GUILDERLAND — The school board last Tuesday seemed in easy agreement on lowering temperatures to save money but had a wide variety of views on budget priorities.

Because of rising fuel costs, the district will keep school buildings heated to 68 degrees this winter, two degrees lower than last year.

At current fuel prices, this will save the district about $25,000 for the year, said Assistant Superintendent for Business Neil Sanders.

Students and staff members will dress differently, he said.

He said, if there were no objections, the district planned to go forward with the reduced temperatures.

The state sets a minimum temperature for schools of 65 degrees, Sanders said.
"This is a first step," he said of the two-degree drop. "We don’t want to get to the point where it’s uncomfortable to be in the classroom."
Board member Colleen O’Connell said she had changed the temperature at her house to 66 degrees and hadn’t told others in her family. "They didn’t notice," she said, adding the reduced temperatures in the schools would offer booster clubs and others a chance to sell fleece jackets for fund-raisers instead of "selling chocolates and all those yucky things we’re trying to get away from."

Budget priorities

Having heard budget comments from the public, Guilderland board members in the fall have, in recent years, set priorities to guide administrators.

This year, President Gene Danese tried a new approach, collecting written comments from board members ahead of time to streamline the process.

Danese summarized that, since all were interested starting in foreign-language instruction at the elementary-school level, that would be included in the budget. He also noted interest in investigating health-insurance costs, looking at outsourcing, and making a culture of savings.

While board member Barbara Fraterrigo wanted to make a resolution to have the administration prepare for the new foreign language program, board Vice President Linda Bakst countered that, while she supported such a program, it did not necessarily mean it would fit in next year’s budget.
As various board members stated their views on the issue, Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Nancy Andress said, "We’re living in a very different time than last year."
A committee of parents and staff that had studied the program last year enthusiastically backed implementing it. This year, with new testing requirements, Andress said, the staff is under "anxiety and stress."
"It’s only a recommendation," said Danese.

And so the lengthy discussion went, with board members discussing a range of opinions on a variety of topics.
Board member Peter Golden, who advocates "zero-based budgeting" as opposed to "incremental budgeting," said, "You have to look at some of these things and say, are we still getting what we set out to get""
"When I was in graduate school in 1980," Bakst responded, "zero-based budgeting was already out."

She went on to say, though, that, semantics aside, it makes sense to justify what you’re spending. Unlike in business, though, the output in education is not so easily measured, Bakst said. She said there is a difference in producing public good and producing widgets.
Board member John Dornbush reiterated a point he had made in earlier years: "We have to get better...at demonstrating that we are getting what we are paying for," he said.
Superintendent Gregory Aidala said, "We as a school district in Guilderland are dealing with issues occurring locally, regionally, state-wide, and nationally." He said, for example, "We know health-insurance costs are rising everywhere...It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t study it."
He concluded, "Stay tuned and we’ll continue the discussion at our next meeting."

Aidala also said he would have suggestions at the next meeting on how the Citizens’ Budget Advisory Committee should proceed.