How much would you like to pay?

To the editor:

There were some statements at the recent Northville School District public hearing on the 2012 budget that deserve another look. The first one I would like to address was made by the representative from BOCES. The gentleman stated that “the responsibility of school districts is to educate children; it is NOT to save money”. I found that statement to be self-serving, a half-truth and certainly not helpful in the current economic climate. It is the kind of pet statement that politicians like to make. A more appropriate observation would have been to “educate children COST-EFFECTIVELY”. Why is that adjective so important? It is important because the long-term survival of small school districts — and rural districts tend to be small — hinges on delivering educational services VERY efficiently. This includes carefully separating what is needed or mandated (the “essentials”) from “enrichment” programs that can be provided through other means. In this day and age some essentials can be delivered more cost-effectively through distance learning programs. Other means include enrichment services purchased privately by parents. School programs in this country are packed with non-essentials that balloon the budget and perhaps even reduce scholastic performance in areas that are important to global competitiveness. The Northville School is no exception. At the hearing there were the usual impassioned statements about the value of arts & music, sports and the necessity of a variety of other non-essential programs and services. Are these all needed? Yes, they mostly are if we want to provide a balanced and wholesome education. Does the school district have to provide all these services and to all students? Absolutely not. Can these services be delivered through other more efficient ways? Very likely. Let me give a (slightly extreme and certainly dated) example. When I went to elementary school in Holland I learned French from a nice old lady who came to school after normal school hours; those children who wanted to learn French — or more accurately, whose parents wanted them to learn French - paid 50 cents a week for the pleasure; and parents made very sure that 50 cents was not wasted. Enrichment paid for privately — more or less. To this day, small schools in Holland survive just fine by: (1) separating all the extras from the mandated school curriculum and delivering the extras privately, based on parental choice; and (2) controlling the cost and quality of the mandated services using a voucher system that pays a district per child served. As a result, there are many good small schools, cultural diversity in the delivery of the mandated services and these services are delivered at a controlled cost. For those deserving children whose parents cannot afford the privately delivered enrichment services, the government provides a subsidy — no questions asked. Back in the 80’s my family spent a year on an extended leave in Holland. Our 3 children went to the public school. They also attended music school. To my amazement they were promptly offered a subsidy because we had little income at that time. Surely there are lots of regulations and the system has it’s limits when it comes to the more complex and costly requirements of a high school education.

This gets me to the second statement that I would like to address. It was made by one of the Board members. Paraphrasing the statement: “You can have any and all the programs you like — if you are willing to pay for it”. Very true indeed. But is this a reasonable way to approach the cost issue? School districts have a certain fixed cost. These costs go up steeply at the higher grades, especially High School, when science, computer, multimedia and library costs all shoot up. In order to distribute these costs and end up with a reasonable cost per child served, the school needs a large enrollment. I have heard that a minimum enrollment number for a high school to deliver services cost-effectively is about 1500 students. One of my grandchildren just entered the New Trier High School. It is located in an affluent Chicago suburb with an iron-clad tax base. The enrollment of this high school is in the thousands. Does it have quality programs? You better believe that it does — that is the attraction. Perhaps it is possible to run a bare-bones Northville High School now and over the next 10 years gradually switch delivery of the expensive services to a “virtual learning environment” run through a well-equipped multimedia facility. Unfortunately, this district has not pursued this approach with the urgency required for survival. Neither are there any resources readily available to pursue this. The Board should have used the stimulus funds last year to initiate this process and cut costs otherwise. Instead it perpetuated the status quo although it already knew then where that was leading to. It is therefore, in my judgment, unrealistic to even consider “being willing to pay for it” — never mind a 25 to 44% tax increase. Unless there is a clear and feasible long term strategy, tax payers should object to seeing an increase much above CPI. Many local tax payers have seen their incomes decline over the past three years. Why should our (public service) school district employees be treated any more generously, considering that the District is about as broke as GM was 3 years ago? Perhaps if you are a major user of school services you might feel differently about a tax increase. However, that is somewhat like an investor who positioned himself to profit from rising oil prices saying that “he does not mind paying for the rising price of gasoline” — it all evens out. To distribute at this meeting a survey to test the tax payers’ willingness to pay, it just adds insult to injury. The attendees were primarily direct beneficiaries: employees of the district; school children; and their parents. This is hardly a representative sample of those who may or may not be willing to pay.

It is time for all the parties involved to re-examine the cost of having a local K to 12 public school in Northville. I am a tax payer and I am willing to pay a fair share. I think that a local school is a good thing and that enrichment programs should be available — but not necessarily through school. It may well be true that this is a perfect (budget) storm — as proclaimed by all the talking heads - with NYS surcharges from the pension system, a decrease in the annual NYS operating allocation and the loss of HRBRRD tax revenue, all coming together. However, a storm is a surprise while these costs and revenue losses were on the horizon at least two budget cycles ago. The greater truth is that the District has a significant structural shortfall that can only be financed with unsustainable tax increases. For the District to survive at this point in time, all non-mandated extras need to go or become volunteer-based, and employees need to take a real cut in wages and benefits — freezes won’t even come close to addressing the budget shortfall. Survival in the longer term requires a fundamental change in service delivery.

Finally, it is important to keep in mind that excessive property taxes do a lot more than inflicting pain on the current tax payers. Reasonable taxes and good schools are at the heart of the economic viability of a region. The argument that a local high school is always a plus is less than accurate. A high-quality consolidated regional high school is likely to do far more for a region economically and socially, than several local under-funded ones.

Willem Monster

Resident of Northampton and Northville School

District tax payer

Thanks are offered from home show

Dear editor:

On behalf of the Committee charged with organizing the second annual Fulton-Montgomery County Home Show and Craft Fair, I would like to thank the many vendors and crafters, too numerous to mention here, whose participation helped to make the event a complete success. The committee is in the process of thanking each and every supporter individually, but would like to publicly express it’s appreciation to the Broadalbin-Perth Central School District and custodial staff for their support and cooperation; the Broadalbin-Perth Lions Club for providing the concession stand, the B-P Boys varsity and junior varsity soccer teams for helping with setup and dismantling; Don Brown Bus Sales for donating funds for the live radio broadcast, the Fulton County Sheriff’s Dept. for providing free Child ID’s and greeting guests with its canine unit; Mr. Joseph DiGiacomo of Midnight Oil for donating use of the Bouncy Bounce; Mr. Doug Hill of The Leader Herald, and Mr. Jack Scott of WENT radio, for working generously with us and “going the extra mile” to help promote the show; the Show Committee and BYC volunteers who worked the admission desk and BYC Booth, and, last but not least, the Broadalbin Youth Commission for undertaking the project and tirelessly pursuing acquisition and development of a park for the community

This year’s show drew over 75 Exhibitors and 1,473 visitors. As a result of the show, over $16,180 was added to the Town’s reserve for development of a new town park for the Broadalbin Community.

We are confident that the Exhibitors were successful in generating new business for themselves. 53 Exhibitors have already signed up for next year’s show.

Lastly, thank you to everyone who turned out to visit the show. We view this as a clear message that the Broadalbin Community sees development of†a Town Park for the Town of Broadalbin as a worthy cause.

Keith Buchanan

Home Show Event Coordinator