planman the #'s I quoted were from 4/8. Glad your neighbor is still working for the district.
The fuel increase is somewhat moot if that's the right word. Fuel for heating went up ~$300k and I assume the ~$300k transportation increase was likely fuel related, not necessarily contract increases (but I don't know that for sure). That $590k combined increase there is roughly 13% of the $4.6m total increase. Did it help anything, absolutely not. I don't think anyone, not even Scrooge, would begrudge the kids heat this winter and we're all paying at the gas pump too. It was definitely one more pressure on the budget, but it was still only 13% of the increase.
Regarding your other posts, a few words & phrases stuck out for me - us vs. them, historically, opinions & beliefs.
I too don't believe there are massive amounts of $ played with improperly like a Roslyn. I said this before about the audits, the good thing about being a broke or low spending district is we can't afford Roslyn situations either. If there are any improprieties turned up in the audit, I would be very surprised if they were not related to bending a rule or two to do what we normally do, trying to stretch a penny into 50 cents for the kids. Oh, well if that even happens which is tbd, put it in perspective. And Mr. Christie must think all of the hyper-involved parents and community members are nuts. I think we're probably a little more involved and vocal than more average communities. I bet he didn't count on that when he accepted the job.
Before your posts yesterday, I've been thinking about the BAC. I'm tired of hearing comments that the BAC was a negative experience. If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. I don't know if it was negative as much as frustrating. But so has the budget vote and last year's bond and budget votes. I also don't think we're a privileged district by having a BAC, as most districts do have one as well as other districts have long term planning and other financial committees. In Wantagh, you couldn't get away with not having a BAC. It's probably the hyper-involvement and the way that is channeled that makes us different from other districts. The BAC was pretty much a split vote this year which probably reflects the community as did split bond and budget votes of last year and the budget vote this year. There are community concerns that are not being addressed, whichever "side" you sit on. For one "side" to cram their opinion on another doesn't seem to be working either - yet it's safe to say that everyone in the community is coming from the same place - a good (great) fiscally responsible education for our kids. It's all one big grey area with lots of opinions.
So, these are my observations. I'm ready for the rotten tomatoes to be thrown at me for saying them.
"Historically" doesn't work well anymore. The mission statement of the BAC is a little light. I know amongst BAC members, there is confusion as to the interpretation of how the BAC should be used and dissatisfaction with how it was used this year. Let's get that into the open - that would help the "us vs. them" that might be developing. Oh and if that happens, I certainly don't want an administrator or the board of ed dictating the new evolving mission statement. They can ok it sure, and contribute but if they dictate, it defeats the purpose of trying to evolve the BAC into a better more productive committee. Hey, we want more productivity and efficiency from our district, let's demand it of ourselves. I wish we had a project leader or senior management person by trade/profession who would volunteer on the BAC to do that.
The BAC gets a little chaotic from comments by both the administrators that contribute as well as BAC members - that's my opinion. We probably need more ground rules for conduct to get the most productivity. The BAC is just a bunch of layman citizens with different experience and backgrounds. To a degree what the heck do we know yet at the same time, there are gems of expertise I wish were listened to by the district a lot more than they are and we should be able to comment on
general community priorities. People should probably look within themselves before offering an opinion publicly (I'm ducking at the rotten tomato coming my way). Many of the comments made at the BAC by both members and administrators made me want to cringe since I think they can be that inappropriate, politically incorrect, offensive etc. Not many seem to notice or if they do, comment on them to stop that - we let them slide way too often - and that is a problem. I won't cite specific examples here but if you want them, pm me. And that is just my observation and opinion. Those comments didn't happen all the time just in case I'm scaring off anyone who wants to join but they are part of the fabric that is the current BAC.
In this day of Newsday headlines, it's just not a great climate to be a school superintendent or dealing with school budgets. I don't think that's a negative statement, just my observation of the times. I think that Dr. B has wonderful qualities which have helped build this district into what it is. We need to take all the best of our heritage and keep moving forward with change in a positive direction. He probably has some ideas on that to help - I'd love to hear them. To that regard, if the BAC and the community want transparency and accountability, at minimum the BAC should demand transparency of itself. I loved hearing the schoolteachers in other districts who were BAC members talk about how things were handled in their districts and make suggestions. But I also want to know who on the BAC works for the district, is related to a board member or has a relative working for the district. We should probably all introduce ourselves with that disclosure at one of the early meetings. I'm not devaluing anyone's contributions at all and all are welcome, but we should demand transparency of ourselves if we want it all around, shouldn't we?
Regarding budget setting and the first draft at +14% because that's the way we've always done it historically... That in and of itself is a set-up for failure in these times and when it could become a free for all in any year. Perhaps we could hear at the beginning from administrators on economic forecasts, what's going on in Albany with mandates or other, state aid, etc. and an overview of school budgets in general (X% is usually teacher pay, X% administrators, X% building & grounds, etc.). Perhaps we could look at an overview of approaches and why or why not they may not work like:
- Current year plus U.S. economic inflation projection, then what that means to the line items e.g., as to what would be cut.
- Task-based e.g., academic investment year
- Competitive levels - how do other districts spend relative to Wantagh. To most people $65m is a lot of $, let's put it into perspective for them.
Not sure if those are even actionable, but we need to put a better framework around the process.
We also need to do a much better job with communication between the district and the community regarding all this. I think when the budget brochure went out (with Newsday, Fuschillo's PR mailer, etc.), it was a shock to most and confusion/downhill from there.
These suggestions were made constructively, not to point fingers anywhere. And they are just my opinion, which theoretically would be welcome in a public meeting - but I get the sense it's like calling attention to the white elephant in the room here at Wantagh.
To that point, what kills me is that as a parent, how you conduct yourself models that for your kids to grow into. I was in shock that all those high school kids seemed to be paraded out at both of Tuesdays budget hearings. Democracy is great, they should have been invited to
view it in action and perhaps contribute in perspective. However, while I welcome my kids' input, I call the shots while they live in my house and to the degree I still can while they are young adults and I'm paying their college tuitions. One of the rallying cries if I remember from social studies classes was 'no taxation without representation'. At those budget hearings we had 'representation without taxation'. That is not a negative comment or knock on the fine young adults that spoke. But there is a time & place for everything. I'll gladly hand a tissue to one of my neighbors at their kid's graduation ceremony, ballet recital, etc. - celebrate any of their accomplishments. And I encourage all our young adults to register to vote and vote when they're 18. But in the meantime, maybe how we've done things in the past aren't working so well anymore and let's play fair everyone.
I'm now running and ducking from the rotten tomatoes.
