Save New Paltz Schools

Friday, February 4, 2011

Report: School districts face $815M shortfall under tax cap

Cumulative gap would be $3.3B from 2010-11 to 2013-14, based on NYSSBA projections

School districts across New York face a potential shortfall of $815 million per year over the next four years just in meeting personnel costs under a property tax cap, according to a report issued today by the New York State School Boards Association.

The report, entitled Property Tax Cap: Pass or Fail for School Districts, illustrates how a tax cap of 2 percent or the rate of inflation – whichever is less – would limit property tax increases in school districts to an average of $229 million per year over the next four years. At the same time, school districts could have a projected average annual increase of more than $1 billion in salaries, health insurance, and employee pension contributions. That would leave school districts with an average shortfall of $815 million each year just in meeting these basic personnel costs.

“The long-term health of our state demands limitations on the growth of taxes and a sound educational system,” said NYSSBA Executive Director Timothy G. Kremer. “But a hard tax cap would clearly threaten the quality of public education by forcing drastic cuts in classroom teachers and academic programs.”

Over the next four years, school districts would be forced to cope with a $3.3 billion cumulative shortfall between property tax revenue and personnel expenses, assuming no layoffs or personnel changes. In the 2010-11 school year, under a property tax cap school districts collectively would have been faced with an $894 million budget gap – the equivalent of 13,446 teaching and administrative positions, according to the report.

“While it is difficult to predict what specific measures 600-plus local school districts would take in response to a property tax cap, this analysis is meant to illustrate the cumulative, four-year impact of a tax cap on school district personnel costs,” said Kremer, who noted that personnel costs make up about 70 percent of a school district budget.

“The report shows the depth of cuts that would be needed in school districts under a tax cap. Had a cap been in place this year, school districts would have faced an immediate need to eliminate nearly $900 million in expenses or find alternative revenue sources,” said Kremer.

NYSSBA’s report highlights seven cost-saving alternatives to a property tax cap that could generate an equivalent cost savings for taxpayers. Those alternatives include establishing a mandatory minimum employee health insurance contribution, creating a defined contribution pension plan for school district employees, amending the Triborough Amendment of the Taylor Law, authorizing regional collective bargaining, and implementing a temporary freeze on public employee salaries.

“The answer to holding down property taxes is for the state to grant school districts the ability to rein in costs as well as provide sufficient state aid,” Kremer said.

The report analyzed data from local districts, the New York State Teachers' Retirement System, the New York State and Local Retirement System, the state Division of the Budget, the New York State Office of the Comptroller, and the State Education Department.

THR - Assessing the 'reality' of Cuomo's budget cuts

By Meghan Murphy

Published: 02/02/11

A group of residents sitting around a board-room table Monday agreed on a goal: prevent the closing of a Rondout Valley elementary school.

The parents, taxpayers and teachers want to create watchdog committees, drill down into the budget and help the district come up with another scenario. Faced with a $5.6 million budget gap and declining enrollment, the school board announced last month that a school closing is likely.

Meeting host and Pinegrove Ranch owner David O'Halloran has already started digging into the numbers. He thinks his business acumen might find some unexpected solutions. One budget item jumped out at him right away: Every year, the school district budgets $12,000 for music supplies. The number just seemed too neat to O'Halloran. He asks, do teachers really buy the same amount of sheet music every year?

That sentiment echoes one by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, blasted out to media inboxes everywhere Monday. The state's $10 billion projected budget gap is based on assumptions that all spending remains the same or continues increasing.

And these days, change is the only constant.

Fiscal policy experts for decades have called on governments to take a businesslike approach to budgeting. Cuomo was yelling from that same megaphone Tuesday, saying he's implementing a reality-based approach at the state level. He then announced a 7.3 percent state aid cut for school districts statewide. In Cuomo's "reality," that's only 2.9 percent of overall spending. In Rondout's "reality," it's a 10.3 percent cut in state aid, adding $1.9 million to its budget troubles, according to estimates posted on the state website.

Washingtonville Superintendent Robbie Greene said her district implemented zero-based budgeting about seven years ago and it's changed the way they deliver education.

