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School boards
association challenged by speakers
Leadership needed now to solve complex education issues
 Aug.
29, 2011 - “Our problems are bigger than the solutions we have
right now.” That ominous assessment by New York State School
Boards Association President Timothy Kremer summed up the
initial mood of area education leaders when they gathered to
consider life under the new tax cap.
About 75 members and colleagues of the Mohawk Sacandaga School
Boards Association gathered on Aug. 15 to hear Kremer, Fulton
Montgomery Community College President Dustin Swanger, Fulton
County Regional Chamber of Commerce President Wally Hart, and
others address the pressures on educators to improve student
achievement and career readiness in an environment of reduced
funding and increased accountability.
HFM BOCES Board of Education President Robert Townsend
immediately challenged them to embrace the leadership necessary
for the future.
“As elected officials, it’s our responsibility to deliver the
highest quality education for our children and communities,”
Townsend told the audience in his opening remarks. “The old way
of doing business is gone forever, and it will take our
collective leadership to guide our schools to a new model that
meets the demanding needs of our region.”
The first presenter was Dr. Richard Timbs, executive director of
the Statewide School Finance Consortium, who used charts and
spreadsheets to forecast graphically the coming fiscal storm for
districts under the new tax cap.
“The school property tax cap will not have the same impact on
every school district in the state and will be much more harmful
to average to low-wealth school districts,” Timbs said. “That is
most of your districts in the HFM BOCES region.”
Dr. Timbs explained how the combination of frozen or reduced
state aid, the new restrictions on raising revenue through the
tax levy, and the ability to rely on dwindling reserves forces
school districts into a corner where cutting staff and
eliminating programs will be the only way for the district to
survive.
“This is not a problem of upstate vs. downstate schools. It’s
about poor and wealthy school districts having the capacity to
thrive under the tax cap – for now.”
 Timbs illustrated how wealthy districts, defined by their
combined wealth ratio, could sustain their abundant programs
because the dollars they could raise under the tax cap were many
times greater than poorer, mostly rural school districts.
The law and complicated formulas used to calculate the tax levy
cap and any exemptions pose a number of unanswered questions,
something Timbs suggests will hamstring school districts
everywhere trying to explain the complexities to their
communities and build consent for future budget proposals.
“When will the inflation factor be published? How are pension
costs calculated? If a school budget fails twice and the
district chooses a contingency budget with zero tax levy change,
what’s the status of the exemptions?” Timbs queried the room.
“Nobody knows these answers. Not you. Not me. Not the people in
Albany.”
Timbs said that 67 percent of school districts budgets were
above the cap this year, and forecast that within three years
more than 200 districts would hit structural deficit –
essentially exhaust their reserve funds and have no means to
operate their schools.
Can a school district go bankrupt? Dr. Timbs was asked.
“We don’t know. Before the tax cap, the state would just require
a district in this kind of trouble to increase its tax levy to
cover its cost. The new law apparently closes that door. We just
don’t know what might happen,” Timbs admitted.
Then Dr. Timbs laid a torch to the tinder.
“You are being pounded into the pavement!” he said. “Our public
school districts are at a fiscal and educational crossroads, and
we can no longer allow the rhetoric, lack of support, political
gamesmanship and illogical legislation and regulation to go
unchallenged.”
Timbs told the audience that it was time to insist, not ask for
changes from the Legislature, the governor and the Board of
Regents.
“They are supposed to help you prosper. Remedies based on
current laws won’t work,” Timbs insisted. “Quit being
complacent. Don’t apologize for hurting their feelings when they
get defensive. Don’t grovel. You can at least help your own
kids.”
NYSSBA’ Game plan
NYSSBA President Tim Kremer added to the call for action by
presenting NYSSBA’s Essential Fiscal Reform Playbook. The
football-themed report informs districts on the major cost
drivers for public education, and proposes a game plan to deal
with the new fiscal realities facing school districts.
