The evening of 2026-01-27 was a meeting of the Honeoye Falls-Lima Board of Education (BoE), and Program Budget Advisory Council (PBAC).
Full disclosure: I sit on the PBAC, so some of these Observations aren’t exactly from the Audience. Only item before the budget presentations that stood out to me was how much the students enjoyed the snow day. And I can’t blame them, snowing is the best weather.
There were three budget presentations, and before them an overview of where we are in the budget process. To summarize, HFL’s total revenue is ~$58 million. Of which ~$24 million comes from the state. Of that, the foundation aid is expected to increase ~3%, or ~$461k. Mind you, we are early enough in the process that those numbers can change. Hence the ~ indicating approximations.
One thing that stood out to me in the overview was the ‘orange area’ and the idea the District is still owed that from the State. Which I can understand. If the law says, which it sure seems to, that the State has to pay that money to the District, then from a legal sense that money is owed. But from a moral sense?
No one is owed someone else’s money. At least in a general sense, there are some exceptions. And I have a hard time fitting this situation into those exceptions. Mind you, I also haven’t gone looking for better explanations either. Mostly because I think focusing on the idea we are ‘owed’ money from elsewhere is harmful to us. Whether we get it or not, we have a job to do. With what we have available before us. The more we focus on being owed, the more entitled, greedy, and envious we become. While the job remains.
As for the budget presentations themselves, they were predominately videos. Which is nice in that it makes them easily shareable.
I don’t really have anything to say about the Pupil Personnel Services presentation. Watch the ~6 minute video if you are interested.
Technology clearly enjoyed themselves in the video. But I think they went too far, losing the point in the entertainment. The Board seemed to enjoy it, so you can watch the ~9 minute video if you are interested. From a budgetary standpoint, seemed to be all about maintaining current activities. Even as the costs of some of those increase.
Interscholastic Athletics was Ed’s (Athletics Director) first time presenting in the role. Had a nice callback to the previous director in the ~5 minute video, if you want to watch that. From a budgetary standpoint, biggest item is the athletic trainer. Which, if I understand it right, was a stipend to a staff member. Who had retired, thus the replacement is under the athletics budget.
After the presentations, the PBAC separated to discuss. And by the time we finished, the BOE had finished the public portion of their meeting. But thanks to the wonders of modern technology, I can watch the recordings afterwards. And having done that…
While there was some nice discussion and good questions, nothing stood out to me enough to be shared. At least until Gene (Superintendent) started talking about snow days. Gene takes snow days seriously, with good reason.
Gene also expressed concerns about Federal funding. And how changes at the Department of Education looks to have pushed this function to the Department of Labor. Wasn’t clear to me if the money was late, or just getting close to it’s historical arrival date. Either way, there were concerns about the ~$1 million the District is expecting.
And a very good question was asked about the Districts calendar. And why it doesn’t show all the public events. Gene punted on answering, as it wasn’t on the Agenda. Thus implying he wanted time to prepare. Which I think is fair. It was a good question, I would want an equally good answer.
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the January 27, 2026 meeting of the Honeoye Falls-Lima Board of Education.
Agenda’s and similar information can be found at HFL’s BoardDocs page. While a recording is also available.