To the Editor:

Our school district is missing out on grant-funding opportunities, which harms our budget, tax base, and students because we do not have an in-house, dedicated, grant writer seeking monies that are awarded to other school districts through grant opportunities.

Subcontracting the grant-writing funding is not a solution that protects our school district.

A school board member in your recent article [“GCSD plans to use $2M from savings to balance $134M budget,” The Altamont Enterprise, April 2, 2026] shared her dismay of six years watching the same solutions to cut programs that are forward-facing for students instead of cutting the managerial positions within the district.

Yes, it is baffling that professionals holding master’s degrees appear to be micro-managed, but perhaps we can make revisions to the job descriptions of our managerial staff to include grant-writing until an experienced grant writer can be hired as a permanent staff position.

If anyone recalls that Jamie Ralston campaigned to serve our town as a Guilderland Town Board member, you will recall that J. Ralston made the condition of our town parks a campaign issue [“Guilderland elections: Four vie for two town board seats,” The Altamont Enterprise, Oct. 11, 2023].

Perhaps decision makers heard her and during May 2026, a multi-million-dollar grant to upgrade parks named New York Plays has grant-writers buzzing and would have been a great time to have an on-staff grant writer. There are millions of dollars offered in various school grant programs that we miss because we do not apply for the grant.

If we cannot hire staff or change the job functions of managerial school-district staff then we should ask the school board to help raise money for our district.

Christine Duffy

Guilderland