ERCSD Board Tables Decision on Cancelling Universal Busing for More than 23,000 Students During Budget Development Work Session

By M. C. Millman

The East Ramapo Central School District (ERCSD) held a budget development work session on Tuesday, March 5, as a follow-up on the meeting held Thursday, February 15, as reported by Rockland Daily here when the ERCSD announced it was facing an $18 million budget deficit before the upcoming 2024-2025 budget and would be cutting transportation for 23,000 students, raising the tax levy by 5.4.

The suggested cuts totaling $19.3 million were presented to meet and balance the budget but rely on the 5.4% budget increase passing.

Additional discussion included the inclusion of discontinuing Universal busing on the upcoming ballot. 

Sabrina Charles-Pierre, Vice-President, expressed her concern for the increased pedestrian injuries and deaths the district has seen over the past month.

This was seconded by Trustee Harry Grossman, who reminded attendees that every week, there are reports of two or three pedestrians who have been hit.

"The expectation is that those numbers will increase drastically," Grossman shared with regard to the idea of removing the funding for universal busing. 

This brought about a heated discussion regarding how having  23,000 more students both walking and in cars on the street would endanger even more lives during a time when there has been a decided uptick in pedestrian accidents and deaths.

"The amount of cars will shoot up," Trustee Yitzchok Gruber said. "Our infrastructure is not meant for that at all."

Superintendent Clarence Ellis divulged that last week, a meeting took place with a large contingent of elected officials on the topic of the dangers putting these thousands of students on the road would create.

“They all left the table understanding the needs with regards to safety,” the superintendent said.

After more discussion on the school district's inability to guarantee the safety of schoolchildren who might no longer be eligible for busing, a decision was reached to table the discussion to be revisisted at a future meeting.

Budget balancing eliminations were presented and divided into four tiers based on how much they affect the student body. The first tier included a hiring freeze for school security aids, custodians, and ground workers but not for teachers. Additional cuts included reducing building maintenance and equipment as well as the possibility of restructuring education models across all specialized programs, which board members were warned might bring the school district into non-compliance. Extra-curricular activities are also on the line, with middle school extra-curricular activities being online for elimination before high school extra-curricular activities. Limiting school supplies and materials was also mentioned, among other recommendations.

A key point that State Monitor Bruce Singer brought out is that the state has been underfunding the district by $20 million a year.  Over the last 12 years, the total the beleaguered school district has lost out on is almost $250 million

“I am requesting that the State make our formula correct so that we can continue educating our students...” ERCSD President Shimmy Rose vented his frustration on having to decide on what to cut to balance the budget. "Even if we do pass the 5.4%, we are still short. We are facing a crisis here. We are faced with cuts, and I don’t want to cut any services to the children. I want to keep all these services. I want the State to come in and help us. And even if we get the budget passed this year, we are still going to be short $19 million and facing these cuts that no one wants.”

The timeline following last night’s board meeting is that the board will send in their decisions to the district clerk by the following day so that the results can be tallied and then sent to the monitors for review. The decision from the monitors will be presented to the board on Tuesday, March 19. On Tuesday, April 2, the board will meet again for more budget discussion so that the final budget will be adopted at the board meeting on Tuesday, April 16. The upcoming budget vote, including the increased tax levy of 5.4% and the universal busing vote, will take place on May 21. Information on voting can be found here.