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FROM THE PRESIDENT’S DESK
Norma
Barton
President BOE Canandaigua CSD
BOARD OF
DIRECTORS
Norma Barton,
Board Member
Canandaigua CSD
Judith Dwyer,
Board Member
Corning CSD
Raymond Fashano,
Superintendent
Jamestown CSD
Carmen Granto,
Superintendent
Niagara Falls CSD
Dr. Jean Parr,
Superintendent
Beacon CSD
Steve Lackmann,
Board Member
Cohoes CSD
Judith Johnson,
Superintendent
Peekskill CSD
Eric Ely,
Superintendent
Schenectady CSD
Dr. Peggy Wozniak, Superintendent
Binghamton CSD
Thomas Woodhull,
Board Member
Newburgh CSD
Fred Wachtmeister,
Board Member
Plattsburgh CSD
Mark Ward,
Superintendent
Olean CSD
Judy Doesschate,
Board Member
Albany CSD
Dr. Robert Greenberg,
Superintendent
Long Beach CSD
William Lynch,
Superintendent
Fulton CSD
Lynn McBride,
Board Member
Mount Vernon CSD
Thomas McGowan,
Superintendent
Glens Falls CSD
Marilyn Skermont,
Superintendent
Utica CSD
William Winans,
Board Member
Norwich CSD
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Dear Members,
As I step into my role as
President of the Association for the second time, I am pleased to report
the Association is in a strong position to further the incredibly
important interests of our districts and students. You will have
received an annual directory survey from our office. This includes a
place for you to list the issues you need the Association to address
this year. Please use this as an opportunity to communicate your
concerns with me, our board of directors and special committees.
I would also like to welcome
the new slate of board members. Some of you have been with us a number
of years and others are new to this role. Our board of directors is a
great group of professionals who bring experience and vision to the
Association which is invaluable. I welcome all members to participate in
the Association’s annual events such as the upcoming breakfast in NYC
and our conference in May. Our events will be listed in each newsletter
as well as on the Association’s website (http://scsd.neric.org).
Board meeting notices will be emailed to you as well. I look forward to
getting to know each of you.
Small
City School District
Litigation -
As you may already be aware, the Appellate Division 3rd
Department affirmed the decision of the State Supreme Court to dismiss
our amended complaint. This decision was based solely on procedural
considerations and did not address the issues brought by the complaint.
As our executive director, Bob Biggerstaff reported, the decision “…was
not entirely unexpected inasmuch as the Appellate Division historically
affirms and defends the State in most cases.” Mr. Biggerstaff was able
to argue against the Attorney General’s last minute attempt to raise the
issue of mootness based on the Foundation Aid reform approved as part of
the 2007-08 State Budget. Bob replied that what was approved in the
2007-08 State Budget was only a small down payment on the full cost of a
sound basic education in plaintiffs' districts and pointed out that when
the true effects of inflation were factored in, the increases in school
aid for this year fell far short and more importantly, the long history
of inadequate funding will require many years before the “pernicious
effects of under funding will be overcome.”
Since this decision in early
July, the Association’s Litigation Steering Committee has met twice via
conference call to discuss the decision and to make recommendations for
the future of the lawsuit. The committee requested that Bob poll the 18
plaintiff districts. He reports that it appears none of the districts
wish to appeal the decision, however a number of districts wish to
re-file to lawsuit in the format in which the Appellate Division has
ruled will confer standing to sue. Bob will continue to report to the
Association on the lawsuit and its progress.
Center for School Improvement Planning - The Association has opened a Center for
School Improvement Planning with the help of Lonnie Palmer, former Interim Superintendent
Troy CSD and former Albany CSD Superintendent and Charles Winters, SCSD Consultant
and Professor (School Finance), SUNY New Paltz. The Center currently offers two levels
of participation. In connection with Level I services, the Center will be using data and
methodology developed by Charles Winters and Lonnie Palmer. The Center will provide
data analysis and a team of experienced professionals to help districts analyze district operations.
This first level of participation will enable the Center to develop the data base necessary to provide
your district with the analysis of comparable districts. The flat fee will be charged at this level to
cover all the administrative, technical and organizational services and associated costs needed to
develop the data report and present the report to your district. Participation at Level II includes
services to be provided only at the recommendation of the Superintendent and approval of your
board. The second level of participation involves usage of the Center Teams, each consisting of
superintendents/administrators emeritus, academicians and other highly experienced professionals
necessary to assist district staff
1. in the additional review and analysis of relevant data,
2. in development of new or modified programs under the C4E ,
3. in implementation, monitoring and evaluating of the new or restructured programs under the
C4E during the balance of 2007-08 and in years two three and four of the C4E.
Services provided under this second level would be funded from C4E dollars, a portion of which
could be set aside for planning under each of the C4E categories, class size reduction, time on task,
teacher/principal quality, middle school/high school restructuring, full day kindergarten and pre-
kindergarten. We have been advised by SED that planning set asides for these categories
are approvable under the C4E.
Other Activities - Our next event is scheduled for October 26, 2007 and will introduce the
Center and its activities. Our breakfast will be held during the annual NYSSBA conference in New
York City. Due to difficulties in the execution of the breakfast last year, the Association’s planning
committee has decided to take our breakfast off site and has made arrangements at the Cornell Club
for an 8:00 am breakfast. Our staff is working on providing a shuttle to and from the Cornell Club.
The Cornell Club is less than 3/4ths of mile from the NYSSBA event. Further information will be
provided, please feel free to call or email our office if you have any questions.
