BY MICHELLE MILLER
STAFF WRITER

Cherry Valley-Springfield Superintendent Robert Miller says the financial picture for this budget season and the next several years for public education looks bleak.

Miller says state aid is no longer something local schools can count on. He says if the governor’s proposal for cuts stays as is, CV-S will be facing a $381,000 reduction that will leave the district with a budget gap of $781,000. According to Miller, if the district was to make up this gap with local taxes, the tax increase would be close to 17 percent.

``This is not an acceptable burden to place upon the taxpayers of the Cherry Valley-Springfield School District who have generously supported the school since its inception,’’ says Miller. ``My philosophy is to study all of the structures of the district for economy and efficiency and then make adjustments as necessary. We will also only make changes that negatively impact programs as a last resort.’’

Miller says he is working to find alternative revenue sources, but they are generally stopgap measures. He says he is looking into shared services with area districts and is willing to not replace certain staff members as long as it does not limit the quality of education and programming.

Miller says he made a presentation to the board of education last month that showed where the district would stand financially if no changes were to occur from last year’s budget. He says although there would be only about a 3 percent increase ($11.54 million to $11.90 million), there would be an approximate $750,000 budget gap because of the expected cuts in state aid.

According to Miller, he and Principal Barry Gould are planning to present program adjustments in order to mitigate costs during the next regular board of education meeting that is scheduled for March 18.

The only steady streams of revenue for schools are State Aid and local taxes, says Miller. The local tax base generated a little more than $4 million in the last fiscal year and that means that each one percent increase in local tax rate equates to only $40,000 more in school revenue, he added.

Miller says the district is facing $150,000 in salary increases and anticipates health benefits alone will cost at least $150,000 more than in 2010-11. Other expenses and services are likely to increase in cost by at least $100,000, he says.

Although no firm decisions have been made the members of the board of education at this point, Miller says everything is being looked at closely. There are likely to be some positions under pressure in the 2010-11 school year, says Miller.

According to Miller, there have been some reorganizational shifts, but not really any cuts. The only exception is in administrative positions.

According to the February publication of the district’s newsletter, the technology director will not be replaced and the district is in the process of hiring another technician from BOCES to fill in that gap. CV-S has hired a teacher for Mr. Davis’s CISCO class. Tom Brigham is the new athletic director. The district has abolished the position of head custodian/director of maintenance and replaced the position through internal shifts and the hiring of another full-time maintenance worker.

These changes in administration will streamline CV-S’ supervisory team and save the district more than $50,000 in the next fiscal year, says Miller.

Miller said he and Gould also publicly agreed not to take a pay increase for the upcoming school year. The public will be able to vote for the proposed 2010- 11 budget on May 19.