Panther Families,
Happy New Year and welcome back for the second half of the 2025-26 school year! We hope that everyone had a good break, but we are excited to get back to school.
Our Student Achievement
Our 5th and 6th Grade Musical, Frozen Jr, will be February 6th and 7th in our Performing Arts Center. Students had auditions before break, parts have been assigned, and practice has begun! Keep an eye out for ticket information toward the end of the month.
Winter sports teams are well into the second half of their seasons. There are still plenty of opportunities to catch all of our teams at home before the postseason. Our high school boys’ and girls’ basketball teams enter their full conference schedules, and have the county tournament in a week. The high school wrestling team will host the Randy Bowman Invitational on Saturday, January 24th. Our junior high boys’ basketball, wrestling, and volleyball teams are into their seasons and have several home events coming up this month. Check out our High School and Junior High Athletics pages for the most up to date schedules.
Our Community Relations
Three Key Points related to Winter Weather:
1. All school cancellations are communicated through LeRoy CUSD #2 App notifications (search LeRoy CUSD #2 in your device app store), Skyward Messenger, the LeRoy CUSD #2 Facebook page, and local media. We will make every effort to make cancellation decisions by 5:30am, but circumstances can occur that would cause us to cancel at a later time. Please remember, regardless of the district’s decision to have school in inclement weather, ultimately parents have the final say on whether or not a child attends school. We will support those decisions made in good faith out of the personal beliefs regarding their child's safety.
2. A cold weather day is generally defined as any day when it is forecasted that the sustained wind chill will be at -10 degree or less. We will utilize the NOAA Wind Chill Chart as a measuring stick for determining the degree of unreasonable cold. When wind chills are likely to be to the right of the 30-minute exposure area, it is unlikely that we would attend school. When the windchill is below zero, but in an attendance range, we will provide a roving white shuttle bus to pick up walkers in the blocks between the elementary school and Route 150.
3. In lieu of traditional snow days, we will be utilizing remote learning days this year. This means if we have a day where we cannot attend due to inclement weather, students will have remote work to do and we will not make the day up at the end of the school year. Each building and classroom teacher has or will communicate remote learning information and expectations. The intent is not to create an unmanageable work day or take away a snow day from kids, but rather to provide reasonable continuity to learning and predictability to our end of year calendar.
View our full Winter Weather Guidelines at this link: https://aptg.co/p8vqgZ
Our Facilities
As mentioned in our December Quarterly Message, our first major project funded by County Schools Facility Tax (CSFT) revenue is planned for this summer, and will replace asbestos tile hallway flooring in part of the elementary school with new LVT flooring in all hallways. This will include renovation of all hallway floors, as well as the office spaces across from the cafeteria. The elementary building will be closed throughout the summer in order to complete this project. Additional details will be shared when the project bidding process is completed and a formal calendar of work is finalized.
We are also in the process of estimating and determining additional spring and summer projects including security camera upgrades, replacement of elementary locker room sinks, high school furniture upgrades, sanding/painting/resealing Dud Berry Gym floor, track surface maintenance, and weight room upgrades. Security camera upgrades are a part of our regular allocation of CSFT money. The remaining items are planned to be completed through use of Health/Life/Safety funds and Operation & Maintenance funds.
Check out our CSFT Transparency Dashboard on our district website for ongoing updates to our long-term facility planning.
Our Finance
We are halfway through our fiscal year so we have gone through a process of analyzing our budget performance and projecting cash flow for the second half of the year.
Our overall revenue is at 46%, which is in line with trend data. State reimbursements are typically received later in the fiscal year, so revenue is normally just below 50% at this point. We expect to receive all allocated state and federal funding by fiscal year end. A statewide concern is reduced funding for state-mandated transportation and certain special education services, which are only funded at 60-65%. To date, we have received 33% of our budgeted transportation revenue, consistent across the state. We expect to receive the full 60–65% allocation, with the remaining 35–40% funded through local revenue.
Our overall expenses are currently at 53%, which is in line with expectations. Because most expenses occur during the nine months when students are in attendance, they typically run slightly ahead of pace at this point in the year. Our largest fund—the Education Fund, which covers most salaries and classroom costs—is at 50.76%, so it is right on budget.
We have received three months (July, August, and September) of County Schools Facility Tax (CSFT) money, equaling about $229,000. This revenue is trending ahead of what was projected by the Department of Revenue. Each month, we receive a check from the Regional Office of Education and that funding goes directly into allowable budgeted funds. Revenue runs one month in arrears, so we received July revenue in August, August in September, September in October, and will receive December revenue in January.
Have a great 2026!
Jeff Baughman
Superintendent
Go Panthers!
Key Upcoming Dates
January 19
No School - Martin Luther King Jr. Day
February 13
No School - Teacher Institute Day
February 16
No School - Presidents Day
Involved Community - Competitive Students - Productive Citizens