Separated at Birth?

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Paging Mr. Gerry

Living in Dryden has the proposed maps, and I have the bust of Mr. Gerry himself, erstwhile governor of Massachusetts, who started the ball rolling by redrawing salamander-shaped districts to improve his friends' chances against the Federalists.

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Syria, Revisited

My 2010 book for kids on the Assads ends with the questions:

Can Bashar turn Syria's economy around in time to save the country from an internal coup? The history of Syria's nationhood sets the odds against his success. Will he return to the reforms of his first year in office? Crackdowns on journalists, teachers, and activists since the early 2000s make that openness seem a distant dream...[Bashar's] choices over the next few years could mean the difference between war and lasting peace in the Middle East.

Hardly prescient, given the realities in Syria. My outside reader on the book was Joshua Landis, co-director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, and his blog remains the best site I know for finding out what's really going on in that benighted country. His inside contacts, friends and in-laws alike, give an angle on the news that you just won't get on CNN, and he has links to many other useful sources. If you want to know about Syria, start there.

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When Is a Dollar Not a Dollar?

Before everyone gets overexcited about restoration of school aid, understand that the percentage change (which is over 7 percent in Dryden without building aid) does not represent more dollars added to the bottom line (i.e., an increase in foundation aid) but rather a decrease in deficit reduction, which the schools refer to as the "gap elimination adjustment"—the money the district owes back to the state. It's a little bit as though your mom loaned you $25 to fill your car up, and instead of raising your allowance as you'd expected, told you that you only had to pay her back $20.

Hidden in the governor's speech was a great boon for counties—the removal of preschool special ed costs over time and their return to the school districts. What one hand giveth, the other taketh away, of course, because those preschool special ed costs can really add up. If you have, say, just eight little two- and three-year olds with extremely special needs, and they have to head off to Racker Center or Binghamton to have those needs met, that can cost $30K a pop, and suddenly a little district whose 1 percent tax levy = $48,000 has an unexpected and unfunded annual expense of $240,000, or a 5 percent increase in the tax levy.

Again, this is a change that will hit small schools hardest.

Schools have done their massive calculations required to determine what their "2 percent cap" really looks like (it is never really 2 percent), and the range seems likely to be great. However, none of the districts around here has a cap as high as 5 percent.

The biggest difficulty will be explaining any of this to the general population, not because the general population isn't capable of understanding it, but because it's all so odd and counterintuitive. "Hey, the governor gave you 4 percent, and your tax cap is only 2 percent! You should be able to make things work without any cuts at all!" "Hey, the governor said 2 percent, but your levy is coming in at 3.47 percent! Why should I approve your budget?" I see no way that the governor doesn't come out of this smelling like a rose, while the districts continue to wallow in despair. It's brilliant, actually.

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Farewell

Not surprising, but saddening. It makes it even more likely that NY 22 will be in the mix for redistricting in 2012.

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Confused about SOPA/PIPA?

As an author and one-time songwriter, you'd think I'd be all for it. But Living in Dryden has a number of useful links that show better than I can why it's a mess and should be shitcanned immediately.

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One to Watch

This four-way potential school district merger in Herkimer is on my radar, because if it passes, others may be encouraged to follow suit. The districts are Frankfort-Schuyler (1209 students in 2009–2010), Herkimer (1200 students), Ilion (1570 students), and Mohawk (875 students). Details of the feasibility study are available on any of those school districts' websites. The resulting district would serve over 4800 students, putting it a little under Ithaca City School District's total population.

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