Students and parents urge Carmel board to spare music, theater and extracurriculars amid budget crunch

Dozens of students and parents packed the March 26 public session of the Carmel Central School District Board of Education to press trustees not to cut music, theater and other extracurricular programs as district leaders search for budget savings.

Student speakers described award-winning performances, college scholarships and the social and academic benefits of the arts. "Performing arts at Carmel has changed my life and put me on track to continue what I love doing," said Sam Corey, a CHS student who recounted state-level honors and scholarship offers earned by Carmel students (public comment, March 26). Other students, including Zyla Bumbury and Jake Patino, said the programs create a sense of belonging and provide career pathways in the arts.

Parents and community members amplified those themes and pushed the board for clearer, line-by-line explanations of how proposed cuts would affect staffing, schedules and extracurricular opportunities. Mary Anne Carpenter, a parent who reviewed slides and budget documents, said she found large gaps and line items left blank that made it difficult to assess how proposed reductions would change actual services and staffing. "There are many spots left blank," Carpenter said, noting unexplained differences between budgeted and actual expenditures.

Speakers repeatedly asked trustees for specific contingency scenarios the district has been asked to prepare: a fully contingent (0% tax-levy) budget and variants that preserve kindergarten and clubs while showing the scale of other reductions. Trustees agreed to pause the formal budget presentation until a special work session so administration can provide those scenarios and the requested data.

The board acknowledged the emotional testimony and said it would seek additional detail before finalizing budget choices. Trustee Orser and others stressed the need for transparent numbers to inform whether programs can be preserved without unacceptable fiscal risk. For now, the public comments underscored deep community opposition to arts cuts and highlighted the urgency of clearer budget modeling before trustees finalize their decisions.