Fairport board reviews draft instructional budget, flags athletic supervision costs for reduction

At a Fairport Central School District board workshop meeting, district staff presented the draft instructional budget and reviewed major function codes, funding sources and program costs but did not take formal action on the budget.

The draft shows roughly a $1.97 million increase in instructional spending, about a 2.43% rise from the prior year, driven primarily by contractual salary changes and the cost of services purchased through BOCES, staff said. Matt Stevens, who led the presentation, described the draft as a work in progress and repeatedly emphasized that the document remains a draft ahead of the March 18 review and the later revenue snapshot to balance the budget.

The draft allocates spending across traditional instructional categories such as curriculum development and supervision, teaching regular school, special programs including special education, summer school, technology instruction, and interscholastic athletics. Stevens said much of the year-over-year change reflects salary recoding between function codes and normal contractual increases: “overall, as we looked at developing, the instructional portion of the budget, really just involves for the most part, contractual salary increases,” Stevens said.

Why it matters: the instructional budget funds classroom staffing, special-education placements,…