The Rochester City School District will have to go back to the drawing board to figure how to balance the budget for next school year.

RCSD Superintendent Terry Dade said, "this is the updated information as last Wednesday when we finally got the finalized school aid for the Rochester City School District."

The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting the state budget, which means school districts across the state, including Rochester, will get less state funding.

"Our original draft budget assumed that we would receive an additional $4.5 million in state aid, that's beyond the increase that was originally proposed by Governor Cuomo which has since been eliminated," said Robert Franklin, RCSD Chief Financial Officer.

Due to a reduction in state aid alone, the original draft budget now has a hole of $17.5 million. The district must also account for the lunch program running during the pandemic which will cost $2.5 million including the upcoming summer months.

In addition to that, the district must replenish it’s fund balance with $4 million.

Franklin said, "at this point, I guess I would say that our draft budget needs to be modified to eliminate about $24 million in expenses."

Governor Andrew Cuomo has also outlined four “take back” windows during fiscal year 20-21 which means New York can take back state money if its revenue expectations fall short.

The district is afraid this could lead to mid-year reductions next school year.

The superintendent's next step is to review suggested cuts brainstormed the Board of Education Commissioners.