(ABC 6 News) – An issue with how Rochester Public Schools has paid for students enrolled in college classes to get double credit has been plaguing the district’s budget for years, but a new fix within the recently propose “balanced budget model” could solve the problem.

PSEO, or post-secondary enrollment options, is one of several programs offered in Rochester schools to give high school students a taste of college-level classes and receive credit towards both.

Students like Noah Smith, who took classes in construction and teaching just last year.

“I wasn’t really too sure if i did want to go to higher education so to be able to see what another branch just work wise might look like for me in the future i thought that was really helpful,” Smith said.

PSEO, along with P-TECH and C-TECH, are funded by the school district.

“The problem is, in Rochester,” said district Superintendent Dr. Kent Pekel, “we not only send that money off to the college, we also pay the high school like the student was still there in class in high school.”

Essentially, double dipping for each student enrolled in college classes.

Dr. Pekel says the district has been spending the equivalent of five to six positions per school on students that aren’t actually there.

Now, as part of it’s new balanced budget model, the district is proposing to stop the extra flow of money to the high schools.

Taking away that money won’t result in any job cuts to cover the loss though.

According to Pekel, this specific proposal is just a small part of that much larger redesign of the budget, so money will be moved around to fill in those gaps and actually give schools more wiggle room to do what they need to do.

“We are kind of fixing this as part of a larger funding redesign because you do want the system to make sense,” said Pekel.

And it’s not new money, it’s all dollars the schools already have.

One concern, however, is whether taking that funding away will disincentivize high schools from promoting PSEO-like classes in order to keep money inside the schools.

“We do find from area high schools as well just the overall funding model from the state as funds you know decrease, they’re trying to keep their students in the schools as much as possible to maximize their own and who can blame them for that,” said Alicia Zeone, director of enrollment for Rochester Community and Technical College.

That won’t stop the programs from being offered of course.

“I think what might happen is that you might have our amazing counselors and others that work with kids on their school schedules urging them to think a bit more carefully about taking those classes,” said Pekel. “I think it would be a relatively minor shift in the big picture.”