Overview
The Rochester City School District voted to adopt the Draft 2026-2027 Budget in a 4-3 decision on May 12th, despite vocal opposition from parents, students, and teachers. While The Children’s Agenda is glad that the RCSD Administration responded to our advocacy by restoring some of the previously cut positions for social work, guidance counseling and Home/Hospital Instruction, we are deeply disappointed with the process leading up to the vote which ended up adopting budget cuts to these urgently needed programs while other programs remained untouched or were even increased. This speaks to a central concern of ours during the budget deliberations: Too often the decisions to cut certain programs were presented as a fiscal necessity rather than a choice and set of spending priorities. This budget does not make across the board cuts or address long-term fiscal challenges. Instead, it sacrifices specific programs and support staff to maintain or increase spending on other priorities.
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