How Rochester City School District is funded, governed, and overseen
Who actually decides for RCSD?
An elected board runs the district day to day, but a state-appointed monitor has held real authority over academic and fiscal decisions since 2020.
Rochester City School District is governed by a seven-member Board of Education elected citywide to staggered four-year terms. Under Chapter 56 of the Laws of 2020, the state Commissioner of Education appoints a monitor who sits on the board as a non-voting, ex-officio member; that legislation was extended in April 2025 and is now set to run until June 2027. The monitor works with the district on its required annual academic and financial improvement plans, must ensure each annual budget is balanced and consistent with the district's long-term financial plan, can help resolve disputes between the superintendent and the board, and reports on the district's status twice a year to the Governor, the Board of Regents, and legislative leaders. The district also has a new superintendent, Dr. Eric Jay Rosser, who started July 1, 2025.
A state monitor oversees academic and fiscal plans, under a law now extended to 2027
The monitor (currently Jaime Alicea) helps develop the district's financial plan, academic improvement plan, and budget recommendations, and assists in resolving conflicts between the superintendent and the board or among board members. The underlying 2020 state law creating the role was extended in April 2025 to run through June 2027.
The elected board still runs regular governance
Seven commissioners are elected citywide to four-year terms. Camille Simmons is the current board president; four seats are next up for election in November 2027.
The district reports on itself twice a year
RCSD sends quarterly reports to the monitor and annual reports to the state Commissioner and Board of Regents; the monitor separately reports semi-annually to the Governor and legislative leaders, including a list of all district contracts.
Leadership just changed
Dr. Eric Jay Rosser became superintendent on July 1, 2025, after the board selected him in March 2025.
The monitor's role is advisory, dispute-resolving, and non-voting, not a takeover of the board's authority — ordinary policy, budget, and personnel decisions still go through the regular Board of Education meeting process documented here.
Where the district stands
2025-26 adopted budgetverified
$1,117,571,955 USD
2025-26 enrollment (PreK-12)verified
21,870 students
As of September 29, 2025.
2025-26 per-pupil costverified
$32,407 USD
The district's own figure, based on a broader enrollment count of 34,486 that includes charter-school, private/parochial, and CSE-placed students, not just the 21,870 PreK-12 headline enrollment.
District employeesverified
5,403 employees
Median teacher salaryverified
$73,026 USD
Major projects
Rochester Schools Modernization Program — Phase III
Active — in design, awaiting state approval
Six school projects (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School No. 9, Joseph C. Wilson Magnet High School Commencement Academy, Padilla High School at the Franklin Campus, Edison Career & Technology High School, East Upper/Lower School, and Frederick Douglass) are in design and awaiting New York State Education Department approval before construction bidding and bond issuance can begin.
Next: Wilson, Padilla, and Franklin projects are targeted for Commissioner of Education approval in spring 2027, which would let the board issue its first tranche of long-term construction debt; East High and Frederick Douglass approvals are targeted for roughly early 2028.
RJSCB sends Phase 1 plan (up to $325 million in bonded projects) to the state
RJSCB sends Phase 2 comprehensive master plan (up to $435 million, 2016-2021) to the state
Phase III account balance about $9.3 million; $21.3 million spent to date; Wilson, Padilla, and Franklin targeted for state approval in spring 2027
Funding
New York State building aid plus City of Rochester and district bonding, administered by the Rochester Joint Schools Construction Board (three members appointed by the Superintendent, three by the Mayor, one jointly).
Annual State Monitor academic and financial plan
Ongoing annual cycle
Required by state legislation since 2020, the state monitor and the board jointly produce a multi-year academic and financial plan; the most recent covers 2026-2029 and was finalized June 18, 2026.
Next: Next annual academic and fiscal plan expected mid-2027.
NYSED approves the district's initial monitor-era improvement plan
Most recent Academic and Financial Plan (2026-2029) finalized
Funding
N/A — a planning and reporting requirement, not a funded capital project.
East High School's return to direct district management
In transition since mid-2025
East was placed in state receivership in 2015 for low performance and run by the University of Rochester as an Educational Partner Organization (EPO) for nine years. In March 2024 the board voted to return East to the district when the EPO contract expired in June 2025, and a joint district-East transition team is now managing the handover.
Next: A core transition team and six tenet teams (covering areas aligned to the state's school-improvement framework) continue to report progress to the Board of Education and community as East moves fully under district management.
NYSED places East in receivership; University of Rochester EPO takes over management (year known, exact date not published)
Board of Education votes to return East to direct district management (month known, exact date not published)
University of Rochester EPO contract expires (month known, exact date not published)
Funding
N/A — a governance and staffing transition, not a separately funded project.
Local elections & school board members
Elections & votes
Board electionScheduled
Rochester Board of Education general election
Rochester
Four of the board's seven commissioner seats (currently held by Amy Maloy, Jacqueline D. Griffin, Beatriz LeBron-Harris, and Isaiah Santiago) are elected citywide to four-year terms expiring December 2027. The district's own 2026-2029 Academic and Financial Plan directly references a November 2027 election and orientation process for newly elected commissioners. New York's general Election Day (the Tuesday after the first Monday in November) is the standard date for this at-large city school board election under NY Education Law.
Sources: the district's own official pages (rcsdk12.org), its state-mandated Academic and Financial Plan, twelve months of Rochester Joint Schools Construction Board meeting records, its BoardDocs meeting portal (go.boarddocs.com/ny/rochny) for meeting existence/dates, and NCES/state district identifiers.
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