Newsday Has Major Article on Schools Seeking Difficult Choices

[Elwood Community Network commentary originally distributed 2/21/11]

Although our snow blower managed to shred our buried copy of [the February 21st] Newsday, thanks to a friend's E-mail I was made aware of a rather significant article about (no surprise here, eh?) the effects of proposed cuts in State aid on schools across Long Island.

Principal education reporter John Hildebrand's article is titled "School district asks: What would you cut?" and Newsday subscribers or Optonline cutomers can read it on the Newsday website, at the following web page:
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/school-district-asks-what-would-you-cut-1.2701717

Mr. Hildebrand begins his article with these two paragraphs:

"Faced with a potential $2.7 million reduction in its state aid, the Sayville school district has seized on an unusual strategy - asking parents and other residents what programs to cut if given the choice of fewer services or higher taxes.

The district, which serves 3,000 students, drew up a list of 30 programs that could be eliminated, ranging from elementary bands and orchestras to college-level math and science courses. Then the public was invited in to offer its input - an event last week that drew about 300 students, parents and other residents."

Now, what I can't understand is how the following phrase can, in any way, be accurate: "...asking parents and other residents what programs to cut if given the choice of fewer services or higher taxes."

In a year in which various expenses for school districts are rising dramatically (e.g., State mandated pension contributions, health insurance premiums, energy costs, transportation expenses, etc), and in a year in which Governor Cuomo and the apparently complicit and toady-like State legislators are proposing to cut State aid to schools before cutting mandates or releasing State restrictions on their ability to effect meaningful change in staff compensation, it is virtually guaranteed that programs would need to be cut by districts even if there was no increase, whatsoever, in property taxes.

School districts are floundering in the midst of the proverbial "perfect storm" of school finance compounded by State deception about where the principal problem lies.

Unless some school district has been more than a bit disingenuous with its residents for years, building up hidden surpluses by deliberately over-budgeting and thereby pre-taxing its residents substantially, over time, so that it can magically pull those dollars out of a hat when it all hits the fan, there is bound to be an impact upon the district when the State acts so recklessly.

Please note that I am not talking, here, about districts which have created modest unallocated reserves within SED and OSC standards (intended, for the sake of financial safety, for extraordinary operating situations), but those which have "socked it away" outside those standards. Financial transparency and fiscal candor are the right thing to do, and that relationship with constituents must replace the declining number of paternalistic "we know what's best for you" school district administrations and boards.

Responsible school districts are suffering in this economic downturn, just as are their residents.

Now, the problems of school districts can either be helped by various unions of teachers and other employees who begin to offer serious concessions regarding their salary and/or benefits, or they can be driven against the financial wall by unions that dig in their heels and refuse to budge significantly.

In the latter case the combination of even more State cutbacks in aid for 2011/12, following damaging State cutbacks in aid in 20010/11, and the lack of compensation relief regarding teachers and other staff, would compound to give virtual assurance of major reductions of younger teachers (the historical seniority preference problem), increased class sizes, reduction -- if not elimination -- of after-school activities and athletics, and still result in some local tax increase.

Mr. Hildebrand's article goes on to cite recent activity in Farmingville, and he also mentions that Glen Cove, Harborfields, and South Huntington are already considering reducing the number of high school periods from nine to eight.

I suppose the only saving grace mentioned, was Mr. Hildebrand's final sentence, where he reports that (unspecified) aides of Governor Cuomo have conceded that the Governor's earlier contention that school districts had enough in reserves to absorb the cuts he was proposing.

"But aides later backed away from that position, saying it was understood that districts couldn't prudently spend down the bulk of their reserves in a single year."

Oh goody; somebody in the Governor's staff actually passed Corporate Finance 101, Accounting 101, and Economics 101.

Don't you want to ask: "OK, then what are you actually proposing to do to give relief to school districts and their residents?"