GUILDERLAND — Some board members said Tuesday the superintendent’s proposed $82 million budget for next year is perfect while the board’s president heeded the advice of a quarter of the citizens who reviewed the spending plan and said they could not support it.

Several citizens on an advisory committee pointed out that enrollment was declining but spending was still up $3.3 million or 4 percent over this year.
Timothy Burke said that last year he supported the budget because the board had worked to make cuts but he said that the attitude this year was "get it all in while we can" because the tax-rate increase for Guilderland residents is under 4 percent.

The district estimated the tax rate at $19.65 per $1,000 of assessed valuation, a 3.81 percent increase over this year.

President Richard Weisz said Tuesday night what he heard from the citizens was that, with declining enrollment, the board should not just accept the administration’s proposal, but rather should pare it down to get a positive vote.
"Our goal can be to drop this below 3.5 percent," Weisz said of the tax-rate increase.

On the other hand, Thomas Nachod, the board’s longest serving member who is retiring after 12 years, recalled years when the board’s goal was to get the tax-rate increase to under 5 percent.
Reacting to members of the budget committee saying the 3.8-percent hike was too high, Nachod said, "Too high" My god, it’s almost too low." The budget, he said, encompasses the board’s goals "at a reasonable price."
"I support the budget, just as it is," said Nachod.

Superintendent Gregory Aidala will present a revised plan to the board next Tuesday, when it is slated to adopt a proposal, to be put to public vote on May 15.

All nine board members praised the budget-building process at Guilderland. Administrators had explained the budget in a series of televised sessions in March to a committee of 21 volunteers, 18 of whom summarized their views in the final session last Thursday.

The superintendent’s budget reflects the two priorities set by the school board this year — to develop an enhanced technology program and to start teaching foreign language in the elementary schools.

Increased costs for math, science, and technology total $319,000. This includes a math-science enrichment teacher at the middle school and a 20-week technology course for sixth-graders. At the high school, it includes returning the Advanced Placement computer science course and the honors physiology course as well as introducing a digital photography course. It also includes sending a student to Tech Valley High School, upgrading fiber optics, and hiring a career and technology supervisor.

For the Foreign Language Early Start Program (FLES), which the district has been considering for eight years, the budget calls for hiring two Spanish teachers to teach kindergartners, and first- and second-graders at the district’s five elementary schools.

The budget also calls for combining the supervisors’ posts for English and social studies at the high school to save $72,000. The social-studies supervisor is retiring.

In February, a committee made up of both social studies and English faculty adamantly opposed combining the posts. The committee proposed creating a writing center and phasing in a modified course load — so that English and social-studies teachers would, after three years, each teach 4.5 courses, rather than carrying the five-course load most other high-school teachers carry; this would allow them to focus on improving student writing. The budget proposal does not accommodate this plan.

About three-quarters of the 18 citizens who spoke last Thursday supported the spending plan, some with great enthusiasm.
"Maybe I’m just a mom," said Maria Loman, commenting on the best that teachers bring out in their students. "To me, it’s just breathtaking."
Donald Csaposs, a long-time member of the budget committee, said there was a "good confluence of events" this year, citing "a little hiccup in debt service," and the decline of 76 students at the middle school, allowing a team of teachers to be cut. "You’ve got a budget that will probably get approved," said Csaposs.
Robert Hilt, a retired Guilderland teacher, called the budget "reasonable" and said, "I don’t see it as an extravagant budget."
Mark Grimm, on the other hand, said that, in six years, the budget had gone from $62 million to $82 million with 340 fewer students., which he called "a red flag that indicates the money isn’t going to the students. He urged the board to "change the culture of unrestricted spending."

Both the citizens and board members focused again and again on the same topics. They had varied views on offering foreign language study in the elementary schools, combining the supervisors’ post for English and social studies at the high school, adding a district-wide technology supervisor, and adding a science and math enrichment teacher at the middle school.

Board views
Peter Golden set the tone for the board responses Tuesday when he described a school budget as "a search to find the common good."
He said, "Always I see the 30 percent of the community who use the schools and the 70 percent that do not."

Since the social studies supervisor at the high school is retiring after this year, Golden recommended waiting to fill the post until all supervisory positions are reviewed.

He supported keeping the course load for English teachers at four rather than the usual five, so they have time to focus on student writing and urged that the load for social studies teachers be reduced.

Golden said he couldn’t support a career and technology supervisor without a program in place.
He said he "wholeheartedly" supports starting Spanish instruction next year in kindergarten, first, and second grades.
Denise Eisele supports hiring a career and technology supervisor. "You need an expert to provide advice," she said.

She supports hiring a math and science enrichment teacher for the middle school and she supports the FLES program, but would like to see it evaluated.

Like other board members, she supports a summer reading program to help struggling elementary students keep up and said the district should provide transportation.

Cathy Barber doesn’t support the FLES program as proposed; she’d rather it started in the fifth grade and then moved to the lower grades and she suggested offering other languages besides Spanish.

She supports combining the supervisors’ posts for English and social studies and doesn’t see the justification for a technology supervisor.
She supports hiring a second enrichment teacher at the middle school to "spread enrichment around."
Hy Dubowsky, describing himself as "a seasoned budgeteer," said he was concerned about budget expenditures going up 4 percent and about not offsetting increases.
He said the district would be better served by a technology supervisor once it has a curriculum in place. He also prefers extending foreign language instruction "downward" rather than starting in the lowest grades, he said.

Colleen O’Connell said she appreciates the way the supervisor’s budget honored the board’s goals for teaching technology and foreign language.
She supports FLES, O’Connell said, and won’t get into "micro-managing" when language is taught.
She also said a technology supervisor "is critical" and could help the facilities committee that will be discussing how to use state aid to improve the elementary schools and the use of technology.

Right now, said O’Connell, 15 teachers are supervised by an assistant director of physical education and an associate principal; a technology supervisor would do a better job, she said.

O’Connell also supports a second enrichment teacher at the middle school as well as a sixth-grade technology class.

She opposes combining the supervisors’ posts for English and social studies, saying it’s not best for kids.
Thomas Nachod supports FLES and said, while he may have some doubt about the current plan, "I’m not a professional."

He said English and social studies were both great departments and he’d like to keep the four-course load for English teachers while finding a way to help the social studies department.
Board Vice President John Dornbush said of the budget, "I don’t see anything at this point that I would change."
The proposed budget, he said, "maintains small class sizes...the bedrock of the elementary programs."

He said he liked Golden’s idea of waiting a year to hire a new social-studies supervisor.
Dornbush supports FLES and hiring a technology supervisor who can act as "a leader to take us into the 21st Century."
He also supports hiring a math and science enrichment teacher at the middle school to "prepare our students for the jobs of the future."
Dornbush concluded of the budget, "I support it 100 percent."

Barbara Fraterrigo, who has long pushed for the FLES program, supports it and also supports separate supervisors for English and social studies.
She supports the sixth-grade course for technology but is "really struggling with the enrichment teacher."
She prefers spending funds on updating hardware rather than hiring a technology supervisor right away. Fraterrigo concluded by calling the budget "one of the best we’ve had."
President Weisz called FLES "an experiment," teaching kids to think in a second language.
Weisz said it was "a little premature" to hire a technology supervisor and also opposed the new enrichment teacher at the middle school.
"It kills me," he said but, with the school’s declining enrollment, he didn’t think a teacher should be added.