 25 to 55 minutes, and the remaining 1 percent, or five students would ride the bus from 30 to 65 minutes.

The results were similar for high schoolers. For students attending a merged high school in Potsdam consultants estimated that 19 percent of students would walk to school. About 68 percent of students would spend less than 45 minutes on the bus. According to the study, 77 students or 10 percent would spend 25 to 55 minutes on the bus and 23 students or 3 percent of students would spend between 30 and 65 minutes on the bus.

Gregory also pointed out that the new district would encompass 220 square miles, which is smaller than some existing St. Lawrence County school districts like Saranac Lake at more than 600 square miles and Gouverneur at 221.

Gregory also pointed out that the most extreme travel times would be limited to just three or four years of the student’s school career. This is because elementary schools will be retained in both districts. Canton will house middle schoolers and Potsdam will serve as the high school.

Sports

The merged district would allow the schools to add new sports teams to the athletic program, but could also make it harder for some students to make the cut as the pool for players would basically double. The study showed that most sports would not see competitive cuts.

However, competition in the more popular sports like soccer, basketball and hockey would become more competitive.

Sports teams would continue to play the same teams they play now despite the increase in size. If Canton and Potsdam merge, the district would still be smaller than Massena. Brady said both Canton and Potsdam already have sports mergers for many of the sports they offer. If the districts combine, Brady said many of the mergers would likely stay in place.

He added that members of the school board decide sports mergers on an annual basis.

For more in-depth information regarding the study visit https://sites.google.com/a/potsdam.k12.ny.us/cpmerger/