THE WORLD READS WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER — 8,324,077 VISITS IN ONE YEAR

WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey. February 1, 2005, UPDATED with Clarification, February 2, 2005, 6:30 P.M. E.S.T., UPDATED with further Clarification February 3, 2005, 1:45 P.M. E.S.T.:  Superintendent of Schools Timothy Connors described the 9.72% increase in the City School Budget for 2005-06,  as “preliminary,” saying the formulation of the City School Budget is one of “scaffolding” which he said formulation of a preliminary budget is one part of the process.

 

WHITE PLAINS BOARD OF EDUCATION DOING THE NUMBERS MONDAY EVENING. Photo by WPCNR News.

 

He said the Board wanted to “be clear upfront with the city Annual Budget Committee” about what budget priorities are, which include maintaining class sizes, conforming to the New York State Education curriculum, supporting technological progress, involving parents through outreach public relations, and planning for capital improvements over the next five years.

 

Connors said of the baseline budget of $157,797,830, that “I don’t see it going higher.”

The Board heard explanations of the increases that were contributing, in part to the presently projected $13,988,646 increase. Terry Schruers, the Assistant Superintendent for Business, noted that new positions created $4,920,696 in salaries (3.4% of the increase), Health Insurance, $1,159,075 (.8% of the increase) and Teachers Retirements, an additional $2,397,566, (1.67% of the increase), accounting for $8.5 Million of the $14 Million.

 

Aside from the fixed increases in contracts, health costs, Schruers noted there was $706,000 in debt, $605,000 budgeted increase for Utilities, $240,000 in structural contrtacts, $228,258 in outside agency contracts, and $470,293 in Transportation increases, in addition to  $80,000 for a buildings survey, and $80,000 to replace a grant for afterschool programs, $1,044,623 for BOCES services (.7% of the increase), and assorted increases for Social Security .

 

The 2005/06 Preliminary Budget Expenditures

                                      Additions        % of Budget Increase

Salaries                            $4,920,696         3.4%

Health Insurance           $1,159,075            .8%

Teachers Retirement    $2,397,566         1.6%

Employee Retirement   $105,000               .07%

Social Security               $289,000                .2%

Worker Compensation $45,000                .03%

Unemployment Ins.       $12,000                  .008%

Debt                                   $706,000                .49%

BOCES                              $1,044,623            .72%

Utilities                               $   605,000            .42%

Plant

Contractural                     $  240,000             .17%

Building Struc. Survey  $   80,000               .06%

Outside Agencies

/Contracts                          $228,258               .16%

Transportation                  $470,293             .33%

Tuitions                               $109,000               .08%

Afterschool Programs     $  80,000               .06%

Legal                                    $  30,000               .02%

Summer Handicapped

Contrib.                                $ 75,000                .05%

 

TOTAL                         $12,596,511            8.759%

 

Scheurs and Connors went over the new requests that were included in the Preliminary Budget, noting they were asking the staff heads throughout the district to justify their requests.

 

Of the $4,920,696 in new salaried positions that the Board may cut as the budget moves forward there were 5 new high school teaching positions, 5 new middle school teachers (3 for Eastview Middle School, if that school is expanded to 160 students; and he equivalent of 2 teachers at Highlands), coaching personnel for four new sports teams, (Field Hockey Freshman or Modified Team, Girls Field Hockey Coach, Girls Basketball Coach, and a Modified football coach for 7^th grade), an athletic trainer, three support staff, 3 teachers for Post Road School, 2 for the Newcomer Center, 2.5 personnel for Church Street School, 4 literacy coaches to cover all elementaries,

 

Middle School Students Out of Rochambeau.

 

The District is also considering a joint Middle School Alternative Program to be started in cooperation with the New Rochelle School District, where at least 8 Middle School students now enrolled at the Community School (Rochambeau) would be served by a staff hired by White Plains and New Rochelle, in New Rochelle saving the expense of paying BOCES to teach the children. Connors said the advantage would be to move the Middle School students away from the high school students who make up the majority of students at the Community School at Rochambeau.

 

Dr. Joseph Casbarro, Assistant Superintendent for Pupil Services, explained the cost of adding the teachers and to set up such a school was estimated at $185,754 to the City School District. He advised that the district was strictly in exploratory talks with New Rochelle at this time, and how the school would work was undetermined at this time.

 

School System Considering Verizon Phone Upgrade

 

Mr. Schruers, Assistant Superintendent for Business reported that the school district is working in cooperation with the City of White Plains technical personnel to upgrade the communications wiring in the school district to convert the wiring to Voice I.P. technology. Schruers said it was expected that Verizon would donate some of the costs of the conversion.

 

Asked what it would cost for the district to install Schruers put the figure at less than $500,000, but more than $200,000, and hesitated when asked if it was $400,000. An advantage to the Voice I.P. system, Schruers said was to install “Voice Mail” in the school phone system. Asked if Voice Mail would lead to a preponderance of unreturned phone calls, Superintendent of Schools Timothy Connors said voicemail would be a “bookmark,” and not a substitute for responding.

 

School Aid and Revenues.

