ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A fiery school board meeting didn’t stop the Rochester City School District budget from passing Tuesday night. The RSCD Board of Education approved the district’s budget for 2026-27, a spending plan totaling over $1 billion.
The $1,161,267,745 budget is to take effect July 1, though the City Council will vote on it June 16. A joint public hearing between the Council and Board of Education will take place June 11.
The budget cuts several positions from the district, causing many within the community to voice their disappointment. People have been protesting against proposed cuts to student mental health resources and other programs. Superintendent Eric Jay Rosser says those cuts might not need to be made, depending on how much aid the district gets in the final state budget.
According to the district’s online document, it increases by over $43 million since last year – but cuts several fulltime positions, including 16 social workers, 10 counselors, 25 teachers, and 15 home hospital tutors who help students on medical leave.
“If you want to reduce suspensions, if you want to improve attendance, the best way to do it is to add social workers and school counselors and home hospital teachers, and not to cut them,” Adam Urbanski, Rochester Teachers Association president, said Tuesday before the Board of Education meeting.
Board of Education President Camille Simmons says the district is looking to reinstate several of those positions.
“So right now we have, we had 30 social workers on the table. We have reinstated and we have ten that are we’re looking at, I believe there’s about 8.5 counselors that we may be looking at as well. And so, you know, again, those are very critical resources that our students need,” Simmons said.
“And as we continue to identify efficiencies, additional revenue streams, we will then consider bringing more positions back,” Rosser said
The Board of Education approved the budget in a 4-3 vote after a heated, and at times rancorous, discussion. Voting for the budget were President Camille Simmons, Vice President Amy Maloy, Heather Freeman and Kareem Ba McCullough; voting in opposition were Beatriz LaBron-Harris, Jacqueline Griffin and Isaiah Santiago.
“The board cannot ignore the broader national climate,” LaBron-Harris said. “We are operating with it. Federal education funding remains uncertain. Economic pressures continue to shift. We are at war. Potential impacts from federal budget actions and policy stages are still unfolding nationwide, and this is precisely the wrong time to overextend this district in staffing and operational and switching everything up.”
Below is the May 8 draft budget document from the RCSD website. (A final budget document is set to be published Wednesday.)
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