I am looking forward to
another productive year for the Association. Any questions or comments
can be directed to me at 518-475-9500 or through Beth at the
Association’s office at
beb@biggerstaff-firm.com.
Norma |
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REGENTS
EDUCATION
FINANCE
ADVISORY
GROUP MEETS
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The
Association is a member of the Regents Education Finance Advisory Group
and each year participates in development of the Regents proposals for
changes to the State Education Aid formulas for the coming State fiscal
year. Normally, the Advisory Group meets in September and again in
October prior to the Regents meetings. The Regents proposals are then
finalized by the Regents in November and December. This year, however,
the Governor announced that he would move the State Budget process up by
two months, and would start discussions with the Legislature on the
2008-09 Budget in November. In response to this accelerated timetable,
Regent Tallon called a meeting of the Advisory Group on July 16th.
Tallon is the Chairman of the State Aid Sub-committee and since 2003 has
been the leading figure in development of the Regents Foundation Aid
proposals.
Representing the Association were Executive Director, Bob Biggerstaff,
and Education Finance Consultant, Charlie Winters.
Regent
Tallon began the substantive part of the meeting by asking the Group to
identify concerns about the Education Budget passed for 2007-08. Major
issues raised included the BOCES salary cap, the Foundation Aid
formula’s regional cost adjustment, the failure of income wealth to be
adjusted for regional cost differences and the regressive High Tax Aid.
Tallon said that these issues were all excellent topics to be raised in
the coming months.
Regent
Tallon then indicated that his agenda for improvements in Education Aid
would be comprised of two primary issues, early childhood education and
accountability.
Chuck
Szuberla, SED staffer, said that the Regents wanted to propose phasing
in full day funding for 4 year olds in pre-k in 2008-09. A formula
approach, he said, requires a local share to support the pre-k program
and would be expensive. He also said the Regents wanted to fund programs
for three year olds but were concerned with how that program would link
with the four year olds’ program. Transportation Aid was also a concern.
He noted that districts can transport pre-k students but receive no aid,
that special education programs already provide aided transportation and
that community based organizations are essential to the pre- programs.
Szuberla then revealed that the Regents are proposing full day
kindergarten partly because full day pre-k and ½ day kindergarten does
not make sense and that the Regents hoped that the $2 million planning
grant in the 2007-08 Budget will encourage districts to move forward on
this.
Burt
Porter, another key SED staffer, and Charlie Winters then discussed the
current formula funding for pre-k. Pre-k is funded through a formula but
is treated as a grant and is not part of the local budget. Nevertheless,
the formula presumes a local share will be funded by the taxpayers.
Districts are tempted to fund pre-k as inexpensively as possible, which
is not good. This raises the policy question of whether pre-k should
instead be funded just as k-12 is, through Foundation Aid. Another
problem is the unavailability of adequate space in some districts. These
districts cannot use the pre-k grant as a result. In addition, in some
rural areas, alternate pre-k providers do not exist. Charlie recommended
phasing in pre-k dollars by targeting children in need. Further, it was
noted that Head Start dollars, $457 M in federal funding, could be lost
as pre-k goes more and more public. Tallon asked about three year old
transportation. It was mentioned that three year olds need a car seat
and may be spread out geographically, costing four times the cost of
secondary transportation. And while four year olds can be on regular
buses, there is community resistance to this and smaller buses on
different routes are needed.
Chuck
Szuberla then turned the discussion to the Contract for Excellence. He
mentioned that ‘new’ programs under the C4E might be defined as programs
which are one year old (Note: this is exactly the kind of flexibility
which the Association has been asking for and comes from our
recommendation to define ‘new’ as three years old). He also raised the
possibility of eliminating the 10% cut off for C4E districts and
replacing it with other criteria. Bob Biggerstaff expressed concern
about the interface between the NCLB audits for DINI districts and the
C4E contracts and audits. Six of the eleven DINI districts under audit
are small city districts. SED said it was aware of this issue and would
work on it to insure no contradictory requirements would emerge. Charlie
Winters pointed out that under the current C4E accountability
requirements, the cost of corrective actions for each district, i.e. the
increase in Foundation Aid over 3% and 25%, is fixed, regardless of the
severity of the educational deficiency which got the district on the C4E
list. Moreover, he said, chronically under funded districts need
substantial dollars and time devoted to planning efforts.
As the
meeting came to a close, SED staff asked Charlie if he could provide
bill language for the proposals he made regarding the pre-k program and
the C4E. We will be working on that language this month and submitting
it to Regent Tallon and SED by September. |
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THE ASSOCIATION WELCOMES NEW
SUPERINTENDENTS
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We would like to welcome new
Superintendents to the Association. We hope to see you and your board of
education members at our annual events.
Mr. J.D.Pabis - Auburn CSD
Mr. Gary Cerne - Dunkirk CSD
Mr.
Roger Rooney, Interim - Gloversville CSD
Dr. Fern Aefsky - Hudson CSD
Ms. Terry Ann Carbone - Lockport CSD
Mr. W. L. Sawyer, Ed. - Mount Vernon CSD
Mr. Richard Organisciak - New Rochelle CSD
Mr. Vincent Vecchiarella - North Tonawanda
CSD
Mr. Gerard O’Sullivan - Norwich CSD
Mr. James Short - Plattsburgh CSD
Ms. Janice M. White - Saratoga Springs CSD
Mr. Fadilika Atiba-Weza - Troy CSD |
