HAMBURG, N.Y. — Plans to lay off 17 teachers and support staff in the Hamburg Central School District continue to draw the ire of parents, teachers, and students.
Back in March, superintendent Michael Cornell announced the layoff plan, citing mismanagement of the budget in prior years. Cornell did not specify the budget errors, saying it was related to a personnel issue with the district.
The layoffs include;
- English - 2 teachers
- Business - 1 teacher
- Math - 2 teachers
- Science - 2 teachers
- Social Studies - 3 teachers
- LOTE Spanish - 1 teacher
- LOTE Latin - 1 teacher
- Health (elementary) - 1 teacher
- Teacher aide - 2 teacher aides
- Computer aide - 1 computer aide
- Maintenance - 1 maintenance mechanic
Before a budget hearing and board meeting Monday night, more than a dozen students, teachers, and parents rallied outside Hamburg High School and continued to express their objection to the layoffs.
"I think there's some inefficiencies in allocating the budget, and there's room for improvement," said Kelly Brehm, a Hamburg parent. "We spend more on transportation and general services per student than our neighboring districts."
Brehm spoke during the public discussion portion of the board meeting along with other parents, students, and teachers.
She said the district could save nearly $3.5M by reviewing its transportation expenditures. Brehm and other parents have posted their financial findings about district expenditures online.
During the budget presentation, the topic of transportation was brought up--but it was decided that the committee dedicated to transpiration would review spending separately.
"The drastic cuts that we've seen of our teaching staff is just shocking," said Chris Cerrone, a teacher in the Hamburg district. "We understand the budget situation and what's happening, but the fact that there's no cuts at the top and everybody who's working with children has been caught, that's the problem."
The proposed 2024-2025 budget is $84,057,707 -- a $709,534 increase from last year.
The district plans to use $1.2M from its reserves to narrow the budget gap, but even with the cuts, it has a $594,571 hole it needs to fill.
Taxpayers can expect a 2.96% tax levy increase if the budget passes on May 21st.
13 people spoke during the public comment period. Several students implored the school board to reassess the teacher cuts and the pending cuts to the high school learning center.
One Hamburg high school junior named Jill collected data on learning center usage over multiple years and brought the data for the board to review.
"In March, there was 1,880 students in 21 days," Jill said. "I believe in safe for me to say that the TLC resource is heavily relied on by the student body for not only academic access assistance, but also place relationships are made."
Another parent who spoke during the meeting is seeking accountability from the board and superintendent for the financial mismanagement.
"Where did the money go?" said Ashley Rapsinski. "While we understand the money wasn't stolen or misplaced, it was certainly mismanaged."
Superintendent Cornell was unavailable for comment after the board meeting and did not speak to the layoff plans during the board meeting or budget presentation.