"Everyone starts with a blank piece of paper. You don't take last year's supply total and add 3 percent on it," Greene said. "If I buy girls' soccer uniforms this year, I don't need those next year."

In an environment where every dollar is sacred and where school communities are at stake, this kind of budgeting is smart. But in what "reality" will accounting changes or cutting administrator salaries save $3.3 million lost to Washingtonville schools in the governor's proposed aid cuts?

Cuomo tried to paint a picture of all New Yorkers sharing the pain in this hard-line budget. But in what "reality" is a 13.3 percent state aid cut to Marlboro schools on an even keel with a 2 percent cut to municipal funding?

Cuomo also talked about unsustainable spending and a cycle of irresponsible budgeting. Maybe that's what going on in Albany, but that's just not the reality I've seen in our local school districts recently.

To his credit, Cuomo didn't say this was going to be easy. He has promised to relieve mandates that drive up education costs. But his speech also glossed over the truth of what he's proposing now: Cuomo's budget guts public education in the Hudson Valley, making it that much harder to save elementary schools. That's the reality.

The Aebi-Schwartz Proposal

HOW TO SAVE $2,000,000+ (or about 25 teachers) FOR 2011-2012.

(not including benefits or MS/HS teacher reductions)

Our understanding is that the anticipated deficit for 2011-2012 of at least $3.5M from the rollover budget is related to a decrease in federal and state funding, increases in benefits and other costs, and the possibility of a NYS cap of a 2% increase in property tax.

With viable consolidation plan(s) or not, the estimated savings from these plans are only a small part of the anticipated deficit, therefore, the bulk of cuts will unfortunately be from teachers and programs. This cannot go on year after year. If 30-40 teachers are cut this year, then looking ahead, there will be no teachers by say 2016.

Since the impact of increased class sizes on teachers and students is felt more than cuts to administrative staff, we recommend administrative staff downsizing. If certain personnel have served needed functions in more economically friendly times, a bare-bones administration is now required.

Cuts in administration can bring back programs and teachers in areas where reductions would be severely felt.

1. Non-Union Salary Freeze:

We commend the BOE and Superintendent Rice’s Non-Union Personnel Salary freeze for 2011-2012. This represents at least $20,000 savings (estimated at a modest 1.5% increase).

2. Administrative Reductions:

As per Mid-Hudson School Study Council statistics1 and New Paltz Central School District Enrollment Projection2 estimates, enrollment has been and will continue to decrease. However, as per Empire Center For New York State Policy3, teaching staff increased by more than 10%, and non-teaching professional staff by more than 20%. Administrators will have to do more with less staff.

Suggested Reductions:

Note all salary figures are approximate from 2010-2011 budget, and do not include benefits.

2.1) Eliminate 1 FTE - Asst. Superintendent for PPS – $110,000

The Asst. Superintendent for Curriculum (who makes $150,420) would cover PPS as well, with the 2-FTE Special Ed. Coordinators (who make $88,870 each) for K-5 and 6-12. If two Assistant Superintendents were required in the past, hopefully programs, policies and procedures have been implemented to allow fewer Assistant Superintendents now. In this financial crisis, we can no longer afford staffing at this level.

2.2) Eliminate 2 (of 4) FTE clerical staff for Asst. Superintendents of Curriculum and PPS – $80,000

2.3) Eliminate 1 (of 2) clerical FTE from Asst. Superintendent for Business staff - $50,000

2.4) Eliminate 1 (of 2) FTE office clerical – Duzine - $30,000

2.5) Eliminate 1 (of 2) FTE office clerical – Lenape - $35,000

2.6) Eliminate 1 (of 2) FTE office clerical or 1 FTE office aid – MS ($34,000 or $22,000 respectively)

2.6) Eliminate 2 (of 4) FTE office clerical – HS - $66,000

2.7) Eliminate 2 FTE library clerks – $41,000

2.8) Eliminate 2 FTE couriers – function replaced by other staff, better use of technology - $77,000

2.9) Eliminate 2 (of 3) FTE office clerical for guidance counselors - $70,000

Approximate Savings: $580,000 (not including benefits) – saves about 9 teachers.

