NEW BERLIN – Due to a decrease in New York State funding, at least one school district is faced with the harsh reality of having to eliminate faculty – in addition to a popular reading program, materials and supplies and limiting the number of field trips for the upcoming school year.

Unadilla Valley Superintendent Robert Mackey said positions will be eliminated next year, including an elementary teacher, a high school social studies teacher and a licensed teaching assistant. The physical education/health position will be filled internally instead of hiring a new person as was previously budgeted.

The hardest-hit program, according to Mackey, is the elementary school’s Reading First program which targets students in kindergarten through third grade. The grant-funded program was introduced two years ago, and state funding was intended to keep it running for a three-year span. The district planned to adapt and absorb the needed funds to keep the program implemented after that.

Now, entering its third year, the grant that was originally supposed to give the school $350,000 came in at only $78,980.

“Last year we got word we may lose funding in the third year, so we saved $30,000. That $30,000 is part of the roughly $78,000 we have to operate this year,” said elementary school Principal Steve Bradley.