GCSD voters pass $84M budget in landslide

GUILDERLAND — Voters here passed school and library budgets by a landslide on Tuesday and ousted an incumbent school board member.

In a five-way race for three seats on the Guilderland School Board, the three candidates backed by the teachers’ union — incumbents Catherine Barber and John Dornbush along with Judy Slack, a long-time teaching assistant — won handily.

Superintendent John McGuire called the hotly-contested race “a very healthy democratic process.”

Peter Golden, running for a second three-year term, came in last. “The results show what I’ve been trying to point out for three years,” he said. “This is a company town. The school district is the largest employer. By continuing to put union-backed candidates on the board, it’s one of the reasons budgets are so big and hard to control.”

School boards, he said, were “designed to be an honest broker.”

Christine Kenefick, a parent making her first run, as an independent, came in fourth. “It was an interesting and challenging race when the union came out and endorsed people...without interviewing everyone on an equal ground,” she said. “I knew it would be an uphill battle.”

The Guilderland Teachers’ Association has 750 members.

Responding to assertions that Golden had made during the campaign about school-district retirees and union-backed candidates packing the board, Dornbush said, “That’s how he would like people to think of it. The numbers show that many more people supported us.”

Asked for her analysis of the election results, Barber said, “I think the concept of conflict as a premise has been rejected.”

During his campaign, Golden had said, “Often the people who want the conflict to go away have an enormous agenda. You’re not performing your mandate if you’re not willing to confront people. If you pretend you’re an extension of the administration, you shouldn’t be on the board.”

 During a televised pre-election forum, the three candidates on hand besides Golden made pointed comments about conflict not being necessary for change and how board members shouldn’t be adversarial. Golden responded that a school board is not a court or a club but a legislative body.

Another contentious election issue this year centered on the candidates’ right to hand out election flyers on school grounds, a longstanding practice in the district that was halted last year. Dornbush and Barber, members of the board’s policy committee, were against allowing the practice, since it would open the door for other sorts of politicking on school grounds. Golden and Kenefick were for it.

Asked for his view on the election results, school board President Richard Weisz replied, “Who knows what motivates the voters?”

Landslide

The $84 million budget passed with 65.5 percent of the vote. Altogether, 3,154 people voted in a district that has over 30,000 residents.

“We’re always gratified when the community supports our schools,” said Weisz.

Guilderland’s “yes” vote was part of a statewide trend. Over 92 percent of school-district budgets passed on Tuesday, according to an analysis by the New York State School Boards Association. As of Wednesday afternoon, NYSSBA said, voters passed 625 school-district budgets and defeated 51; final results had not been reported for Auburn.

Guilderland’s 2008-09 budget represents a 2-percent increase in spending over the current year and will bring an estimated 1.43-percent tax increase for Guilderland residents.

“The budget increase was less than inflation, protecting the taxpayer and the program,” said Weisz.

The budget passed by large margins at all five elementary-school polling places.

Moments after the unofficial results were announced, McGuire told The Enterprise, “I am thrilled that we have a continuation of the tremendous support of the community.”

Voters passed a $790,000 bus and equipment proposition by an even larger margin, with 67.2 percent voting yes. This will pay for 10 new buses with about half of the purchase price being returned to the district from the state.

Board race

The results reported here are unofficial; they were announced Tuesday night by Assistant Superintendent for Business Neil Sanders, based on tallies from each of the five polling places.

Catherine Barber received 23.3 percent of the vote, garnering 1,905 in all for her first-place win.

She came in first at Lynnwood, Pine Bush, and Westmere; second at Guilderland; and third at Altamont.

Barber was also the top vote-getter three years ago when she made her first run for the school board.

“I’m just very pleased to have the support of the community for a second time,” Barber said on Tuesday night. “I hope to continue to keep the best interest of children and the community and maintain our excellence at a reasonable cost.”

A lawyer and a musician, Barber said, as a mother, she likes being involved in the schools and considers education to be of “the utmost importance.”

“Board members need common sense...” she said during the campaign. “I don’t think we need a premise of suspicion and conflict.”

Barber said a positive attitude is needed “to come to good decisions in the best interest of the school and community.”

Judy Slack got 21.7 percent of the vote, receiving 1,774 to come in second.

She came in second at Altamont and Lynnwood, third at Guilderland and Pine Bush, and fourth at Westmere.

“I’m very pleased,” Slack said on Tuesday night. “I think a lot of people came out and they liked what we had to say. We had the same philosophy and seemed to agree with the district.”

