Tuesday, January 27, 2009
BOE Meeting
Stacey Shackford gives a pretty good recap of our BOE meeting. People were appropriately serious in their responses and asked good questions. The bottom line is that with a rollover including salary increases, the levy approaches 15% with the governor's budget. I should note that despite the reader comment, we do not have a lacrosse team--we have what's called an "unfunded sport" called lacrosse, whose patrons have come to us requesting varsity "funded" status. (No unfunded sport is truly unfunded; there are always costs associated with having players and coaches on our property.) We're headed back to a 3Rs approach to education, if only we can get out from under the mandates that pile on to that basic approach.
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2 comments:
Hi KAZ Sorry I could not make the meeting...am in route to Tucson today to shed this winter weather for a short time...Appreciate your comments, and especially Tom M's at the meeting...right along my line of thinking...The IJ article also confirms my suspecion re: use of Gov's proposal which is akin to "Crying Wolf" as it simply will not fly politically. But then, is it only a preparation for a substantial tax increase that isn't "as bad as it could have been!!" My guess is that flat state aid, perhaps a small reduction, is more realistic when it all washes out, given the potential for some education oriented stimulus funding. Are you aware that Cortland @16.69 per K assessed, and Ithaca @16.15 per K, have tax rates of 22% and 26% below Dryden's, on the same assessment basis (Tompkins Co. properties)?? No question, you folks have an extremely difficult task, but your comment of "back to basics" (however defined) may be where the District is heading. It may not be a bad lesson for all the kids (and parents) who have lived int the land of plenty the past 25+ years to live through a time when they can't have it all--all the time....Les Cleland
Hey, Les--Until Dryden imports some businesses other than dollar stores, it won't be able to compete with either Cortland's or Ithaca's tax rate. As for the Gov's proposal vs. the legislators', you know the fur will fly in Albany as people fight the (possibly illegal) freeze on foundation aid. Even if we get that money back, however, they'll have to take it out of transportation or building aid to balance their budget--and they'll have to do all of that in a timely manner or we won't know the state budget numbers before we must approve our own. Enjoy the warmth; we're expecting 10 inches of snow tomorrow!
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