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BOARD OF DIRECTORS CONVENE IN
ALBANY |
The Association’s Board of Directors
met in Albany on November 28th to continue planning for what
will undoubtedly prove to be a hectic year in 2006. In attendance were
William Lynch, Fulton CSD, Thomas McGowan, Glens Falls CSD,
Joan Purtell, Binghamton CSD, Norma Barton, Canandaigua
CSD, Judith Johnson, Peekskill CSD, Vito DiCesare, Beacon
CSD, Marilyn Shermont, Utica CSD, Charles Winters,
NYSASCSD Consultant, Daniel Lowengard, Utica CSD and Fred
Wachtmeister, Plattsburgh CSD.
With incumbent Governor George Pataki
stepping down, the State Republican party leadership is struggling to
identify a new standard bearer and to define issues to champion. The
State Senate is concerned more than ever that its 35-27 majority may be
vulnerable in an election year where Democratic candidates and issues
are ascendant. The Assembly itself is in some internal turmoil with the
NYC Common Council Speaker-ship up for grabs and many State Assemblyman
jockeying for position in the attempt to fill the Assembly leadership
voids left by the resignations of Clarence Norman and Steven Sanders.
Such turmoil and uncertainty makes it difficult to achieve consensus
within the Houses or parties on many of the major issues facing State
Government in the new year.
Nonetheless, some good news was
received. State coffers appear to be fuller than predicted and the State
may end the current fiscal year with a sizeable surplus in excess of $1
billion. Other substantial sources of revenue, albeit some so-called
‘one timers,’ have also been identified making the prospects for
revenues available in 2006-07 far less gloomy than previously thought.
It would appear that the fiscal strength of the State for the coming
year is sufficient to enable the Governor and the Legislators to begin
the task of investing in education reform even before the Court of
Appeals finally rules on the CFE case later in 2006. It does not appear,
however, that the political will to begin that process is equally as
strong. The fears of voter backlash next November in the event sizeable
new education dollars are appropriated for NYC schools still haunts the
Senate Republicans still smarting from several recent defeats or near
defeats of Republican State candidates.
With the political environment still
unsettled, the Board concluded that a near term legislative solution for
education finance reform was not likely, making it now even more
important that the Association, the 18 named Plaintiff districts and the
11 supporting small city school districts continue vigorous prosecution
of their litigation. The Board also reiterated its strong support for
several key legislative initiatives including the former Canestrari/Kuhl
debt ceiling bill excluding building aid from the computation of debt
and various Charter School bills providing state aid relief or other
assistance to districts containing such schools.
The Board then devoted much time
discussing issues to be discussed with Commissioner Mills immediately
following the Board meeting. The agenda for the Commissioner’s meeting
was particularly full and insured a lively and productive interchange
(see below).
The Board recognized the
retirement/resignation of long time Board members John Lutz,
Superintendent, Cortland CSD, and Daniel Lowengard, Superintendent,
Utica CSD. John is retiring from Superintendency after a long and
productive career. The Association will miss him and extends its
appreciation for his excellent work on behalf of small city schools.
Dan is leaving Utica CSD at the end of this year and has been appointed
Superintendent of Syracuse CSD, effective January 1st. He has
expressed his desire to continue working with the Association and to
encourage a closer cooperation between the Big 5 and the Small City
Schools. For many years, Dan has played a major role in the development
of Association policy and has provided excellent leadership and guidance
while on the Board for which we are very grateful.
The Board appointed Michael Shea, new
Superintendent, Oneonta CSD, to fill the remainder of John’s term and
Marilyn Shermont, new Superintendent, Utica CSD, to replace Dan on the
Board. A warm welcome to both Michael and Marilyn. |
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BOARD MEETS WITH COM’R MILLS |
Following the Board meeting,
directors met with Commissioner Mills. An extensive agenda of issues was
planned and of course time ran out before all topics could be covered.