3. Duzine/Lenape Consolidation:

If the Duzine/Lenape consolidation plan proves viable, we have some comments, suggestions, and questions-

3.1) Since all projections expect this fiscal crisis to continue for many years, there must be a way for consolidation plans to be permanent – not temporary. If the space if not adequate long-term, then the plan should not be implemented, or long-term solutions must be made.

3.2) The ‘school-in-school’ concept that the Superintendent is advocating – meaning not consolidating administrative staff for the combined elementary school - is not appropriate in this fiscal crisis. Nine hundred students with one principal and one assistant, and the teachers and support staff seems like a safe learning environment – (probably what most of us experienced if attended public school).

3.3) Eliminate 1 FTE - Principal for combined Duzine/Lenape - $110,000

The role of Principal at Duzine, is different from the Principal and Asst. Principal (Student Support Services A2110) at Lenape, based on the age of the children. With a combined elementary school, we feel one Principal and one Assistant Principal will allow for both leadership and handling student population.

3.4) Eliminate 1 (of 2) FTE - Nurse for combined Duzine/Lenape - $50,000

3.5) Eliminate any redundant positions in custodial, kitchen, music, art, gym, and library - ($??,???)

3.6) Although the details of the consolidation plan have not been specified, based on the estimates of increased class sizes as per Superintendent Rice at the January 27^th, 2011 BOE Meeting:

Grade	Current Class Size	2011-2012 Class Size
K – 2	19 – 21	22 - 24
3^rd	20 – 22	23 - 25
4^th – 6^th	22 – 24	25 - 28
7^th – 8^th	23 – 25	26 - 30

This class size increase represents 7 or 8 teacher reductions. Using the estimated cost per teacher of $80,000 (including benefits, from last year’s budget presentations), this represents at least $560,000.

3.7) We await details on how exactly Duzine fits into Lenape.

3.8) Where will BOCES go if not located in Lenape, but needs to be mainstreamed?

3.9) Why Duzine is not available for other uses, if shown to save money overall, i.e.:

3.9a) move rented District Offices on DuBois to Duzine

3.9b) move BOCES from Lenape to Duzine; mainstream via busing for PE, etc.

3.9c) use available space to alleviate issues with Duzine/Lenape consolidation, i.e. bus back to Duzine for certain programs.

3.9d) use Duzine as temporary space for alleviating issues with Middle School repairs/renovation

3.10) A unified class schedule permitting a single elementary busing schedule, means less mileage and wear on the buses.

3.10a) What are the expected savings from a single elementary bus run?

3.10b) Does this affect the requested $500,000 for new buses?

3.10c) Are there any details regarding the requested amount for the new buses, i.e. statistics on the age of bus fleet, maintenance cost, and reason for new buses?

3.10d) Can any needed buses be phased in over several years, i.e. one bus per year?

Approximate Savings: minimum $720,000+ from personnel, +one bus run, + operating one elementary campus

4. Teacher’s Union:

There seems to be general agreement that teacher salary and pension costs must be contained for school systems to be viable in the future.

4.1) Can you supply public (non-confidential) information regarding any negotiations with the teacher’s union in terms of salary increases? Pension?

4.2) Have increase caps been discussed regarding pension, benefits, salary?

4.3) Where does the Teacher’s Union stand on how to navigate this fiscal crisis?

Can the union representative give an official statement regarding their preferred option from the many bad ones?

4.4) Are efforts being made for planning several years ahead – for long-term solutions to pension and benefits increases? Is there a task force dedicated to this effort?

5. Misc.

5.1) The ‘four day student week’ was mentioned last year, and again this year, and Superintendent Rice mentioned at the January 27, 2011 BOE meeting that it was not a legal option for NYS. We think this option should be eliminated from discussions of alternatives, as it would simply put the logistical and monetary burden of the extra day without school on the parents.

6. Teacher Salary Freeze:

6.1) A teacher salary freeze will save approx. $700,000 (based on 2010-2011 increases) and keep at least 9 teachers. This should occur regardless of whether Governor Cuomo’s State Worker salary freeze happens.

