"Where there's a will, there's a way," the school board president, Barbara Fraterrigo said, instructing administrators to find someone to teach another sixth-grade Italian class.
Voorheesville's proposed $23 million budget is $334,000 greater than this year's budget, but officials are working blind while waiting for state aid figures to be released.
A set of shared services and consolidation plans have not realized the savings that were projected, leaving Berne-Knox-Westerlo School Board members hoping for additional savings and revenue for next year's budget.
"We’re reaching into the metaphorical couch cushions, looking for change,” said the school superintendent of proposed cuts, after years of cutting, in next year's $93 million budget.
"At the end of the day, we've done the right thing for students," said Guilderland's business administrator as the district has used its fund balance to preserve programs, causing the comptroller to deem it "susceptible" to stress.
Facing a much smaller budget gap for 2015-16, most Guilderland School Board members want to beef up the fund balance they have dipped into recently to keep taxes under the state-set cap.
Rensselaerville's 2015 plan raises taxes for the general and highway funds by 1.3 percent, about half the increase first proposed when the board planned to override the state-set tax cap.
