HANNIBAL, OSWEGO COUNTY -- School districts across the state are being forced to make tough decisions for the upcoming school year. But for Hannibal Central Schools - one of the poorest districts in New York - the potential cuts could be devastating.
Faced with a more than $600,000 budget gap, Superintendent Mike Difabio said virtually every program is on the table unless it is mandated by the state. Wednesday night, district officials laid out a number of programs that could be cut. Among them - kindergarten at the elementary school, the music program at the middle school and both music and sports at the high school.
"What are these kids going to do," said Roberta Sauve. "We're a small rural community, it's not like we have other things around here that they can join and do."
Difabio said a little less than 80% of the district's budget comes from state aid. Parents say Governor Andrew Cuomo's budget cuts aren't helping matters. Parent Vic Licatese said the district is already cut thin. At this point, he said there isn't anything else that can go without drastically impacting the students' education.
"You've got this microphone... I'd love to hand it to Cuomo and say please tell me how... please tell me how you expect us to do it and please tell me how you want us to look in our students eyes and say you can't, while six seven miles away other kids have," he said.
It's important to note, nothing has even been proposed at this point. Wednesday night was a chance for the district to show the public every option available. The next step is to determine how much money each program would save the district.
