BY ANDY GARDNER
North Country This Week

MASSENA — Even though the most recent federal pandemic stimulus package includes some school aid, a Board of Education member says they’re still looking at a rough road when they get to crafting the 2021-22 budget.

Loren Fountaine, who chairs the board Finance Committee, updated the board during their Thursday, Jan. 14 meeting.

“Tough budget year because of the pandemic and the effect it had on your the state economy, in turn what that does to collection of taxes,” he said. “It is going to be a tough budget year. We should just give into that and we’ll see where we are when we have more solid numbers.”

Even though there is federal money for schools going to the state, no one knows how the state is going to actually dole it out.

“We have really no information. The governor’s State of the State is a traveling roadshow right now. So we’ll see where we end up and make adjustments from there. We don’t believe we’re going to be in a position where we’re getting a lot more money than we did last year, certainly,” the finance chair said.

“We started to take a look at the 10,000-foot view,” Fountaine said. “We’re still unsure where we are.”