[Download
the Essential Fiscal Reform Playbook here]
“We have given this to everyone—every legislator, the
governor, everyone that can make a difference,” Kremer said.
“We’ve even included legislative language—sample bills—to
make the job easier for them. If enacted, each of these
proposals would result in dramatic improvements to the fiscal
health of our schools. They would result in a more viable system
for operating our public education system in this era of
increased fiscal accountability and taxpayer fatigue.”
Kremer pointed to the states promise of mandate relief in the
year following the tax cap as a way to help balance the
financial scenario for schools.
“This was the promise, to look at ways to relieve the mandates
on special education, pension and healthcare expenditures, and
labor issues. We’ll see,” Kremer said.
Kremer voiced his concern about local communities losing
ownership of their own schools through the advent of new state
and federal education rules.
“I sometimes think the government is saying to local school
boards, ‘We don’t trust you to put a budget together, to
determine a decent curriculum for your children, to decide how
much a superintendent makes,’” Kremer said. “This governor has
often been dismissive of school boards; thinks we have been
asleep at the switch, giving away the store to unions and not
being aggressive about cutting costs. We must embrace the
leadership role we were elected to assume.”
Local collaboration
FMCC President Dr. Dustin Swanger shared the concern over the impact
of new legislation on school districts, and encouraged school
leaders to take a practical view of their mission.
“Preparing people for jobs is the way to frame your arguments
for the governor,” Dr. Swanger said.
Swanger noted that local schools were filled with dedicated
professionals who want their students to learn, and that trends
indicate that 65 percent of new jobs will require an associate’s
degree. He emphasized the strong relationship between area
schools and the college, noting that enrollment is growing at
FMCC.
“We have tremendous energy for collaboration in this region,”
Dr. Swanger said.
However, Dr. Swanger cautioned that the number of students
entering FMCC needing remedial courses is too high. Despite the
emphasis and need for higher education in the workforce, young
people were leaving high school ill prepared for the rigor of
college-level course work.
“We need to do better,” he said.
Dr. Swanger explained that FMCC’s overall graduation rate is
improving each year, except for those kids who start out needing
remedial help.
FMCC is rethinking how they engage students, and is piloting a
program to administer the college’s COMPAS placement test to
students still in high school. Students would take the
assessment in their junior year to reveal areas where they may
need extra help before starting college. They would have their
senior year to take the remedial classes needed to be college
ready at graduation.
“You need to understand that you are not alone in this effort to
preserve opportunities for our students,” Dr. Swanger said.
Fulton County Regional Chamber of Commerce President Wally Hart
echoed that sentiment. He explained that a central priority of
the newly released Regional Business Plan was to educate and
train the region’s children.
Mr. Hart said that the business community recognizes that its
success is tied to the success of local schools. He promised to
carry the message of the schools to Albany when business leaders
lobby state legislators.
HFM BOCES District Superintendent Dr. Patrick Michel took
control of the meeting after the main speakers had concluded
their presentation.
“Where do we go from here?” Dr. Michel asked the audience. “What
advocacy plan does our local schools and communities endorse
that includes real action, and not just committees looking at
the problems?"
Suggestions from the floor strongly encouraged more
collaboration and alliances with other upstate school board
associations, stronger advocacy efforts in Albany, more emphasis
on shared services and resources, deeper understanding of common
core standards, and increased use of technology in the classroom
and in regional communications efforts. Plans are underway to
move these initiatives forward, and not let the enthusiasm die
down with one meeting.
“Adversity creates opportunity. It is imperative that we
leverage our associations and relationships with our business
community to bring solidarity to our message both to our
communities and in Albany. Let’s hope tonight can be a genesis
of a new vision for progress and excellence for the
Hamilton-Fulton-Montgomery region,” HFM BOCES Board President
Robert Townsend said.
Additional Resources
Regional Business Plan
Statewide School Finance Consortium
Dr. Dustin Swanger's blog about collaboration and the regional
plan
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