School districts face hard choices amid pandemic-era cuts

SCHENECTADY, N. Y. —The school year in this old industrial city started with a whack of a budget ax. Teachers, classroom aides and counselors were among the hundreds laid off with potential state aid cuts looming.

Pre-K is suspended, online classes are at maximum capacity and the ranks of para professionals are decimated across the 9,935-student school system in Schenectady, New York, a city on the Mohawk River where old factory buildings and a giant stylized “GE” sign over the General Electric complex speak to its manufacturing heyday decades ago.

“We go from struggling to drowning,” said Jamaica Miles, a local social justice activist trying to make sure her fourth grade rand 10 th grader keep up with learning from home.

The Schenectady City School District has moved to distance learning for grades s even and up, with hybrid models available for lower grades. Miles, a co-plaintiff on a lawsuit challenging New York's school funding system, said there are far fewer aides to help children like he rs if they need one-on-one support online.

“Being online is a new challenge and it's one that needs more support, not less,” she said.

As the pandemic drags on, Schenectady could bea harbin ger for needier school districts that rely heavily on funding from revenue-starved states.

Schools from New Jersey to California have been hit with lay offs since the pandemic struck, but many have been insulated so far from the brunt of the economic slowdown by the federal relief package approved in March — which included $13.2 billion for K-12 education — and efforts taken by states to protect school budgets.

With hopes for many school budgets riding on a new round of federal aid under discussion in Washington, and significant concern lingering over the pan de mic' s economic impacts, urban areas that lack the property wealth of suburban communities are especially vulnerable to aid cuts.

“When a recession hits, state money is much more volatile. And that means that we're leaving at least a large portion of the revenue pie for school districts dependent on the economy,” said Marguerite Roza, a research professor at Georgetown University and director of the Edunomics Lab on education finance.

In Schenectady, public schools depend on state aid for 69% of their $225 million budget, a far greater share than nearby suburbs that rely more on property tax revenue. So after New York state blew a $14.5 billion hole in its budget to fight the virus, reverberations were dramatic.

Gov. Andrew Cu om o' s administration began withholding some school aid this year and warned of possible long-term 20% aid cuts without more federal aid. Bracing for the worst, Schenectady school officials laid off about 400 positions last month, including 79 teachers, 14 social workers and 231 para professionals who help teachers with students, monitor halls and work in offices.