GUILDERLAND — In its first step to develop next year’s district budget, the school board Tuesday heard from a dozen residents — two of them children — on a variety of issues.
"We’re all very much aware of the economic conditions," said Superintendent Gregory Aidala afterwards, listing rising costs of gasoline, heating fuel, and health care.

He noted that the board had heard requests for more programs as well as concerns about rising taxes, especially with Guilderland’s town-wide revaluation of property last year.

Last spring, the district’s $76 million budget passed with 54 percent in favor and 46 percent opposed, a decline in support from recent years.

The autumn public session was initiated in 1998 when board members said that priority setting should be linked to the budget process. At the board’s next meeting, on Oct. 25, its members will state their priorities for the upcoming budget.

The board members decided Tuesday to first send their views, via e-mail, to the superintendent.
One board member, John Dornbush worried, "I don’t want to see us conducting business by e-mail." He said he was concerned about keeping discussion "out in the open at a public meeting."
"We’re just organizing it," said board President Gene Danese.

With 30 citizens speaking at last year’s autumn session, the board changed the format this year so that, rather than sitting in a more informal circle with board members, residents, one by one, filed to the microphone to state their views in a televised session; each was given a three-minute time limit.
"This may be the year we have Draconian measures," said Aidala. But, he said, one thing remains unchanged — "the commitment to excellence."

Trim the budget, re-frame the debate

Michael Marr submitted a statement, saying he was a founding member of a new organization called FREE — Fiscal Responsibility and Excellence in Education.

Marr told The Enterprise Wednesday that his group is "very much in the incipient stage" and currently has "a couple dozen members."
Marr, who works as communications director for the State Budget Office, said he and his wife moved from New York City to Guilderland several years ago for two reasons — "the excellent schools and the affordable high quality of life."
"We don’t feel those things have to be mutually exclusive," Marr said.

Marr’s statement was read to the board Tuesday by Hy Dubowsky, another member of FREE, who told The Enterprise the group formed this fall.
Marr said he started "kicking around the idea" during the last school board election.

Dubowsky ran unsuccessfully for the school board in May; he had supported the budget.

The last time the district had organized groups lobbying for or against school budgets was over a decade ago. One grass-roots group formed to defeat the budget and elect candidates with similar views. When it was successful, a second group formed to support the budget and elect candidates that would do the same; that view eventually prevailed.

When The Enterprise asked Marr on Wednesday if FREE would be endorsing school-board candidates, he said, "We’re not focused on politics...We’d be delighted if the current school board enacted the type of policies we’re promoting."
"Members of FREE are proud of our schools and we hope that they are able to continue to provide an excellent education for our children," said Marr in his statement, which was read to the board Tuesday. "However, we believe this excellence is threatened by Guilderland’s ever-expanding school budget....
"FREE is particularly concerned about the older members of our community. Do we truly want to allow rising school taxes to drive these people from their homes"...
"FREE remains deeply concerned that the heavy taxes residents are forced to pay will make it impossible for families from across all income levels to live in our community and access the public education our children deserve."
Marr’s statement concluded, "We can and must maintain the excellence in education that has been a hallmark of our great community. But we also recognize the need for our leaders to make wiser choices with our tax dollars and to trim the excess from their budget."

When The Enterprise asked Dubowsky how FREE’s approach was different than that espoused by many school board members — provide an excellent education while being sensitive to the taxpayers’ burden — he said, "There’s a structural imbalance...a continuing pattern of expenses growing faster than revenues."
Dubowsky said a "zero-based budget" was needed.
"We need a multi-year plan to curtail growth and hold the rate of property-tax increase," he said, "while actively seeking alternative sources of revenue."
Dubowsky, too, addressed the school board Tuesday, identifying himself as a parent of three children — two currently in the high school and one who has graduated and is "spending time on Wall Street."
Dubowsky spoke about the plan he said he helped develop to put New York City "back on its feet" financially. He detailed a decade of rebuilding that relied on "surgical cuts" and incremental budgeting.
The citizens’ committee that reviews Guilderland’s budget and advises the school board cannot solve structural flaws, said Dubowsky. "We must re-frame the budget debate," he said, to deal with structural deficit.

Brian Hartson, a member of the advisory committee, told the board this would be a challenging year. He cited a report by the state’s comptroller, Alan Hevesi, stating school taxes make up 60 percent of the property-tax bill state-wide.

The bulk of new debt, Hartson said, citing the report, can be attributed to school districts.
He urged the board to prioritize scrupulously, stating there is more than enough room to cut costs. While holding the line is probably a pipe dream, Hartson said of the budget increase, "At least keep it within the rate of inflation."
David Langenbach, formerly a Guilderland bus driver who has twice run unsuccessfully for a seat on the school board, served this year on the advisory committee. "Gas is three dollars-plus a gallon," he said, urging the board to develop a plan to compensate for increased fuel costs.
Tim Burke, who served this year on the advisory committee and has frequently spoken to the board about his concerns, said, "I just don’t hear enough about program evaluation and what works and what doesn’t work."
Burke said that testing is not considered a reliable source by many on the board and in the teaching community; he asked, then, "How are we going to track success""

Burke said the district’s priority should be trying to do what it already does much better rather than trying to do more.

Requests for more
David Heller, a parent who has served on the Citizens’ Budget Advisory Committee for three years, said the "process has been very enlightening." He said he would like to see more money put into special education.
Terri Standish-Kuon, an Altamont parent, urged a "targeted investment" in a program that would teach Spanish to elementary-school students. The board had considered such a program last year but, to cut costs, decided against it for the 2005-06 budget.
Standish-Kuon said the cost for students in kindergarten through fifth grade would be $160,000, which she termed a "modest investment" of $68 per student.

She pointed out that 417 billion people speak Spanish, making it second to English as the most common language on the planet.

Maureen Iuorno, president of the Pine Bush Elementary School PTA, thanked the board for trying to keep class sizes small, which she said helps create a better learning environment.
She, too, said, "We are getting requests for foreign language."

Christine Duffy asked for the board’s help with the modified field-hockey program.
"We're starting to win games," she said. But, she said, schools that have middle-school, or modified, programs have an advantage.
Girls in middle school have limited choices with sports, she said, noting an open house on Tuesday was "very well attended."
She urged the board to look at a sport that would include as many girls as possible. "We don’t cut," she said.

Nancy Bouteiller, speaking on behalf of Guilderland Music Parents, thanked the board for the budget line item that pays to replace worn musical instruments. She spoke of the excellence of the Guilderland music program and brought along two Farnsworth Middle School students to vividly state the need for new instruments.
Seventh-grader Paul Travers, who plays the trumpet, said instruments were "falling apart and really not that great." He described the cymbals on a drum set falling apart in the midst of playing.
He also said the "brand-new music room" in the renovated middle school had "brand-new posture-perfect chairs" and urged purchase of similar chairs for band practice.
His sister, sixth-grader Hallisey Travers who plays the saxophone, said the school has only one tuba and one baritone saxophone, but more players, so more instruments are needed. She also said that the music stands "sort of spin around sometimes."