Slack, who began her career as a high-school English teacher, is retiring in June after working for 24 years as a teaching assistant at Lynnwood Elementary School. She has three grown children who had varying educational needs, all of which were met at Guilderland, she said.

During the campaign, Slack said of her reason for running, “It’s the kids. I want things to be OK for our kids. I’m not sure they’re at the top of everybody’s list.”

She also said she had been distressed with divisiveness on the board. “A board needs to work together,” Slack said, and to work with teachers and administrators. “We need to work as a group,” she said.

John Dornbush got 21.6 percent of the vote, garnering 1,767 to come in third.

He was first in Altamont, second at Pine Bush, third at Lynnwood and Westmere, and fourth at Guilderland.

“It’s gratifying to think we have the support of the community,” said Dornbush on election night, “but it’s humbling. It’s a big responsibility to work on the board. Ultimately, the children and the community are going to benefit.”

Dornbush has been on the board since 1999 and currently serves as vice president. He works as assistant director of financial aid at the University at Albany and has two grown sons.

He said about serving on the board, “We’re all in this together and we’ve been successful in the past and will be more successful in the future if we all treat each other with respect, truly listening to each other, and coming to sound decisions.”

He also said during the campaign, “I don’t believe conflict is necessary in order for change to take place.”

Christine Kenefick garnered 16.8 percent of the vote to come in fourth.

She was second at Westmere, fourth at Altamont and Pine Bush, and fifth at Guilderland and Lynnwood.

“I have a lot of people who came out and supported me,” Kenefick said on Tuesday night. “So many people thanked me for running, so that was humbling.”

She went on about the winning slate, “I have nothing but high regard for John and Cathy and Judy so I’m very happy for them. The district is in good hands.”

A lawyer who works as a confidential law clerk for an Appellate Division judge, Kenefick is the mother of two Westmere Elementary students.

During her campaign, she stressed the fact that, if elected, she would be the only parent of elementary-aged children on the board. “I think that voice needs to be heard on the board,” she said during her campaign.

Kenefick described her campaign as “grassroots,” with her fourth-grade daughter serving as her campaign manager and her 6-year-old son as her public-relations person.

Asked if she would run again, Kenefick at first hesitated to answer. Later, she replied, “I’ll have to confer with my campaign manager and my PR person. Fifth-grade is a challenging year,” she said with a smile.

Peter Golden got 16.7 percent of the vote, garnering 1,368 votes to finish last.

He came in first at Guilderland; fourth at Lynnwood; and fifth at Altamont, Pine Bush, and Westmere.

An author and the father of a high-school student, Golden was running for a second term.  He was an independent voice on the board and frequently outspoken. He was largely responsible for the district re-examining its health-care benefits to ultimately realize savings.

“I don’t think it’s a personal comment,” Golden said on Tuesday night of his defeat. “It’s straight self-interest.”

He went on about the increasing cost of school budgets statewide and said, “The legislature isn’t going to save communities...If people are angry at school taxes, they should be angry at school boards.”

Golden also said, “I’m disappointed but I feel good about making a point...[about] putting retirees and union-backed candidates on the board.”

He concluded, “In the end, it was worthwhile. I’ll continue to be involved with the issues.”

Library

The Guilderland Public Library’s $3 million budget passed with 65 percent of the vote, 2,019 to 1,084.

The spending plan is up from $2.8 million this year and will bring an estimated tax increase of 6.67 percent, or five cents per $1,000 of assessed value.

Two incumbent trustees were on the ballot to fill three seats on the 11-member board. John Daly received 1,904 votes and Vishnu Chaturvedi received 1,747 votes.

Daly, who is retired from a career with the state, described himself as having a “middle-of-the-road view.”

In a pre-election interview, he advocated having the library limit access to R-rated movies, CDs, DVDs, and video games for children under the age of 17.

Chaturvedi, a scientist, said one of his goals is to have the library “try to expand as much as possible to high-speed computing, accessible to all demographic age groups,” and he’d like to expand the public-speaking series to include local academicians, “people who can relate science to the public.”

Michael Fox, who launched a write-in campaign, will fill the third seat. He received 39 votes.  Jean Cataldo, the town’s tax receiver, got two write-in votes and seven other people each got one write-in vote.

Fox, who works for the New York State Senate as counsel in program, said he wanted to serve on the board because he has “the time and expertise to help out.”