Letter to the Editor - Potential Loss of Funding

I have sent the following email to our federal representatives: Senators Gillibrand, Schumer and Congressman Riley. Federal funds represent 7% of the current tax levy in the Margaretville school district and we owe it to our taxpayers to make clear the personal implications of potential loss of funding for our lives here on the ground, for our students, staff and all of us as taxpayers.

"I am Vice President of the Margaretville Central School Board of Education in Margaretville, New York. I am in my seventh year of service on the Board. This time of year, the Board and school administrators work on preparation of the budget that will be presented to our voters in May. We held a budget workshop last week at which, much to my shock and surprise, our treasurer presented the 2024-2025 federal grants that our district receives in order to elucidate the impact it would have should these funds be eliminated or cut back.. These funds include: Title I, Title 2A, Title 4, Universal Pre-K, Title III, IDEA 611 and IDEA 519 plus federal school lunch aid. The education component comes to $344,510 and the lunch component is $233,451. Our current school year budget is $13,558,000.

We are a small rural district in Delaware County, New York but our board has felt that our students deserve as many of the same opportunities and quality educational experiences as students in wealthier urban districts. In light of that, we have worked to increase opportunities whenever possible. When, for example, we received American Rescue Plan funds, we added Advanced Placement classes with professional training for our teachers, we purchased a STEM curriculum, added a summer enhancement program and increased social/emotional staff, among other things. We work with neighboring districts to share resources so that classes that not offered in our school can be taken in another school.

I’m writing to encourage you to fight for continued federal financial support for our school. Decreases in the aforementioned federal grants will have a marked negative effect on our ability to continue to provide quality education. Our board and staff are careful stewards of taxpayer funds and the burden that increased taxes impose on our community.

Please do all you can to stop any efforts to reverse the gains we have made and those we hope to make in the future, by any unwarranted slashing of federal financial support.

Thank you.

Marc Osterweil

Margaretville