Issues raised during the debate

By Charles K. Trainor

Provides helpful information regarding debate topics

My name is Charlie Trainor and I am running for re-election to the Briarcliff school board. I am writing this letter in order to clarify some issues that were raised at the recent school board election candidates' debate. The debate aired a number of difficult issues that we as a community will face for many years to come. However, the debate format did not allow for sustained dialogue. Therefore, I would like to clarify the initiatives taken by the current school board to address them.

Specifically, the concerns I will be discussing are zero based budgeting, benchmarking, responsible spending, costs, transparency and communication, goals, stress, textbooks, rankings, televised meetings, and board experience and perspective. I believe this information will be helpful to you as you choose your trustee. As always, all of the current board members invite and welcome questions about any of these issues.

Zero Based Budgeting + For the past seven years our board and administration have utilized the zero based model in budgeting. Each year all accounts are set to zero and all expense allocations are justified.

Benchmarking + Some place great importance on the use of benchmarking to evaluate district performance, relying on a simplistic approach of cost per student. Each district must have a basic administrative infrastructure. If you have a large student population the costs per student will naturally be lower.

For example, Chappaqua has the same administrative structure as we do and therefore a very similar administrative cost basis. However, they also have a larger enrollment. The concept is straightforward; the smaller a district's enrollment the higher the cost per student given similar structure.

The current administrative structure is a direct result of our experiencing the highest K-12 growth rate (90.9%) in the Lower Hudson Valley over the last several years. We made substantial capital outlays to finance our new middle school and expand Todd and the high school. This building leads to a higher cost-per-pupil than many of our neighboring districts. In spite of these expenses from 2002 through 2008, it should be noted that Briarcliff ranks in the last quartile of actual budget-to-budget increases for the 46 districts in Westchester and Putnam counties.

Responsible Spending + In order to minimize costs, Briarcliff has long been a leader in shared services. We are founding members in several cooperative ventures with other school districts. For example, we participate in an investment vehicle designed by and for school districts to invest short-term funds. We are members of an insurance cooperative to manage health care insurance costs. We make collaborative transportation arrangements with other districts and participate in a special education consortium to keep our children close to home, thereby reducing costs. We use New York State cooperative bidding services as well as the cooperative services of both the Northern Westchester-Putnam and the Southern Westchester Boards of Cooperative Services. In addition, we continue the long tradition of sharing services with the village of Briarcliff Manor.

Budget Costs+ A careful analysis of our operations revealed that the key drivers of our budget costs are aligned with those of other districts around the state. These factors are explained in a comprehensive brochure published by the New York State School Boards Association. You may download this free document, entitled "Excelsior" at http://www.nyssba.org.

During the years 2002 to 2006, there has been a 268% increase to the teacher retirement system contribution, a 51% increase in health insurance contributions, a 31% increase in special education costs, a 31% increase in transportation costs and a 21.5% increase in operation and maintenance costs. Of course, these figures do not reflect the rise in oil prices we have experienced since 2006.

An analysis of federal and state unfunded mandates in six of the districts in our area reveals that Briarcliff is not alone dealing with these concerns. The six districts in our Regional Educational Advisory Districts (READ) have reported the following percentages of their budgets spent on unfunded mandates: Briarcliff 15.6%, Brewster 16.6%, Garrison 20%, Croton 20.4%, Henrick Hudson 24% and Haldane 5.2%, resulting in a simple average of 18.1%. The Haldane number is an outlier, reflecting the fact that their new administrative team has not yet identified all of the expenses associated with the mandates.

Once your board identified these cost drivers we embarked on a mission to organize districts around the state to lobby our elected officials in Albany. Legislators are passing the costs of these unfunded mandates on to us, the homeowners. Meetings with state officials are ongoing and productive. However, it is ironic that while some legislators advocate for cost cutting they continue to legislate additional time off proposals for school district employees. Just this week another bill to expand time off for blood donations and cancer screening is being proposed for BOCES employees.

Transparency and Communication + The board works hard to keep the community informed. Agendas are e-mailed to the community before each board meeting. Minutes are available for all meetings. All board presentations are posted on the district web site. And all residents are mailed the board's newsletter, The Blackboard.

Board members are always available by phone or e-mail to answer questions. The district continues to use the Compact for Learning structure, affording community members, parents, teachers and administrators the opportunity to give valuable input to the board on building and district level concerns and suggestions. These communication channels supplement the long-standing relationship between the board, administrators and the Parent Teacher Associations in each building.

