From left, Frewsburg Central School District’s Board of Education President Larry Lodestro and Superintendent Dr. Danielle J. Cook talk, Thursday, prior to a school board meeting P-J photo by Christopher Blakeslee

FREWSBURG – Frewsburg Central School officials have received a positive report from the state Education Department.

During a recent school board meeting, Tiffany Frederes, Frewsburg curriculum and students director, briefed board members on the district’s state Department of Education School Report Card and Accountability Data review.

“All of our data indicates a Local Support and Improvement (LSI) rating, which is the best rating we could get,” said Frederes. “However, we do have some areas we need to watch. Core Subject Performance of Students With Disabilities at the middle school regarding English language arts and math.”

Frederes said students with disabilities in middle school had a test participation rate of 91.5%. The district was working with the building principals to review the data and utilize tools for the school improvement team’s changes with the special educational programs.

“Accountability indicators include student academic achievement; progress of English language learners; chronic absenteeism, graduation rates for high schools; schools and districts earned levels for all students and for subgroups (racial and ethnic groups, low-income students, SWD’s, and ELL’s),” Frederes said. “And Local Support and Improvement (LSI) replaces the ‘Good Standing’ rating.”

In other business:

The board of education is still trying to hammer out a way to have a balanced budget planned.

“We are proposing a 2025-2026 school budget of $23,593,680. This budget reflects spending cuts from our first draft budget totaling $1,093,775. While we received a 2% foundation aide increase, we are projected to experience a cut to our state funding totaling $518,010 from last year,” said Dr. Danielle J. Cook, district superintendent. “Our salaries alone will contractually increase by $502,185. We are still awaiting on the finalized state budget allotments; however, best case scenario, we will only receive an additional $108,542. This is not enough to cover the cuts that we are presenting to you today. In addition to materials and supplies, we will not be replacing four positions. One in the elementary school, one in the high school, one support staff, and one in administration. In order to balance our budget, we will be going out with a tax levy of 2.58%, which is the maximum allowable without a supermajority approval.”