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By Abi Wood
GALWAY–On Thursday, April 5 there was a Board Meeting which about 60 people attended. To begin the Board discussed some more specific details about the information provided at the previous meeting. They had projected a 4% increase in BOCES expenses but only 2% and 1% increases occurred. They also are using federal funds to pay staff which is higher risk than in the past. LaBelle stated that this is “much better than the beginning of March.” She also said that the Board was planning to “stay away from exceeding the tax cap” (which is 2.62%).
There was a distance learning meeting on March 29. Next year there will be two functioning distance learning labs, which means the school will probably be offering 8-14 different classes through distance learning. Some of the possible options for classes include Spanish 3 and 4, Calculus, AP US History, Psychology, and E-commerce. However this is still early in the process.
The Chingachgook field trip was brought up for permission from the board. The field trip is focused on outdoor education and team building for 5th graders. It was described as “very beneficial.” A lot of work has been done to make it affordable this year and make sure that it was an opportunity that the students wouldn’t have to miss out on because of budget limitations. They found money through grants and donations and agreements with Camp Chingachgook. The Board authorized the field trip.
The meeting was then opened to public comment. The first person to speak was Anne Valente who discussed the success of the recent musical. (https://eaglesmediacenter.com/?p=7183) They sold over $5000 worth of tickets and performed the play for over 1000 members of the school community. She asked that the Board consider these facts when considering the elimination of the drama and music programs.
Mr. Darlington asked the Board how they planned to function with the cost of maintaining a school rising more significantly than the revenue is. The Board replied that they were confident that everything would work out. Darlington retorted, “Convince me.”
The Board attempted to answer his question more thoroughly and said that we are “faced with a lot of difficulties.”
After the meeting a community member commented, “I’m not convinced.”
Mr. Sutton, Board member, said that “programs have to be smaller… redesigned.”
Rumsey said, “I don’t think there’s any cliff in the next two years.”
Jerri Ernst, a concerned parent stated: “I’d rather my son be a number [at a larger school] and have a good education.” She commented on the number of students who would potentially be leaving the district depending on the offerings next year.
Michelle Urban said “fund athletics while removing teachers? I think it’s ludicrous, and it sends a terrible message… that really disturbs me.”
A couple of sophomores spoke about the importance of foreign language in their education and the need for it in a more globalized world. It was said that “languages are more important than you’ll ever know.”
Valente presented the idea of a collection of the money that parents would be using to send their kids to another school and the money would be used to reinstate specific programs.
Overall the community seemed to walk away from this meeting similarly to the way they walked away from the community chat: unhappy and disappointed with the need to cut so many programs. One idea that seemed to be well supported throughout the people present was that the Board shouldn’t be focusing on lowering the tax levy, but sustaining the maximum amount of programs because the community might support a higher tax levy.
Here are links to the other Board meeting articles written by Abi:
Bradley Rooke • Apr 7, 2012 at 7:52 am
Unfortunately, I think the Board has been short sighted since the beginning of our fiscal crisis. In 2009, the BOE adopted a 2010-2011 budget that only increased the tax levy by less that 1%. While the number has risen in the two successive budgets, they have drastically cut programs with a belief that, “we just need to make it through the next year”. However, the state’s action to impose a tax cap has made that thinking detrimental to the long term financial stability of the district.
This board has no long term plan. Even Superintendent LaBelle said that there will be about a $5 billion budget gap across the state for education expenditures over the next five to ten years. So instead of presenting the community with a long term plan, we’ve been presented with a budget that supports an emaciated program and one that employs the “we only need to make it to next year” mind set. At the March Community Chat, the board admitted that; even if they were to exceed the tax cap this year with the “Core Plus Budget”, they would have to continue to put budgets forward that exceed the tax cap for the foreseeable future to maintain program.
I urge the board to end their band-aid fixes and present the community with a long term, tangible financial model. As a community we need to know that Galway graduates will continue to be career and college ready; making them desirable in an increasingly competitive market.