The agenda was developed from Board input over several weeks and
consisted of the following topics/questions:
1. Ask for a report on the education
summit-what are the next steps? We should discuss the Regents state aid
proposals and if there is time, the early childhood proposals.
2. Discuss a way to
include a fifth year in the cohort without pressing most kids into four
years.
3. Discuss a longer
school year---need more days for instruction.
4. Ask the Commissioner
for support of legislation that would exclude our building aid in any
one year against our debt limit of 5%.
5. Is there a
legislative solution to CFE and Small Cities lawsuit in the cards this
year?
6. Discuss rising
energy costs.
7. Merger with our
BOCES Study- small cities cannot afford to go into a merged area whereby
our administrative costs will increase significantly--the recent E2C2
BOCES Merger Study may have Jamestown going a way we cannot afford at
this time.
8. The timing of the
3-8 grade testing with regard to certifying teachers to correct the
tests and availability of substitute teachers should be discussed.
There will be a shortage of quality substitute teachers for the
classrooms. Also the recommendation to choose the best teachers we have
to correct the tests (this way assuring the qualifications to correct
the tests) means the students are missing instructions from the best
teachers for 1 to 2 days. The cost of this is going to be burdensome not
to mention the price the students are paying not having their classroom
teachers for this period of time.
The Commissioner spoke
extensively about the Education Summit. He said the need for the Summit
was driven by the need to address the sizeable and growing performance
gap between children of color/poverty and other children. He said the
Summit had produced a consensus that three areas required special focus-
early childhood, high school and higher education. He said there was a
consensus that pre-kindergarten should be universal, that the compulsory
age of education should be lowered from 6 to 5 and that there should be
a greater effort in the areas of teacher certification and school board
accountability. He spoke about the need to ‘turn up the heat.’
Dan Lowengard asked
about the need for a 5th year in high school. Martha Musser,
from the Commissioner’s staff, said that NCLB acknowledges this as a
possibility and that NYS will be looking at 5 year graduation rates
soon.
Charles Winters asked
whether the Business Council, which was the driving force behind the
Summit, has supported increases in state education aid. The Commissioner
said the Council supports the Regents Standards but has not taken a
position on aid. He said that the Council believes it is too expensive
to do business in NYS. He also said that the Department was interested
in building alliances when it could, even when the parties could not
agree on all issues. He said that we need to convince the Council that
it is in their interest to have better educated students.
Judith Johnson spoke
about the political structure in NYS. She commented that it is not
responsive to poor minority families in part because they ‘don’t vote’
and do not need to be courted. She said we need politicians with the
proper moral commitment to educate poor children.
Vito DiCesare said that
rising fixed costs for health insurance, energy and TRS contributions
have been a great burden to Beacon CSD. His district lost several
qualified science and math teachers recently because they could not
match salaries with other districts. He observed that some of the
poorest children have the least experienced teachers as a result.
(Editor’s note: At the Board’s request, the Association will be
surveying the small city districts soon on increases in fixed costs.
Your cooperation will be very much appreciated.)
The Commissioner asked
what should be done about rising fuel costs? Dan Lowengard replied that
whatever is done should not be done for every district across the board-
relief should be targeted on the basis of wealth and need. Charles
Szuberla, Commissioner’s staff, recommended development of a aid/grant
program to encourage districts to pursue energy efficiency projects. He
also said that it should be shown how increases in fixed costs hurt poor
districts disproportionately. |
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UPCOMING
EVENTS |
January 22, 2006
Board of Directors Meeting
1:00 pm
Desmond American Hotel, Albany
January 23, 2006
Board of Directors Lobbying day
Time: tba
Capitol, Albany
March 21, 2006
Association Legislative Breakfast and Seminar
8:00 am to 12:00 pm
Fort Orange Club, Albany
May 21 – 22, 2006
Annual Conference
Gideon Putnam, Saratoga Springs |