In addition, last year the board authorized an extremely comprehensive survey of all district residents, students and teachers seeking detailed input about the district in order to further improve all aspects of our schools. The results of that survey were compiled and mailed to all district residents. A Strategic Plan for the next five years will soon be presented to the board, incorporating the concerns that emerged as priorities.

Goals + Our school board and all of our administrators set goals at the beginning of each school year. These goals are posted on the school website the day after they are adopted. At the end of each year we engage in evaluating whether or not these goals have been met. Evaluations are conducted by those who developed the goals and also by their superiors.

Stress + Stress is a natural part of life. It motivates and strengthens us when present in balanced proportions. Too much stress, however, feels overwhelming and research shows that it has a negative impact on physical and emotional wellbeing. The board has recently adopted a policy on reducing unnecessary stress. We appointed an ad hoc committee to recommend steps that can be taken in this regard. Concerns about managing stress more effectively are explicit in the community's responses to our Strategic Plan Survey. Stress cannot be ignored. It is a real problem within our society, both in schools as well as corporate settings. We are committed to stress reduction where necessary as well as strengthening stress management strategies in our schools.

Textbooks + There has been much discussion regarding textbooks in the middle school. Each student does not have an extra set of books. One extra set is kept in the classroom, to be used if a student has left a book at home.

Rankings + Briarcliff middle school was awarded the Blue Ribbon of Excellence in 2006. Our high school has been rated in the top 4.3% of high schools in New York State. Only 42 schools in the state achieved this ranking by US News and World Report.

Many believe that rankings are a valid measure of success. However, high performing districts like Scarsdale, Chappaqua, Edgemont, and Byram Hills have refused to participate. They believe that a single metric, using the number of AP courses taken, is not a valid measure of a high school's academic performance.

Televising Board Meetings + There were no requests from community members in the Strategic Planning Survey to televise board meetings. No other requests to televise meetings have been made to the board in the last 2 years. Past boards examined this issue, but decided against it for a variety of reasons. Child safety issues were a major consideration as many of our meetings begin with awards and presentations to students who have distinguished themselves in recent weeks. Another major concern is the inability to provide television access to 30% of our school district's homes. This is due to different cable services for the towns of Ossining and Mount Pleasant, the increasing use of satellite dish TV and the availability of Verizon FIOS all of which do not provide equitable cable coverage. We will explore the possibility of pod-casting once we have upgraded our technology platform.

Board Experience and Perspective - Our board is currently composed of 5 individuals with a wide range of training and experience. We have individuals with corporate, legal, educational and financial backgrounds. Four members have children in nearly all the grades of district schools, two have graduates of BHS and one no longer has children in our schools.

We have a very new board. Two of our board members have completed 2 years of service and two others are completing their first year of service. I have 21 years of experience on the Board and therefore have a historical perspective on our school district.

In all of our decision-making we consider the financial, legal, policy, emotional, historical and experiential aspects of the issues. We engage in healthy dialogues with parents, students, administrators and other interested parties. We don't always agree on everything but we reach a consensus, compromising if necessary. We are five individuals who work as one team. We operate as a board, not as individuals.

In Conclusion - When you think about our school district and consider whether you are getting your money's worth, think about the factors outlined above. Remember that a school district is not just about numbers. It is not a corporation that produces a commodity to be sold. It is the place where we are educating our children, our most precious resource and our future's best hope.

Running our school district requires a balance between maintaining the quality of education that we provide and managing costs. We believe that the investment per pupil that we make is justified by the education that our children receive. It is reflected in the commendations our schools receive from Federal and State governments and from the Tri-States Consortium of high performing peer schools. Our graduation rate is the highest in Westchester. We garner County wide recognition for the quality and scope of our special education accommodations. Perhaps most rewarding is the validation we receive each year as our graduating seniors gain acceptance at top colleges and universities across the country.

Remember why you moved here. The balance that's been achieved is highly desirable. We live in a small town community and have an intimate school district. Every spending decision is met with a cost benefit analysis. We are working hard to keep our costs low without compromising the fine program that has experienced a myriad of positive changes over the years. We already have change with 4 new board members. There is no status quo here. We are working hard to respond to your feedback from the Strategic Plan Survey and we encourage your continued input.

Don't forget to vote for me and the budget on May 20, 2008 at the Todd School Gym 6 AM- 9 PM

Best Regards, Charlie Trainor