7. Administrator Salary Cuts:

7.1) In keeping with Governor Cuomo’s own 5% salary cut (saving $8,950 from his $179,000 salary), we would like to see the Superintendent, Assistant Superintendents, and Principals (all making more than $100,000) take a 5% salary cut. This would save approximately $65,000, which is another teacher saved.

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Sincerely,

Anthony Aebi, Esopus, NY – parent to 2^nd, 5^th, and 7^th graders.

Eric Schwartz, Esopus, NY – parent to 2^nd, and Kindergartener ‘2012.

1 2009-2010 Enrollment Report (Mid-Hudson School Study Council

http://www.newpaltz.k12.ny.us/15611010131096257/lib/15611010131096257/BUDGET2010/MHSSC-EnrollmentReportFor20092010.pdf

2 Enrollment Projection 2010-2019 (F.A.C.T.S.)

http://www.newpaltz.k12.ny.us/15611010131096257/lib/15611010131096257/BUDGET2010/EnrollmentProjection2010-2019.pdf

3 http://www.empirecenter.org/Documents/PDF/rb4.pdf

Glenn Geher's Letter to the Editor 2/3/11

After speaking with a highly respected and hard-working member of our School Board yesterday, I became convinced that we're currently at a point at which voicing public opinions on issues of the current budget circumstances is a good thing. For what it's worth, I write to provide my two cents. As I understand it, the current situation essentially is that the amount of monies provided by the state (NY) for school districts (and other institutions of education) is being cut immediately and dramatically - creating these giant budget holes all over the state.

Such a giant budget hole seems to characterize the current situation for the New Paltz Central School District - and the appropriate leaders in our community (including, largely, the superintendent and the school board) are exploring different courses of action that could be taken to fill in the hole. Coming up with a comprehensive list of alternative courses of action is their job. So we need to realize this fact before commenting too strongly on any proposals that are being kicked around.

This said, I'd like to make a pitch to take a particular potential strategy off the table. Apparently, there is talk about closing one of our four schools (Duzine, Lenape, Middle School, High School). For reasons I delineate below, I think the possibility of axing one of these four schools should be taken immediately off the table. Clearly, doing so would have the effect of constraining / reducing the options being discussed, which may make things more difficult or may help streamline the budget process. On this, I’m not sure.

Our district structures things in a pretty unique manner such that each of the four schools has a unique niche. Duzine is "the little kid" elementary school"; Lenape the "big kid elementary school"; and the middle school and high school each hold a standard niche in their areas. This is a pretty unique set-up, one that, according to the lion's share of parents and students, works extremely well - and this structure plays a fundamental role in defining the identity of what it means to be educated in the New Paltz Central School District. All the kids in the district go to school with all the same kids (issues of moving and attrition, aside) from ages of 5-18. This fact is pretty unique - and it makes for real small-town feel and makes the kids in the district know the other kids quite well - all along. I've seen strong benefits to the structure and think it's great. And I think this defines the educational experience at New Paltz.

Closing a school in a district structured in this manner simply makes no sense. There are other districts with, for instance, eight K-5 elementary schools. Perhaps that's too many given population issues. So they redistribute and reduce to seven of them. OK. No huge deal. The structure stays pretty much the same. Kids from the closed school get redistributed across the others. Logistics are not complex.

The logistical implications of closing one of the four schools in New Paltz would, on the other hand, be riddled with problems and would, I argue, fundamentally change the identity of our school system within the broader context. One option discussed was to close Duzine elementary school to the little kids - have the little kids from that school go to Lenape - shuffle grades around - and have middle school kids go to Duzine (thus closing the Middle School). This plan would include retrofitting Duzine to be appropriate for middle school - including the installation of lockers, shop equipment, etc. Compared with a district that would simply close one of their several K-5 schools and redistribute, you can quickly see that closing a school in New Paltz includes a whole set of logistical complexities that are not present in these other situations.

Because of the unique structure in our district, which includes these four niche buildings, I really think that the idea of closing a building is just beyond what's logistically feasible - and any plan that is poor on logistics will ultimately have adverse consequences for teaching and, ultimately, for our students.

