The Rochester City School District faces a $65 million budget gap this year, according to a presentation made to the school board over the weekend.
The deficit is a result of increasing salary and benefit costs, plus paying for the school system’s debt obligations.
The district usually faces a revenue gap when it starts its budget planning, but this is the biggest the district has had since 2011, and it’s coming when the state has a serious budget gap of its own and may not be in the mood to approve additional school aid to cities.
The district has hired more than 200 new full-time employees in 2017-2018, most of them in a so-far unsuccessful effort to fix problems with its special education system. All district employees are due to get a pay raise under their contracts for the next school year.