By CRAIG FREILICH

Schools in St. Lawrence County will reopen soon, but with fewer resources than in previous years, and with the prospect that more cuts might be coming.

As they near the bottom of the funding barrel, school officials continue to sift through ways to increase available funds and to cut expenses.

They are facing tougher versions of the choices they have had to make over the last couple of years, such as what courses and teachers to cut and what other staff they can get along without. And if a “big boogeyman” of an issue -- consolidation of school districts -- is viewed seriously as a solution, they will be faced with deciding what schools to close.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s New York Education Reform Commission is holding hearings on the plight of schools, including a hearing in Lake Placid on Aug. 28, but there is doubt among some informed observers that it will accomplish much.

But the job of budgeting for another school year looms as school boards look to see what effects the last round of cuts will actually have this school year.

Trying to Be Optimistic

“We have to be optimistic even though staff is being reduced every year,” said Norwood-Norfolk Central School Board of Education President Jon Hazen. “You have to have respect for the fact that these people are professionals who will do the best they can even though it gets more difficult every year.”

Barbara Beekman, Canton Central School Board of Education president, is less sanguine, but not without hope.

She said they are not rejecting any ideas for savings without giving them a thorough examination, but she said “the whole funding mechanism is not working. It has to be rethought.”

Some hope lies in Governor Cuomo’s “blue ribbon” education reform commission, empaneled this spring and led by former Citigroup and Time Warner chair Richard Parsons. The commission will be looking for workable new ideas for improving education and better ways to fund public schools, but some critics are skeptical, since the majority of its members come from institutions and government positions without direct contact with teachers or students.

“They’re having hearings this summer and fall and will make a report in December, but this is a very turbulent time in education, so it’s hard to say what to expect. I’m an optimist by nature, but I’m not very optimistic about this,” Beekman said.

But she does have faith in the leadership at Canton schools.

“We have an exceptional superintendent (William Gregory) who has done more than anybody could imagine to mitigate the effects on our schools.”

Potsdam Central School Board of Education President Chris Cowen said the Potsdam school board is “dedicated to finding a balance to keep the status quo,” which might sound like a modest goal in less perilous times.

“I hope we’ve hit bottom for this budget crisis, I hope we can climb back up the hill. That’s a big hope,” Cowen said.

There are some specific issues they are all focusing on: decreasing amounts of state aid have made it hard if not impossible to maintain staff and programs; increases in local taxes are more or less capped by state law and subject to the approval of voters who are feeling increasingly besieged; there is an inequity in how the aid is distributed, with many well-off school districts not being squeezed as much as those that are less well off; and there is an inequity when schools are forced to slash budgets yet still must take the time and money to fulfill state and federal mandates, without adequate compensation.

More Unfunded Mandates

“Even though the governor has said he wants to reduce state mandates on schools, there are more, particularly teacher evaluations, and the new cyber-bullying law,” Beekman said. “It’s well-intentioned, but it is another unfunded mandate, for schools to become law enforcement.

“And some changes, like teacher evaluations – what’s happening is not helping a single kid. They are not improving education for any kids at this point. They’re taking a lot of time and not producing results. A lot of time and effort are being put into things like this that, at the end of the day, won’t move any kids forward. With all the paperwork and follow-up, class time will suffer.”

Beekman said the Canton district received $17,000 for work on Race to the Top, the federal program of assessments and standards and competitive grants to states who meet targets. But Beekman said the $17,000 will amount to “a net negative” for the district after teachers take the time to get trained on the 55-page evaluation – “mandatory training on evaluation, not on instruction.”

And the differences in the amounts of aid districts are getting is a concern, according to Beekman.

“In the last two years, we have lost over $3,600 in aid per student. Part of the problem is inequity,” Beekman said: Canton has lost roughly twice as much per-student state aid as the state average.

“How can we lose an average of $1,800 a year when other schools lost only $300 per pupil? There are huge differences, and outcomes are going to be different. Kids who want to go to college want to be competitive, and they want extra-curricular programs, advanced placement classes, electives.”

Meanwhile, she said, there are “districts that don’t need aid and are still awarded it. We’ve reduced foreign languages. We used to start Spanish and French in seventh grade. Now we start in eighth grade.” She said some districts have enough resources to “start kids on Mandarin Chinese in second grade, and teach six languages.”

“The big problem we see is when we take a hit in funding and compare it to wealthier districts with a larger tax base, where they can more easily absorb cuts,” said Potsdam’s Cowen.

“Potsdam and Canton are especially hard hit because of the large amount of tax exempt property” – the colleges, churches, schools, medical facilities -- making the tax base smaller, Cowen said.

“There is nothing to make anyone think there is going to be any more money” from Albany to make up what has been lost, Beekman said.

Sharing Services

There is also the growing movement to sharing services among school districts, expanding on what BOCES – the Board of Cooperative Educational Services – was originally set up to do and has been doing. Potsdam and Norwood-Norfolk have been sharing a buildings and grounds superintendent since May, for instance.

And, as difficult as it might seem, officials are examining the possibility of a round of consolidating some smaller school districts. That option seems to be the toughest sell.

“There has been no serious discussion of consolidation,” said N-N’s Hazen.

“Yes, we’ve talked about it, but we’re like virtually every other place up here. It’s an idea we don’t want to talk about, we hope it doesn’t happen, but more and more people seem to be resigned to the fact that it might be an option we’ll have to consider. Sometimes it seems the state is pushing us in that direction. But whether we do or not, it’s still a local decision.”

“Consolidation is a big boogeyman in the North Country,” said Canton’s Beekman. “There are emotional reactions to the word ‘consolidation.’ It’s also a long process. It takes years.

“We’re not discounting any ideas. We can’t eliminate anything from consideration out of hand. We’re looking at all of those and others.”

Citizen Input

Involving the public in these issues could make a difference, N-N’s Hazen said. During the meetings on the budget for the current school year, he said public forums gave citizens satisfaction at expressing their ideas, and “it was also a chance to inform the public of what it is we have control over. They provided for a more open and meaningful and realistic discussion of the budget. It’s clear people don’t want to see any more cuts, but realize there’s a limit to what we can take in taxes.”

The movement that started among Canton parents last year to take the argument to Albany by organizing trips and meetings “could be an option,” Hazen said. “They showed last year that there’s a much bigger impact if schools up here join together a get a message out there.” He said discussions with legislators were “open and forthright” and that they were “willing to admit the politics that have to be played.”

“We’re lucky in Canton to have a lot of passionate advocates and I hope it continues,” Beekman said. But in spite of the lobbying efforts early this year, “not a lot has changed. I hope they’re not too frustrated.”

Hazen is a believer:

“Little by little if we get the word out, change can come.”

The New York Education Reform Commission has its North Country hearing from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 28 on the second floor of the Lake Placid Convention Center, 2608 Main St. People who wish to speak will have to submit comments in writing in advance. People can do that at www.governor.ny.gov/webform/educationCommissionForm.

And students can have a say online at stuvoice.org/.