For such a logistically complex plan to make sense, the fiscal benefits would have to outweigh the logistical costs. That is, if this plan would be such a pain, it had better pay a bucketload. From all the information I could gather, the monies reaped from such a school closure would be small relative to the full amount of the budget hole that needs filling. From my understanding of this situation, I am unconvinced that the fiscal benefits would outweigh the logistics and pedagogical costs.

Importantly, due to the logistical complexities involved in closing a school in our particular district, I don’t think that this becomes an issue of prioritizing bricks and mortar over other factors. In a school district with multiple K-5 schools, closing an elementary school could be primarily a call to not prioritize bricks and mortar over other factors. In New Paltz, because of our unique structural organization, there’s just too much more to it. In my mind, teachers comprise the single most important members of the workforce for our community and for the future. Preserving teachers’ jobs and respecting the institution of tenure clearly, in my mind, are also crucial. And preserving small class sizes is (ask any teacher – ever) critical to our future as well. In my job, I am a teacher, so these beliefs are self-evident to me.

I realize that there are major budget woes due to shortfalls in the state - and I'd personally be willing to increase our tax contributions if that's what needed (note: "willing" to ... not "wanting" to!). And I fully support the administration and board in their efforts to come up with effective solutions to the current problems. And I hope that at a future point I’m better able to make novel practical suggestions regarding these kinds of situations. But for the reasons delineated herein, I strongly believe that the idea of closing one of the four schools should simply be taken off the table (in much the same way that the idea of not honoring union contracts or releasing tenured teachers should be completely off the table).

Genuinely, and with the greatest of respect for members of our administration and school board who are investing enormous energy into exploring these issues on our behalf,

Glenn Geher

Cuomo's school aid plan shocks schools Too severe, local leaders say

By Meghan E. Murphy

Times Herald-Record

Published 02/03/11

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's budget proposal shows how disconnected the state is from the plight of school districts, shocked school officials said Wednesday.

Cuomo announced Tuesday he is seeking $1.5 billion in cuts to school aid for 2011-12, which would average a 7.3 percent hit statewide. Mid-Hudson leaders Wednesday reacted with hopelessness and frustration to what amounts to an almost $80 million cut to local schools, an average 11 percent decrease in the region.

"He's going to be responsible for setting back the education program in this state 10 years," Pine Bush schools Superintendent Philip Steinberg said. In the past two years, Pine Bush has lost almost $12 million, or about 27 percent, of its state school aid.

Cuomo said districts should negotiate employee concessions, such as wage freezes and higher health-care contributions, use fund balances and look at administrator salaries.

"This budget was to close a $10 billion deficit and we can't balance that without looking for reductions in a lot of different areas, and the biggest cost drivers are education and Medicaid. That's reality," said Eric Chris, a governor's budget office spokesman.

Steinberg said while Cuomo references runaway spending, districts have been cost-cutting for two years.

"We have already cut four administrators. We've cut in excess of 60 teachers and 80 teaching assistants and monitors," Steinberg said. "You're not talking about waste here."

Warwick school board President Dave Eaton agreed Cuomo's budget plan didn't seem to grasp the devastation this type of aid cut could cause.

"There's such a huge disconnect," Eaton said. "Everybody talks about how we have to make education so important in America, and here we are dismantling a really good school system."

Warwick already has created budget scenarios that presume closing an elementary school, and laying off between 50 and 70 employees. Cuomo's proposal would force even deeper cuts, Eaton said.

In Port Jervis, which escaped layoffs last year, district business administrator Lorrie Case expects the state aid cuts could cause up to 40 layoffs. "As far as I'm concerned it's really Draconian," Case said.

Offering some alternatives Cuomo might pursue, Steinberg called for mandate relief, a cap on district pension contributions and rolling back state special education requirements that go beyond federal requirements. Chris said that Cuomo is committed to changing the way the state does business and providing relief from burdensome laws.

mmurphy@th-record.com

$10 suggested donation benefits The Rosendale Theater Collective

Speaking in Tongues, which took home the Documentary Audience Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival, follows four diverse students and their families as they encounter the challenges and delights of becoming fluent in two languages. A panel discussion following the screening will consider how the national debate on language educatio...n is playing out locally in Ulster County.