 

Schruers mentioned that the school district might lose $500,000 in state aid based on information the district had at this time. Connors said that any possible school tax increase necessitated by the preliminary budget was being held in abeyance pending revenue information expected to be delivered by City Assessor, Eyde McCarthy. Ms. McCarthy will appear at Education House February 28 to brief the board on the expected revenue from Payments In Lieu of Taxes, which Connors said was expected to be up in 2005-06, and the prospects of city certiorari settlements.

 

Last month, the school district learned it would lose $632,000 in revenues from a successful certiorari filed by Nordstrom’s. Last year, the district set aside a borrowing contingency they can draw on to offset unexpected certiorari losses.

 

After the meeting, the Board called an executive session to hear from their attorney handling certioraris (reduced assessments). That meeting was not open to the public.

 

Grants Being Gone Over with Fine Tooth Comb.

Program Pileup Needs to be looked at.

 

Superintendent Connors said that the grant monies the district are being looked at to supplement programs where the use is appropriate. He noted that the White Plains Summer School program is funded by grants.

 

Donna McLaughlin, President of the Board of Education, was troubled by what she described as installing new programs and keeping programs that do not work. Her last words of the evening were “We need to get rid of the old way. We can’t afford to do both. You can’t  let it (layers of programs) pileup.”

 

Public Relations Firm will Handle Spring Publicity.

Planning Firm Selection Too.

 

Early in the meeting, Superintendent of Schools, Timothy Connors said that the public relations discussion planned for the evening would be moved up to the next meeting. WPCNR erred in writing the firm has not been hired. The firm, Syntax/Education, according to Michelle Schoenfeld, who contacted CNR to report the error, has been hired (on November 8):

 

Ms. Schoenfeld, in a statement writes: “It was pointed out to me that your website states that the district has not yet contracted for public relations.  The Board did so at the November 8^th meeting, with Syntax Communications, which has been working for us since. The subject cancelled from Monday night’s meeting was an update on their progress.It will be rescheduled at a future date.

It was announced at a Board meeting  in December that  the firm is not going to do the extensive $50,000 full program considered at that time. WPCNR misinterpreted that to mean that the firm had not been hired yet. The firm will be handling the spring Board of Education budget communication process.

Ms. Schoenfeld further clarified the public relations situation with this letter to WPCNR Thursday afternoon:

The contract, approved on 11/8/04, is for $21,112, to extend from December 2004 to June 30, 2005.  That is a straight free for services and does not include the costs of printing or postage.  At the moment they are working on a newsletter and have also  been surveying members of the Board and community, to develop a plan for further work.

 

A  public relations budget of about $50,000 is being considered for Syntax in the 2005-06 budget. (BOCES would reimburse the school district for 43% of that cost, lowering the actual cost to  $28,500.)

 

The selection of a planning firm to prepare a five year capital plan for the School District is also in process, covering upgrades to the district buildings and athletic fields.

WPCNR’S ADAM IN ALBANY. By Assemblyman Adam T. Bradley, 89th District. January 31, 2005: After the 2000 presidential election it became apparent that something was wrong with our nation’s electoral process. Pictures of the Florida recount headlined newspapers with hanging and pregnant chads from outdated punch card ballots. Five years later, New York has still failed to bring the election process into the new millennium.

 

The effects of the outdated system are reverberating in Westchester County. In 2001, a White Plains City Council race was tarnished by broken election machinery. Now, nearly three months after Election Day 2004, the 35^th State Senate is still undecided. In order to prevent election mishaps, the Assembly has always taken the lead. Recently, the Assembly passed legislation to change how elections are run in New York and to help the state comply with the federal Help America Vote Act.

 

 

We must do everything we can to ensure and restore faith in the integrity of our electoral process. To make voting easier and more accurate, the legislation:

 

·        bans punch card ballots; replacing it with a single type of voting machine with a voter-verified paper audit trail (A.5);

·        consolidates election operations at the county level – ensuring polling places are adequately staffed with well-trained workers (A.122);

·        creates a statewide computerized voter registration list with proper privacy protections (A.121);

·        establishes basic guidelines to ensure the disabled community has access to polling sites (A.120)

 

 It is not enough to change the way we vote, we must also change how campaigns are financed. We recently passed a campaign finance reform measure designed to stem the influence of special interest money on elections (A.4).

 

The plan would provide public matching funds to candidates for statewide office who limit large contributions and campaign spending. The legislation also creates an income tax check-off to help build a non-partisan, state-controlled campaign fund for eligible candidates. In addition, the legislation:

 

·        imposes limits on the amount of money political parties can contribute to candidates;

·        bans fundraisers by state legislators or statewide candidates within 40 miles of Albany during the legislative session;

·        sets limits on the amount of money that can be donated to candidates or political committees;

·        closes loopholes that allow corporations to avoid campaign contribution limits by funneling donations through subsidiary companies; and

·        bans unlimited “soft money” contributions to political parties’ housekeeping accounts

 

We must work to restore and maintain public faith in democratic elections, which are the foundation of our society. I believe the bills passed by the Assembly will help ensure citizen participation in our democracy.  I strongly encourage the Senate and governor to on creating a level playing field for those seeking to run for public office, and join us in ensuring that we have a fair electoral system that the public can have trust in.