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Health & Fitness

Miller Place Budget Workshop Update

Some take-aways from last night's meeting

The main take-aways from last night’s budget workshop:

  • There was nearly unanimous agreement that moving from half-day to full-day K was academically sound. This agreement came from Asst. Supt. Hoden, the BOE, and the attending general public. Research shows that moving from half-day to full-day K results in a statistically
    significant improvement in reading, writing, and mathematics
    for our youngest students. Some of this research is referenced in Asst. Supt. Hoden’s presentation. More research can be located using Google Scholar. My own research using subscription-only database tools that I have access to at work show that there is strong consensus among experts that transitioning from half-day to full-day K yields tangible benefits. Where the research is less conclusive is how long those benefits last beyond 3rd grade.

 

  • Members of the BOE and members of the community are concerned about the sustainability of full-day K in the long run. Supt. Higuera projected that full-day K would cost $400,000 - $450,000 each year without the NY State aid of $750,000-$825,000 which she wishes to use next year in a one-time revenue source. The balance of $312,000 from Year One would help defray the cost of Year 2. Bottom line: the District will need to spend about $1 million over the next four years to sustain the program.

 

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  • My own feelings are that $450,000 to improve the academic success of 200 of our children every year  is a price I am willing to pay even though I will not have children in K after this year. It is possible that something we have now will need to be cut down the road to keep full-day K so this comes down to priorities. Full-day K is at the top of my list but I understand that this may not be true for others.

 

  • 97% of NY State schools are full-day K. Ten districts on Long Island still have half-day K.

 

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  • Supt. Hoden showed ELA results for last year among neighboring districts as well as aimsWeb Growth scores which are nationally normalized data values. I would be curious to see ELA scores for a longer time frame. One year is likely not a representative sample to make comparisons. The aimsWeb scores showed that last year our K students fell behind the national averages in every category as the year progressed. Research shows that this trend would be reversed with full-day K.

 

  • The tax cap was explained again, and I admit, it is confusing at times. The tax cap is really a 2% tax levy based on a budget that has deductions and additions much like one’s taxable income is not the same as total income. (When we do taxes we deduct mortgage interest, property taxes, and a variety of other allowable deductions to get our taxable income.) Our prior year tax levy was $41,300,365. The new 2% tax levy including all deductions and additions ends up being $43,079,368 which is an increase of $1,779,003 or 4.31%. See Pg. 10 here of the Budget Presentation. So the 2% number we all talk about is very misleading.

 

  • As I mentioned in my previous post, most of the $2.8 million budget increase is due to increases in salaries, health care costs, and pension payments which are $2.2 million even without full-day K. Salaries are contractually obligated and the State just whacked us with a huge pension increase of 3% costing the District an additional $1.3 million over last year. Health care costs increased $809,720 over last year. The $2.2 million “instructional” increase is more than a 3% increase over last year’s budget so we were unlikely to see a 2% or lower budget increase regardless of full-day K or other initiatives. The only way to lower this percentage is to take even more money out of reserve funds.

 

  • Healthcare update: the BOE has been in negotiations for several months with the various unions about offering health care plan options that would save individuals and the District significant money. Right now all members are on the “family plan” even if they are single or have no children. Instead of requiring all members and the District to buy into this expensive family plan, individuals could instead opt for one of four plans: 1) Single 2) Married, no children 3) Single with children 4) Family plan. If we can get this to work, it would result in huge savings. Another option which is used at my College is self-insured healthcare. This requires more work by the union because they are managing the fund but we have realized tremendous
    savings.

 

  • Supt. Higuera showed that for each 0.5% property assessed value change it would result in a $50/yr tax change to the average District taxpayer. So if assessed values fall another 1% as some have claimed is expected, the additional tax burden would be $100/year. I am not convinced assessed values will decrease. I think they will hold steady.

 

  • BOE President Doug Ports as well as a few community members expressed concern that as debt expires and the District no longer has payments (just as if your car payments end, you now have “found money”) perhaps it is not fiscally prudent to spend that money on new initiatives but instead use it to decrease the budget and save taxpayers some money. It is hard to argue that reasoning when we keep seeing tax increases. (See where the District will have debt expiring here. For example, after next year  the District will not have to spend $660,000 as a 1996 building renovation loan runs out.)

 

  • The public asked for a special meeting to make up for the meeting that weather cancelled last week. I agree that an extra meeting is a good idea so residents can voice their concerns one last time before the BOE provides their budget.

 

During the Public Be Heard portion of last night’s meeting, I made a few public comments about my support for full-day K as well as questioning whether a 2% budget increase was possible. I also spoke about those that have falsely claimed that our teachers are overpaid. This is simply not true when one considers that most salaries are paid based on an individual’s educational background, special skills, and value to society.

Those of you who have followed my previous blog posts from last budget season (http://millerplace-rockypoint.patch.com/users/scott-mandia/blog_posts and http://millerplace-rockypoint.patch.com/users/scott-a-mandia/blog_posts) know that I have been supportive of teachers but also critical of raises during tough fiscal times. Too often we only look at the top salary and assume all teachers receive that value. Let us take a look at the minimum and median salaries also.

I do not have access to the latest contract but in 2010 the minimum salary was around $48,000 with a BS/BS degree. This is certainly not “overpaid”.

Our teachers are required to have graduate degrees to continue working in the District. The 2010 contract shows that the minimum salary for having the MA/MA degree was $54,000. This is certainly not “overpaid”.

The median salary with a graduate degree was about $83,000. For perspective, A-Rod will make about $58,000 each time he steps up to the plate if he plays every game in an injury-free season.

The top salary is around $126,000 which equates to two at-bats for A-Rod. Are we all burning our Yankees merchandise and refusing to go to games nor watch the team on television? (grin)

While in school, our children are learning how to read, write, and do mathematics so that they can become productive members of our society. This is not happening in a vacuum. It is our teaching professionals who are delivering this invaluable service. Our teachers have advanced degrees. They have skills that most of us do not. How many of us can teach 20+ children literacy and mathematics? Think about those frustrating times when you and your child worked on homework together. Think you can do this every day with 20+ children?

Teachers are worth every penny they earn. Yes, there are a few that may not be earning their keep and there are those that are overachievers, working harder and making less than others – no different than in any other profession. I have yet to see anything but superior talent from the teachers my two boys have had.

When successful people are interviewed, they often state that they owe their success to the great teacher(s) they had. With all due respect to the many hard-working professionals in our District, how many of them can claim to change lives in their daily jobs?

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