Tyler Waugh and Sophia Voight ring the bell to signal the first day of school in Forestville this week.
Practically giddy, the leader of Chautauqua County’s smallest school district was pleased to announce that numbers are rising in the elementary levels. Superintendent William Caldwell said Ripley enrollment for those in kindergarten to grade six could increase by 10% this coming year.
“For us, this is quite a milestone,” he proudly reported to the Board of Education last month.
Any hike needs to be chalked up as a victory for the county’s incredibly shrinking schools, especially at Ripley. Based on the most recent figures available through the New York state Education Department’s annual Report Cards, the uptick is minor — about 12 students, up from the 117 it served during that school year.
Overall, the picture is not any more glowing for the other 17 county districts. In 2014-15, there were 18,924 students being educated in public schools here.
Nearly a decade later, enrollment stands at 16,862 — a nearly 11% decrease during that time period.
Take away the two city locations in Dunkirk and Jamestown, which total a combined 6,146 students, and there are 10,716 for each of the remaining 16 districts — or about 670 students for each of those locations. With so many learning locations in this county that is decreasing in population, it is amazing that residents allow no limit when it comes to educational spending.
On Thursday, Westfield Academy & Central Schools voters were expected to approve a capital project of more than $23 million. One of the key selling points with this project — and every other one in rural schools — is local property taxpayers are not on the hook for the full price tag. In this case, there will be a tax increase for some of the work that is completed.
It is a spending trend that has little to no resistance. Consider these recent approvals:
— Jamestown backed a 2023 capital improvement plan that totaled $126 million and included 98% of the project as being paid for by the state in December 2023 by a 376 to 46 margin. Most of the work modernizes classrooms, enhances safety, security, technology and essential maintenance.
— Brocton’s $16.8 million project was approved 101 to 24 in that same month and includes improvements to the gym, auditorium and playground equipment.
— Dunkirk school residents passed its $83.1 million three-tiered capital plan during May’s school budget vote. It includes renovations to the junior and senior high school location, adds lighting to the sports facility complexes and air conditioning to all current buildings.
— Ripley, which has an annual budget of around $9 million, approved a nearly $4 million project in 2021 after 102 voters — as 77 of whom said yes — made their way to polls. It included roof work as well as the addition of air-conditioning to the gym and cafeteria.
There’s no doubting the welcome improvements these initiatives bring that total $258 million in the five projects alone. But there’s also one big drawback when all construction efforts continue to take place: it discourages the idea of downsizing.
That brings us back to Ripley. As critical as this corner has been about the small school, it has made some of the biggest strides for those it serves when it comes to learning.
Unselfishly, district voters understood a harsh reality. Students in that high school were not receiving all the opportunities they could. Because of low numbers, there were limits to academic programming, few extracurricular activities and athletic teams struggled to have enough participants.
When a possible merger with Westfield failed in 2009, the district looked outside the box and found the option that currently works: a tuition agreement with Chautauqua Lake Central School. On a February evening in 2013, the contentious vote was approved in Ripley by 282 to 262.
That history speaks a little to the frustration of Paul McCutcheon, current Ripley school board president. After an article this summer that highlighted the high cost per student, he rightly defended the board’s efforts — that include the tuitioning deal.
“We have been creative by entering into intermunicipal and shared service agreements with the town of Ripley, as well as other neighboring school districts to keep our costs under control,” he wrote in a recent commentary. “Our administration and business office are constantly evaluating what options are available to maintain good financial standing and have kept our district financially sound, whereas not every district can claim the same result.”
Albany’s generous aid formulas to these small schools — and overwhelming approval statewide of budgets annually that include tax increases — are a green light for inefficiency. They discourage schools that share employees and athletes from going a step further by creating a stronger partnership as one.
Twenty-eight years later, Chautauqua Lake remains a model district because of a merger that eliminated the Chautauqua and Mayville schools. It is a shining example of what so many other combined districts could be.
John D’Agostino is editor of The Post-Journal, OBSERVER and Times Observer in Warren, Pa. Send comments to jdagostino@observertoday.com or call 716-487-1111, ext. 253.