An information session on the potential merger between Livingston Manor and Roscoe Central school districts drew about two dozen people to the RCS auditorium on Thursday, Oct. 17.
John Evans, superintendent of both districts, presented information about the changes that have taken place since the previous merger study had been completed in 2022, and answered questions about the process and impacts the merger, or lack of merger, may have on the districts.
At a joint board meeting on Oct. 7, the districts’ Boards of Education each approved a petitioning process to gauge public support for a merger. At the start of the Oct. 17 meeting, Evans explained that the petition process is taking place rather than a straw vote, which took place during the 2022 vote. For the vote to move forward, at least 227 valid signatures of qualified voters in the Roscoe Central School District and 309 valid signatures of qualified voters in the Livingston Manor Central School District must be collected, verified by the district clerk, approved by the boards and sent to the state Education Department, at which time SED would set a vote date. Each district has designated representatives to assist the district in gathering signatures. For a vote to take place before Christmas, signatures would need to be collected by the end of October, Evans said.
A significant change over the past two years is changes to the Reorganizational Incentive Aid formula, which had previously been locked to Foundation Aid provided to districts in 2005-06. The new formula looks at the previous year’s Foundation Aid to determine the Organizational Incentive Aid. The change would result in the districts receiving $30,709,438 in Incentive Operating Aid over a 14-year period, about $23.5 million more than would have been provided in 2022. Upcoming changes to Foundation Aid are not expected to be beneficial to small, rural districts. “Right now, the way the current law is structured, this is the most incentive aid that is going to be on the table,” Evans said. “As Foundation Aid goes down, and it will, incentive aid drops with it.”
Because of budget constraints and staffing issues, programming has suffered over the past two years, he said. He highlighted program cuts and reductions at Roscoe. If the districts were to merge, many of these programs would be restored and expanded, he said. Having a larger student and staff population would increase the opportunities for electives, specials and special education services, as well as extracurricular activities at all levels.
There were several questions on building usage. Because of the changes in educational methods and needs, both buildings would be needed, Evans said. How the buildings would be used would ultimately be determined by the new district’s board; however, the study addendum recommends forming a Restructuring Committee consisting of board members, administrators, faculty, staff, parents and students to determine the best grade configurations and building makeup for the new district, using real-time data. And while the new district would be operational July 1, 2025, the building reconfiguration would not need to take place immediately.
“There are challenges with both places,” Evans said. “But there are opportunities that exist, that doing nothing and remaining the way we are, that the kids are not going to have.”
Transportation concerns were also raised. Just as bus routes change year-to-year, a new district’s bus routes cannot be determined in advance. However, because a new transportation contract would be needed, the new district would be able to put maximum student ride times in the request for proposals. The RFP could also include options for a two-tiered route option, meaning elementary and middle/high school students would be picked up at different times.
Financially, the merger would decrease the tax burden in both districts. The amount has not yet been determined, Evans said, but would be released before the vote would take place.
It would also allow the new district to better fund reserves to put it on a more solid financial footing in the future.
“What a merger would do is help weather that (financial) storm for a period time,” Evans said. “It‘s not going to fix things forever. But it is going to allow us to provide a better quality of education for our kids for a period of years that we don’t have the financial ability to do right now on our own.”
A recording of the meeting, as well as the slides from the meeting, and a Frequently Asked Questions section are available on the merger page on the district website.
Questions may be submitted via a Google form.
Another informational session will take place at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 23, at the Livingston Manor auditorium.