January 2006 Vol. XX, No. 1

BOARD OF DIRECTORS’ MEETING WITH DIVISION OF BUDGET

The Association’s Board met with John Cape, Director, NYS Division of Budget, and Alan Kaplan, Deputy Director, on December 27^th to get a preview of the Executive Budget for 2006-07 relating to education. The Director and his Deputy were generous with their time and spent nearly two hours discussing the Governor’s goals for his final year in Albany and small city schools’ concerns. It was apparent from the conversation that the Governor, as a former Mayor of Peekskill and State Legislator, has been keenly aware of the challenges facing our schools and cities. That awareness was concretely expressed in recent Executive Budgets where proposed aid increases, though not as highly targeted as in the Regents’ proposals or in the Association’s proposal, Funding For Achievement, were still aggressively targeted to districts with low wealth and high need. Unfortunately, that targeting was ultimately diluted by the Legislature when the State Budgets were passed. We do hope that the Governor’s education proposal for 2006-07 will follow his recent pattern and continue to set an example for State Education Aid reform.

Cape indicated that the Governor was intent on preserving his legacy in the programs he especially valued such as Child Care Plus, Health Care Plus, EPIC, STAR and elementary, secondary and higher education. He also is intent on preserving strides made in the areas of tax policy and fiscal policy. Additional personal and business tax cuts will be proposed as a way of spurring job growth and economic development and efforts will be made to eliminate any ‘out year’ budget deficits. When coming into office in 1995 he faced a $5 billion State deficit.

The State’s fiscal picture is steadily improving and as of the meeting DOB projected a $1+ billion surplus for 2005-06 and ‘only’ a $2.5 billion structural deficit for 2006-07. Cape said that to the extent that the 2005-06 surplus exceeded $1 billion, the 2006-07 deficit would decline. More recently it has been reported that the current year surplus has reached $2 billion, thereby reducing the 2006-07 deficit even further. The State, in addition, has funds exceeding $2 billion from the Empire Blue Cross-Wellpoint privatization to help with current and out year expenses.

The Association’s concerns regarding education finance reform, Hurd Aid, debt ceiling reform and increased costs of TRS/ERS, health premiums and energy were also discussed.

The Governor’s State of the State message delivered on January 4^th added little detail of special interest.  In addition to the pro-family and business tax cuts and the STAR enhancement, Pataki proposed a direct school property tax rebate. He also recommended providing additional funds to high needs districts to support tutoring, after school and other educational services. He supported, to no one’s surprise, additional charter school authorizations and proposed a major initiative to improve student performance in math and science by encouraging establishment of collaborations between middle schools and community colleges and by creating new high schools of math and science similar to the new high school underway in Rensselaer CSD.

The Executive Budget is due on January 17^th and we will then be able to see and report in greater detail on Pataki’s farewell budget and determine to what extent the promises of the past few months become a reality.

SMALL CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT LITIGATION UPDATE:

84 PARENTS AND CHILDREN FROM ALBANYCSD, BEACON CSD, JAMESTOWN AND NEWBURGH CSD JOIN AS ADDITIONAL PLAINTIFFS

The Attorney General’s motion to dismiss the Association’s and 18 small city school boards’ education finance lawsuit has finally been scheduled for hearing in February. Most recently, the AG’s office requested an adjournment of the motion (to accommodate scheduling conflicts) from January 30^th to February 21^st. We have requested that the motion be heard via oral argument on the 21^st and the AG has joined in that request. It remains for the Court to agree to oral argument. These days most motions are decided without personal appearances of counsel. The case has historic implications for small city schools and for many other low wealth districts and we are hopeful that the Court will allow us to be heard.

The motion alleges that the Association and the Boards lack ‘capacity to sue,’ that the complaint merely complains about inequities in funding between rich and poor districts and that the complaint is not specific enough to show any constitutional defects in education. For the most part we disagree with each of these points and oppose the motion on the merits. In addition, we are amending the complaint to further buttress our position. In the amended complaint each of the Board Members are now individually named and are suing as citizen-taxpayers, which they have the right to do under the State Finance Law, and 84 parents and children from Albany CSD, Beacon CSD, Jamestown CSD and Newburgh CSD have been joined as additional plaintiffs.  Further, the allegations of the complaint showing various short comings in programming, funding and student performance have been expanded and set forth in greater detail. We believe that the amended complaint alone should convince the Court to dismiss the motion on the basis of mootness.

Once the Court has heard a motion, a decision can usually be expected within one to two months. As previously reported, the judge originally assigned to the case, Joseph Cannizzaro, passed away last July. Recently, the case was reassigned to Judge Thomas J. McNamara, a Court of Claims Judge and Acting State Supreme Court Judge from Saratoga. The venue of the case remains in Albany County, however, with Judge McNamara sitting in Albany.

