Superintendent Jose says Three Village student poverty rose to 18%, cites budget strain and unfunded mandates

Superintendent Jose of the Three Village Central School District told an interviewer that the district faces mounting challenges as student need increases and fiscal pressures tighten. He said the district’s poverty level has risen sharply — "our poverty level rose from 4% to 18%" — and noted that some students in the district lack reliable access to meals.

Jose described his role as the district’s chief executive officer, responsible for day-to-day operations including hiring, curriculum and student services, and said other administrators report to his office. He flagged finances and the need to steward taxpayer money responsibly as a primary concern and said the district grapples with new state requirements without matching funding: "We get a lot of uh new new demands from the state, unfunded mandates from the state."

Asked how the district supports teachers and administrators through those demands, Jose described efforts to provide resources and backing but did not offer district-level figures or cite a data source for the poverty estimate. He said supporting educators "so they can teach all of you" and supporting administrators "so that they can run the schools" are central to his work.

The superintendent also emphasized student outcomes — graduation and postsecondary preparation — as district priorities while warning that poverty and related social needs complicate those goals. The interview did not record any formal board actions, budgets, or specific programs tied to the poverty estimate; the poverty figure is presented as Jose’s statement and was not accompanied by supporting documentation in the interview.

Jose outlined priorities the district is addressing, including directing resources to students in need and supporting teacher capacity, but he gave no timetable or specific budget figures for those efforts. No vote or formal Board of Education action was reported in the interview.