Dear Chatham CSD Community,
I hope your spring is off to a great start. At Chatham CSD, we have been working hard to balance our 2026-27 school year budget and I want to provide you with an update on where we currently stand.
Our district continues to experience significant challenges due to an unfavorable economic climate, but we are committed to keeping taxes as low as possible and preserving all the rich opportunities we provide our students. It is our goal to raise taxes less than 2% to balance our 26-27 school year budget and avoid cuts to programs or services.
Like all of you, we have to budget for increases in fuel, utilities, and supplies. The governor has proposed a 1% increase in state aid for Chatham CSD, which will not be enough to balance the yearly increases in our school budget. General inflation is currently 2.63%, and the District is facing a close to 30% increase in prescription plan premiums and around a 7% increase in health insurance costs, all of which are beyond our control. We have also worked very hard to negotiate union contracts to ensure that our teachers and staff are paid fair wages, and to keep Chatham competitive when it comes to hiring and maintaining the best employees. Due to all of these cost increases, we are looking at a potential budget increase of around 5%.
As many of you are aware, our District has seen our student enrollment steadily decline over the past several years. Last school year we reduced 12 positions based on enrollment, reduced services from the BOCES, and reduced some supplies without a significant impact on academic and extracurricular programming for our students. This year, based on enrollment and needs, we are able to utilize resignations and retirements to reduce the following positions: assistant middle school principal, a middle school teaching position, a business office position, and a teaching assistant position.
Over the years, the District has put money into reserves with the goal of using the funds during difficult budget times, based on our ongoing 10-year Financial Reserve Plan. This year, the District will be taking approximately $741,000 out of our reserves to help balance the budget. The District will also use $1,915,553 in fund balance as revenue in the budget.
By using the reserve funds, fund balance and reductions mentioned above, we are able to balance the 26-27 school year budget, keep taxes below the tax cap, and preserve what we offer our students. Final decisions will be made over the next couple weeks during our regularly scheduled board meetings.
You will be able to find more information on budget presentations, updates, and decisions on our website’s Budget Information Page.
This year’s budget vote and board election are May 19, from 9am to 9pm at MED. There are four open board of education seats this year. Be sure to do your civic duty and come out and vote. Please reach out with any questions and thank you for your continued attention to the issues facing our schools.
Fondly,
Andrew Kourt
Superintendent
Michael Chudy
Assistant Superintendent for Business