ARKANSAS
SUPREME COURT DECLARES
FUNDING SYSTEM UNCONSTITU-TIONAL

On December 15, 2005, the Arkansas Supreme Court declared its state’s education funding system unconstitutional according to an article posted on the website Access*. The court had previously ruled the system unconstitutional in its November 2002 Lake View opinion and prompted the legislature to make significant changes and increase funding in the winter of 2004.  Special masters were then charged with reporting on the progress of the legislators, among other things. They found that the legislature made good progress but reported that “[t]here is no guarantee the plan…will be followed beyond the 2004-2005 appropriations.”

In this latest ruling, the court stated that the General Assembly could not possibly have adequately funded its schools for the upcoming 2006-07 school year because “it had made no effort “to determine what adequate funding should be,” as required by [Arkansas State law].” The court also ruled that appropriations for facilities construction and repair were “grossly underfunded.” The court set a deadline of December 1, 2006 to correct these “constitutional deficiencies.” The special masters reported that the state has a surplus of funds and that the budget included cost-of-living raises for all state officials but not for schools.

*ACCESS is a site generated by the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, Inc. that “seeks to strengthen the links between school finance litigation, public engagement and the standards-based reform movement.” (http://www.schoolfunding.info/news/litigation)

BEACON
SUPERINTENDENT
TO RETIRE

Below is an article that appeared in the Poughkeepsie Journal December 10, 2005 regarding Vito DiCesare’s planned retirement in June 2006.

 Schools chief plans ride 'into the sunset'  DiCesare to leave Beacon in June


By David Paulsen
Poughkeepsie Journal

BEACON — Superintendent Vito DiCesare plans to retire at the end of June after more than three decades of service to the Beacon City School District.

DiCesare, 62, who joined the district in 1970 as principal of Sargent Elementary School, was named district superintendent in 1994.

The board of education is expected to accept his resignation at its Monday meeting.

"It's a tremendously challenging job, but you have an ability to do a lot of good for children and for the community,"

DiCesare said Friday. "I enjoy challenges like that and I enjoy being able to help people that way."

DiCesare, a native of Newburgh, has worked to expand programs for students, update school facilities and improve Beacon's reputation in the region.

Residents and students were content to settle for less in their schools before DiCesare took the district's reins, said Deborah Sheers, who has been a member of the Board of Education since 1989 and board president since 1994.

"I think he changed that attitude in our school district, that our students deserve to have programs that others in the state have," Sheers said. "He really gave hope to people in our school district."

DiCesare's salary this year is $160,000. His contract allows him to collect payments for some of his unused sick time and vacation days. The payments, which total $180,000, will be made over three years, DiCesare said.

The terms of his retirement couldn't be confirmed Friday since the school district offices were closed because of the morning snow storm.

DiCesare had planned to retire in 2002 but agreed to remain with the district a few more years to see it through budget challenges and capital improvement projects.

Now, it is time for him to "do a John Wayne into the sunset," he said.

Travel tops future plans

He doesn't have any grand plans yet for his retirement. His first goal is to enjoy his newfound free time, and he likely will travel more.

"I'm too active to not do something," he said.

DiCesare has been working since he was 8. His first job was delivering copies of the Newburgh News, and he later worked in a diner, on construction sites and behind the drums in a rock 'n' roll band called the Starlites.

"You see the best and the worst in each of those jobs," he said. Through those experiences, he developed a love of working with people.

After graduating from Newburgh Free Academy, DiCesare attended the State University of New York at New Paltz, where he studied education and microbiology. He met his wife, Pat, at SUNY New Paltz, and the couple married in DiCesare's senior year.

He was hired in 1965 as a fifth-grade teacher at James S. Evans Elementary School in the Town of Wappinger. Three years later, he was accepted into a two-year fellowship program at St. John's University in Queens.

Since then, his home has been Beacon, and his 35 years with the Beacon school district makes him one of the longest-serving administrators in the district.

When he started as superintendent, the district's outlook was bleak, he said. Programs were minimal, teachers and support staff had been cut, the curriculum was outdated and buildings were deteriorating.

"The kids in Beacon at that time were embarrassed to wear a jacket that said 'Beacon,' " DiCesare said. "There was very little hope in the school district. ... And, I saw that the first job was to try to rebuild the community."

Tackled many problems

Under his watch, the district created the South Avenue Magnet School, which added more programs for students and hired more nurses, psychologists, assistant principals and other staff members.

The district's music program is an example of DiCesare's vision, Sheers said. The district barely had a music program before he took over, but now, hundreds of students are involved, she said.

"I've seen amazing things happen in our district, so many programs that didn't exist when Vito became superintendent that exist now, programs that were minimal at the time that have grown to flourish," Sheers said.

DiCesare's last day will be June 30.

Sheers said the board will begin the search for his replacement in January with a goal of filling the job by the time DiCesare leaves.

"I think he's done wonderful things for Beacon," Sheers said. "Of course, we wish him a very happy and healthy retirement."

MIDDLETOWN CSD ANNOUNCES OPENING

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