Malverne school officials have described this year's budget as "gloomy," Valley Stream District 13 called it "challenging," and West Hempstead is still struggling to close a $2.4 million gap in revenue and expenses.
All three are grappling with declines in state aid, unfunded mandates and rising salary and benefits costs, which have forced them to consider cutting programs and people.
It's an ugly job that these school administrators and board members are faced with, but for a moment, let's pretend you were charged with this responsibility.
What would you place on the chopping block? (Should extra-curriculars and sports be the first to go or people?) What would you fight to preserve? And how would you balance the needs of taxpayers to keep increases low and of the students to receive the best education possible?
You'll see members of our Moms Council, an advisory group comprised of smart and engaged moms from the neighborhood, responding to these questions below in the comments section and we invite you and your circle of friends to join in the discussion.
Moms Talk is a new feature on Malverne-West Hempstead Patch that invites local parents to discuss issues that matter to them.
Wondering who are these local moms we tapped for our Council? Meet the members:
- Janet Grech - A Malverne mom with children enrolled at Our Lady of Lourdes School.
- Laura Murray- A Lynbrook mom who grew up in Malverne and is the current president of the Mothers of Malverne. She has two young children not in school yet.
- Gina Genti - A Malverne mom with two boys in elementary school.
- Andrea Shinsato- A West Hempstead mom with a 2-year-old and one child enrolled in Chestnut Street School.
- Theresa Walz- A West Hempstead mom whose children attend Cornwell Avenue School and West Hempstead Middle School.
- Loraine Magaraci- A West Hempstead mom with kids enrolled in West Hempstead Middle School and High School.
- Audrey Diaz Robles- A new mom to a 6-month-old baby.
- Dawn Wladyka- A Malverne mom with two students attending Our Lady of Lourdes School and one enrolled in Grace Lutheran PreSchool.
- Eileen Lynch O'Hara - A Malverne mother with three children enrolled at Saint Anne's School in Garden City and one child at the Brother Fox Latin School at Kellenberg Memorial High School.
- Maria Salcedo-Hafker - A Malverne mom who sends her children to Maurice W. Downing School and Davison Avenue School.
- Lori Lang- A Malverne native and mother of four whose children attend St. Thomas the Apostle School in West Hempstead.
- Jennifer Johnson- A West Hempstead mom with one child attending Cornwell Avenue School and another in day care.
Moms Talk will also be the place for you to pose your questions about parenting topics and local issues that affect families. Where can we get information on local flu shot clinics for children? How do we talk to our children about peer pressure, bullying and protecting themselves online? How can we help our children's schools weather their budget cutbacks?
Have a topic or question you'd like to bring before the Moms Council and fellow Patch readers? E-mail Tara.Conry@Patch.com
Basically, that translated into a big cut in after school sports and extracurricular clubs and activities. While I hate to see any cuts made, the reality is, they need to be made. Unfortunately, not all students use these services or benefit from them whereas cuts that would effect the school day for everyone are what should be avoided at all costs. Perhaps ask parents to pay a fee for an after school club or activity instead that would cover the cost of the activity or close to it. That way, if you want to participate in it, you pay for your child the same way we do for CYO or town teams and activities. Alternatives such as cutting teachers, which leads to increasing class sizes and effects test scores and the social setting of the schools, serves no one well in our districts. Pay freezes, perhaps yes. I would rather have a pay freeze than know someone else would lose their job. Not easy decisions, but they do need to be made.
Why not have staff, teachers and administrators contribute more to their own retirement and healthcare benefits?
The extras are just that though, extra, so I believe parents should be asked to contibute for them if their children want to participate in them. The entire school does not necessarily benefit from them, so asking those that do participate to contribute is the same idea. Everyone should contribute to any benefit they receive. For me, I pay the taxes, my kids do not use the schools and then we also have to fund sports and after-school activities - in difficult economic times? And then also pay for our kids to play sports through the village and OLL CYO. If we all contributed to any benefit we received, this world would be in a much better position. School should be run more like corporate America - contribute to your benefits, 401 K/pension and job performance based on merit not tenure.
One aspect that needs to be looked at is superintendents salary. It is a slap in the face, honestly, to ask the taxpayers (many whom might be unemployed at the moment) to shell out more and more money for our children to have a good education when the superintendents are making six figure salaries! How can a superintendent tout the education system they are working for while milking the same system for a personal fortune? I'd be hard pressed to find a resident in this community that makes what the superintendent does yearly. If they want to cut costs without having a direct impact on the kids, that is one (maybe the only one) avenue to explore.
Do we need 56 Superintendents each making hundreds of thousands per year? It needs to be addressed broadly across Long Island. The unions can say what they want in this State and others, but we are slowly but surely killing the system. It is unsustainable.
I also don't believe that sports and clubs are extras. They are neccessary to help insure we are educating the entire student and producing well rounded and civic minded people. That being said in the current economic climate I would not be adverse to contributing towards extra curricular activities but let's make sure those clubs are at near capacity, meeting regularly or as scheduled and that the accounting procedures are followed.
88% of that 3.89% is salaries and benefits. In dollars that translated to about $201,000 in funding that we have the ability to control within the parapmeters of a $47,000,000.00 budget.
Further, the data about the school district came from the following source: http://nassaucivic.com/Taxes_School_Districts.htm Is it incorrect?
See pages 604-606 of the document titled: For all LI teacher-administrator salaries go to http://www.lischooltax.com/08-9TS.pdf If this incorrect, please let me know. I am basing some of myfinancial concerns on this data. Tom
The link you included is for administrators AND teachers. Your statement clearly read adminstrators. I have no problem talking about the issues we face but please be accurate in your statements-especially on the internet.
Having that many people; be they staff, admin or teachers making over $100k in a district such as ours in outrageous.