School board apologizes for considering Harmony, Centennial closures

As the board discussed its $2 million deficit earlier this month, trustees debated closing two low-enrollment rural schools. The problem? That wouldn’t save money, as parents were quick to point out.

Albany County School Board Chairman Kim Sorenson began last week’s district board meeting with an apology.

The school board had gathered one week before and discussed budget cuts aimed at addressing the district’s $2.1 million deficit. The trustees considered and debated a wide range of solutions — from axing school resource officers to scaling back field trips to “reductions in force.”

But one specific possibility caught the community’s attention and ire: the proposed closure of two rural schools in the district.

Centennial Elementary and Harmony Elementary serve a combined total of less than 30 students — but in doing so, they spare those students lengthy two-way bus rides every day. The schools additionally serve as community centers — public locations in communities that have limited alternatives.

And perhaps most importantly — as parents were sure to point out in the days following the board’s discussion — the schools don’t hurt the district’s bottom line because the expenses associated with them are reimbursed by the state.

So on Wednesday, Sorenson found himself apologizing for a huge oversight — leading his board in a frank, public discussion about shutting down schools that don’t cost the district money to reap non-existent savings.

Sorenson stated emphatically that the school closures had been pulled from the table and would not be considered.

“We have caused a great deal of heartache and consternation and for that I apologize,” he said. “We will learn from our mistakes and not do that again. From now on, ideas that come forward will be discussed but there will be no action (and) we will not discuss them to that point until all the facts are in … We riled you up and for that I apologize.”

The board heard about 30 minutes of public comment, most of it from parents who were grateful the closures had been taken off the agenda but were angry it had been discussed so thoroughly when it would have dramatically impacted their kids.

Kelly Depue, a Harmony Elementary parent, said her youngest son was thriving in his rural school in a way he hadn’t been able to in a city school. She said the board’s casual discussion of closures had caused her family “tremendous stress.”

“To discuss closing rural schools, without looking at the numbers of what a rural school brings financially to the table, was reckless,” she said.

The ill-informed discussion and the $2.1 million deficit have some of the same underlying causes — specifically, the chaotic state of the district’s budgeting infrastructure.

“We feel a little bit blindsided, perhaps — ambushed, surprised — by the position that we are finding ourselves in,” Sorenson said. “I've used the term ‘perfect storm’ many times. And I don't know that I've ever seen a better definition of a perfect storm.”

Sorenson said the district is “severely underfunded” and currently doesn’t have staff with budgeting expertise. The district has been unable to hire and retain a chief financial officer. The current board has also inherited messy financial reporting and has had to spend money from its reserves without knowing how much money was even in the reserves.

“All these things — they sound like excuses,” Sorenson said. “But please understand that I'm heartfelt in my apologies, and in shouldering responsibility for what's happened over the last couple of weeks.”

Later in the same meeting, the board received an audit for fiscal year 2021. The district is hoping to have an audit for FY22 in August and an audit for FY23 in December to catch up before the new year.

“We're going to approve an audit for a year that took place where half of this board wasn't even seated,” Sorenson said. “That's how far behind the lack of a CFO has put us. And that has hurt.”

Of course, the deficit is also driven in large part by declining state appropriations. And while the school closures would not help and will no longer be considered, other cuts will have to be made.

The school board is hoping to get the deficit under control by successively cutting or otherwise finding savings across the next few years.

“No matter how hard we try or what we want to do, I can assure you that can't be done in a year,” Sorenson said. “It's going to have to be done over several years.”

The board will finalize and pass its budget for the upcoming fiscal year in July.