“This isn’t news to us,” Zilliox said. He took the designation as “a small warning” from the Comptroller’s Office.

Fredonia was one of 22 districts named in the report. Of the 670 school districts that filed their financial reports in time to be scored for 2024, 3.3% were designated as being in a level of fiscal stress. Fredonia’s designation of “susceptible to financial stress” is the least severe of the three designations offered in the report. The other designations are “moderate financial stress” and “significant financial stress.”

Zilliox explained the District was designated as “susceptible to financial stress” because of its rapidly decreasing fund balances — from approximately 10% of unassigned fund balance to under 4%, which is what the Comptroller’s Office suggests. Additionally, in the past two years, the District spent nearly all of its taxpayer funds in the annual budget. Districts often find additional funds left over after expenses are covered, but Fredonia has not had that luxury in recent years.

“If those trends were to continue over a long period of time, that would be problematic,” Zilliox said. “We don’t anticipate those trends continuing like they have in the past.”

OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen Fredonia Superintendent Dr. Brad Zilliox reacted to the District’s designation of “susceptible to financial stress” from the State Comptroller at a recent Board of Education meeting.

The district added a variety of positions since the pandemic to increase support for students, including the social work and English as a New Language fields. The District continues to evaluate its staffing needs each year as the annual budget is prepared.

“I don’t want anyone to feel like this is a crisis, but it is noted here in the District that we are aware of this, and we’re certainly going to work to make sure that this doesn’t go any further into a different category,” Zilliox said.