Fallsburg misses deadline, loses state aid

By Dan Hust
FALLSBURG — January 22 — Despite what Supt. Ivan Katz says are ongoing “good faith” negotiations, the Fallsburg Central School District’s lack of an agreed-upon teachers’ contract has lost it hundreds of thousands of dollars in state aid.
A state-imposed Thursday night deadline passed without a teacher evaluation plan in place in Fallsburg, as that’s wrapped up in the contract negotiations.
As a result, somewhere between $100,000 and $500,000 in state aid will be withheld from the district, said Katz, who on Friday was still trying to nail down the exact figure from contradictory state sources.
“I’m convinced I’m not going to know until we actually get our state aid payments [at the end of this month],” Katz explained.
Fallsburg was one of four districts statewide that missed the deadline, which Governor Andrew Cuomo refused to extend.
Katz said contract negotiations had not stalled and that the deadline “absolutely was” a consideration.
“Both sides were negotiating to get this done,” he explained, declining to get into details.
Nevertheless, it didn’t happen fast enough.
“They [negotiations] are moving forward, but certainly not as quickly as we’d like,” he acknowledged.
Union rep Don Thomas could not be reached for comment and Board of President Joe Collura could not comment.