I have blogged previously on the once a year money grab that is our local school budget. My community passes the budget very year with no exception due perhaps to the high rental population who buy into all the doom and gloom threats if they don't give the board what they want. Mahopac, a community in nearby Putnam County, is not so knee jerk and this year's budget failed. So, Mahopac's school board has made good on their threat to make the children pay for it.
MAHOPAC — The Mahopac Board of Education last night stuck to its guns and adopted a $95.8 million contingency budget that does not fund sports or extracurricular clubs.
The board also eliminated 13.5 positions from its initial $98.6 million proposal to keep the spending increase under 4 percent, as mandated by state education law.
An estimated 500 people crowded the auditorium of Lakeview Elementary School to learn of the final plan and to hear what a community coalition formed after the budget defeat would do next.
One parent, 47-year-old Monica Wyka, said it was a sad day for the children.
"The taxes here are huge," said Wyka, a sales representative and caterer. "But you know what? If you want a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence for your child, then you have to pay."
The eliminated positions include 3.8 administrators, 4.4 high school teachers, one elementary school teacher, 2.3 special-education positions, a library aide and a secretary.
My heart goes out to that .8 of an administrator. I mean, to not only lose your job but also .2 of yourself must really stink. The purge continues:
Instead of cutting an academic team at the middle school — which had initially been proposed — school officials trimmed spending on repairs, supplies, equipment and other noninstructional expenditures.
Savings also resulted from eliminating adult education, cutting back on books and supplies for the library and reducing the amount for computer hardware.
Also, the district will not send students to the Walkabout alternative education program.
"The first priority is to maintain the integrity of our instructional program," Superintendent Robert Reidy said before presenting his plan. "Sports and clubs are absolutely critical for youth development. But they're not the core of the mission that we have."
A community coalition has been working on a strategy to keep clubs and sports in the schools — for a price. The coalition must raise a little more than $1 million to maintain all extracurricular activities.
At a meeting Wednesday, coalition leaders presented the school board with a preliminary plan that would call for charging varsity athletes $432 per sport, while junior varsity, freshman and middle-school athletes would pay $144.
Members of high school clubs — such as the yearbook, newspaper, drama and debate — would pay $169 to participate in each club.
Even parents of younger children may have to pay a surcharge of $25 to participate in the Mahopac Sports Association, according to the proposal.
The message is that NOTHING that can be trimmed from the budget that is waste or extravagance except some positions and extracurriculars. The school board members are the experts, right? These people examine multi-million dollar budgets for a living, right? Hardly. These are part timers with time to kill who won a popularity contest and have no other budgetary tool to ply except extortion. Their favorite excuse is the skyrocketing costs of teacher healthcare and pension benefits. I agree. Anyone who works as a teacher for 20 years must be set for life thereafter, and we must all pay for it.
My hat is off to the taxpayers of Mahopac who said no to the money grab and whose children have to pay for the board's ensuing temper tantrum. May they elect better board members next year.
That is truly obscene.
Posted by: Chris | July 03, 2006 at 11:42 AM
I have to agree that taxes are at the root of the problem, and school districts need to find other ways to fund what they need to do. It does not help that costs all over are going up. However, school boards are faced with tough choices to make when budgets go down in elections. As both a parent and an educator, it is always a challenge to accept what the school board has to do to make the schools work and still promote what is best for the children. In addition, the requirements that schools meet mandates from State Education Departments and the No Child Left Behind Law, which does not provide the funding necessary to make its mandates possible, leaves schools with the choice of increasing taxes to make the grades, or failing and having State Education Departments take over. When that happens, you as residents/citizens have little say in the choices that are made. No Child Left Behind is great in its concept, but leaves much to be desired in its implementation. Today's rising costs for energy, health care (not the teachers' fault--talk to the insurance companies!) and the additional mandates will raise the budgets. Tough choices must be made. It is unfortunate that they are often not made in the best interest of those we are serving, and who have no say in the matter...the children. I have no problem with parents paying for extra-curricular activities (band parents buy the instruments, after all), or with fundraisers being conducted for those who don't have the ability to pay for them, but when students are pulled from educational programs that are helping them learn, there is a real problem. That is what we need to be addressing, not the tax issue. (Both need fixing, which is more important is the question!)
Posted by: DarBecca | July 18, 2006 at 11:15 AM
very sad that they wont be sending kids to walkabout. walkabout basically saved my life, and i think it should be a priority to make sure schools can send kids there... very sad.
Posted by: Jim Cobb | November 13, 2006 at 12:22 PM