For decades, language education has been a hot-button issue for educators, politicians, and parents, yet as pioneering activist Ling-chi Wang explains in the film, America’s linguistic richness is among its greatest strengths. Employers need multilingual skills and our national security apparatus pours millions each year into teaching “strategic languages.”

There will be a special Spanish presentation by second grade students from Rosendale Elementary School before the film. The film will be followed by a discussion on early foreign language learning. The panel will explore the issue from several angles.

Panelists include:
Gretchen Kleinsmith, a Rondout Valley High School 11th grader who began studying language in the fifth grade;
Theresa Swelha, a Rondout Valley Central School District parent of three students, two of whom began studying language in the elementary grades;
Eva Edwards, an active Rondout Valley community member and 1976 Rondout graduate and Nurse Director of the Tucker Center for Cancer Care;
Jenny Delfini, a Spanish and French teacher at the elementary level in the New Paltz Central School District;
and an officer from the New Paltz Central School District Board of Education.
Diana Zuckerman, Rondout Valley Spanish Teacher K-4 & 9 and NYS Representative for the National Network for Early Language Learning will be moderating the panel.
In addition, Rondout 9th graders Julia Freer, Molly O’Donnell and Andrea Wasylyk will be the multilingual hostesses for the evening.

New Paltz Times: Building cuts? Closing a New Paltz school would save $400K tops, superintendent says

by Mike Townshend

To save money, the New Paltz School District is considering temporarily closing one of New Paltz’s public schools. Photos by Lucia O’Corozine.

Temporarily closing one of New Paltz’s public schools would not create as much savings for the district as one might imagine, Superintendent Maria Rice said last week. In fact, two options involving the closure of New Paltz Middle School would actually cost $3 million to $4 million. Both of those options -- which would have retrofitted the elementary schools for the older kids -- are now off the table, Rice said. The other two options won’t cost millions, but neither would they bring in millions. Closing Duzine and moving all the elementary kids to Lenape would achieve a $400,000 savings. Closing the middle school and creating a split schedule at the high school would net about $200,000 in savings.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s speeches are a big reason why the school board and superintendent’s office is so worried. New York’s state executive has said his budget proposal will likely include a tax cap for school and require state workers to take a pay freeze.

For the New Paltz schools, the proposed 2 percent tax cap would lock the district into a $49.08 million budget and would equate to a $4.12 million budget shortfall. If the state pay freezes extend to teachers, that would only save the local schools $1.19 million. That leaves a shortfall of $2.93 million.

If that pay freeze doesn’t apply to teachers, the district would end up needing to make up about $4.08 million. So far, 29 non-union school employees fall under a pay freeze for 2011-2012 -- including Superintendent Rice and the assistant superintendents. That would give back $40,700, making that “non-pay freeze” number a touch smaller.

Any option involving consolidation would overuse spaces and create scheduling nightmares to classes booking rooms like gyms, the cafeterias and science labs. Also, if either Duzine or the middle school were to be closed, nobody from the wider community would be allowed to use that space.

Class sizes would go up for all the elementary grades. Kindergarten to second grade now has 19-21 kids per class, post-consolidation that’d be 22-24. Third grade would go from 20-22 kids per class to 23-25. Fourth and fifth grade would go from 22-24 kids per class to 25-28. Seventh and eighth grade would go from 23-25 to 26-30.

But on the plus side, “we’d save anything from $200,000 to $400,000” and the district would have fewer buildings to actively maintain for a few years. Also if the middle school is the one closed, work crews could pull off the needed $1.5 million roof repair without impacting students, the superintendent said.

People in the New Paltz School District probably have one question on their mind: How could the school board go from asking for a $50 million renovation on the middle school to talking about closing a building?

Rice said there is absolutely no connection between the middle school vote and the current discussion. School board members asked her to look everywhere for savings, and that’s what she and her staff did.

“It was to look under every rock,” she said. “That was just simply to find money.”

Because of the dire situation the district finds itself in this year, they’re also investigating studying how New Paltz’s administration stacks up to other school systems in Ulster County, the temporary consolidations, alternative funding measures, asking for mandate relief, energy conservation to cut costs, online classes and possibly sharing advanced placement courses with Highland and surrounding districts.

