Rising costs are hitting monthly budgets hard, and schools are no exception.
In the Syracuse City School District, Chief Financial Officer Suzanne Slack says supply chain issues and rising prices are affecting the district.
For example, last fall, because of a dairy supplier driver shortage, each pint of milk was costing the district eight cents more than the year before. An apple crop shortage bumped applesauce cups up 14 cents per cup.
Other foods were hard to get at all.
"It sounds silly, but like chicken for a while,” said Slack. “We were struggling to get chicken. Anything made from tomato products, so pizza sauce, spaghetti sauce, tomato soup, we couldn't get it for a while. We were struggling."
The Auburn Enlarged City School District is in the middle of a capital project, and Superintendent Jeffrey Pirozzolo said inflation is having a large effect on that part of their budget.
"The cost of materials have skyrocketed,” said Pirozzolo. “Workforce is tough to get, so we've seen a huge increase in our capital project monies."
Slack said she’s seeing supply chain issues affect the Syracuse City School District’s transportation fleet, too.
"We had ordered vehicles in 2020, and they didn't come,” said Slack. “We were following up on them. Some of them they said, you're going to have to cancel the order, and place an order for a newer vehicle, which is going to be $10,000 or $15,000 more. Or they said, it's still in production, but the price has gone up $10,000."
Slack said the district is doing OK financially for now because it saved money during remote learning. But if prices don’t stabilize, district officials may have to make some tough decisions in the future.