What the teachers think about consolidation

During Jan. 27’s meeting, about 50 people sat in the high school auditorium to hear Superintendent Rice deliver the bad news. A good deal of them were teachers and faculty.

New Paltz United Teachers President urged the school board to not to compromise the quality of education students were receiving through the cuts.

“We know our students only go through these years once,” she said. “These proposals will set our students back in time.”

Rebecca Burdett, who teaches kindergarten and first grade at Duzine, asked that the school board try to preserve class sizes. For younger students, consolidation would bring a double whammy of overstimulation and larger class sizes.

Not only do educational studies point out the benefit of smaller class sizes, but larger class sizes would also reverse the current educational philosophy set up under Rice’s tenure.

“I’ve been so incredibly proud of this district’s commitment to lower class sizes,” Burdett said.

If all the elementary school kids get stuffed into one building with the consolidation, that would mean that more than 930 children would be in one place at the same time. For the youngest of kids, that would mean they would be mostly around older kids, the teacher added.

Other teachers asked the school board to rethink how grades would be split up if a consolidation occurred.

School board responds to

the superintendent’s plan

While the school board is considering some pretty heavy options for next year, not one of them is happy about it.

“No one who’s here is here because they want to be doing this,” board President Don Kerr said. He added that in a normal year, the school board’s job is to protect students and teachers from the fiscal insanity of Albany. “I don’t know if we can do that this year.”

Not many of the school board members liked the idea of how little money would come back from consolidating the students.

“What I was really disappointed in was the amount of money that we would save,” Trustee Bob Rich said. “There’s got to be a better way to save $200,000.” This year, especially, the Board of Education discussion is centered around bricks and machines versus staff. “Every dollar we can save is somebody we don’t have to fire.”

Another kink in the idea of temporarily closing down a building is the fact that by not buying new buses again in ’11-’12, the district would save $500,000. That’s roughly equal to six buses that won’t be bought.

Board member Steve Greenfield said he felt like all of the forces of the universe were stacked against the school board this year in building a budget. Federal stimulus money has dried up, the state government is disinvesting in the school systems and there is a laundry list of mandates the schools have to follow which disallow them from trying novel things -- like four-day school weeks.

“I’ve got to point out that we’re in this trap,” Greenfield said.

Like most of the school board, he also was nonplused by the consolidation options. “I’m not too impressed by the $400,000 that could be saved by combining the lower schools,” he said.

Trustee Edgar Rodriguez also did not like the idea of consolidations. He said he felt it would disrupt the children’s lives too much to only get back $400,000.

Vice President KT Tobin Flusser said consolidation was “pretty much off the table for me.”

She added: “$200,000 is not enough money to me to make it worthwhile.”

President Kerr said he didn’t think the school district had much choice, and asked the superintendent to keep investigating consolidation options.

“We have to consider consolidation. We have to. I hate it -- hate it -- for all the reasons we’ve said,” he said.

Board member Patrick Rausch asked the superintendent to look for other ways to save money, including calling on the unions for givebacks. “It’s a matter of do we spread it around to all of us, or do we give it to some,” he said.

Rausch added that he felt if the unions didn’t give something back next year that everyone would suffer.

Because the governor’s two-percent cap seems so likely, one budget the school board members want to see is one based on a two-percent tax levy increase.

But that’s not all the superintendent’s office is crafting.

One of the proposals for creating a budget calls on the superintendent to draft a budget that has a tax levy increase of 5.25 percent -- which would be above Gov. Cuomo’s two-percent cap. However, from what the governor has said, if a supermajority of voters -- more than 60 percent -- agree to a budget above the two percent, it will be allowed.

For school board members, the option of giving voters a choice to exceed that cap and pay more taxes on schools seemed like an attractive option.

New Paltz has traditionally also been a community that votes to support school budgets -- despite that, it means taxes will go up. By voting no, people would be sending a strong message.

“From my standpoint, the part of that that’s attractive is I don’t want to dismantle the jewel of the Hudson Valley,” Kerr said. “Make me do it.”

In the end, board members asked Rice to work up a two percent, a 3.5 percent and a 5.25 percent budget for the first meeting in March.

All of those proposals would cut out the buses, the superintendent said.