I went to hear Rob Astorino's pitch for his new budget last night. It includes a modest 1% decrease in spending, but you'd think it was 50% from all the caterwauling.
The nature of these events is that interest groups show up in force with the implicit (sometimes explicit) threat of, "continue to support my pet interest or we will seek to throw you out of office."
My favorite last night was sustainable farming. Did you know that Westchester County was in the farming business? Yes, that's right, in the middle of the biggest fiscal crisis we have ever known, and with the highest taxes in the nation, we are funding "sustainable farming" efforts. And these folks, and others, will not let you cut a red cent without fighting you every step of the way.
That's the way it works, and why we have to stop creating new government initiatives from Washington down to Bedford: because they never go away. They get in the faces of politicians at every opportunity, giving the illusion of broad popular support. Meanwhile, the diffuse interests of the taxpayers are seldom communicated in the same manner. No one ever specifically shows up to say they oppose spending 0.1% of the budget on sustainable farming.
Mind you, most of the spending in question will sound just wonderful. Perhaps you really like the idea of funding sustainable farming. But another way to think of this is to imagine we didn't have the program and someone came along and proposed it. How would you fund it? Not with tax receipts, because Westchester takes in far less than it spends already. That leaves debt. Would you, today, take on even more county debt to fund a new initiative on sustainable farming?
What these folks have to start understanding is that there are some things (most things, actually) where the government should play no role. If your project truly has merit, raise the money privately. We live in the most generous nation in the world. If you can't, well perhaps your idea doesn't have the merit you think it does, and so you shouldn't expect taxpayers to pick up the bill.
Congratulations to Nan Hayworth. She ran a near perfect campaign and deserved the win. We will hold her to her pledge NOT to bring any earmarks back to our district. Someone, somewhere has to set an example.
Bob Castelli's outcome may not be known for some time. I am deeply impressed with what Bob has done in a mere 8 months in office, and it would be tragic if he were removed so quickly.
In a true testimony to the blind idiocracy that our state has become, the two state-wide candidates who were endorsed by everyone - Wilson for Comptroller and Donovan for AG - both lost because they didn't have a D next to their names. Sadly, this means we have greatly diminished the odds for meaningful reform. Just as the rest of the country seems to have the will to repair itself, we (and California) have decided to further hurl ourselves into the maw of public sector unions and their corrupt political enablers.
As you know, Sane in Bedford is not about partisan politics, it is about restoring fiscal sanity, whether it be here in our school district or our county or our state. Yes, I am a Republican, but I have often been frustrated with Republicans on the fiscal front. Sadly, this frustration reaches a different order of magnitude as I survey the Democrat landscape.
With this in mind, I have some recommendations for Tuesday, should you still be on the fence.
Harry Wilson for State Comptroller. With apologies to my friend Nan Hayworth, this is the single most important election in terms of its direct impact on you and me. The State Comptroller runs New York’s finances, and it has been the playground of crooks and con artists. Alan Hevesi is on his way to jail. Tom DiNapoli, the incumbent, wasn’t elected. He was an insider appointment, and he has no idea what he’s doing. Harry Wilson is hugely qualified, so much so that he endorsements from both the NY Post andthe New York Times – something Republicans never get. Absolutely everybody has endorsed this guy, but he’s still an underdog because most voters don’t even know what a State Comptroller is and will just blindly pull the lever for the Democrat.
Bob Castelli for State Assembly. If it seems like we just got done electing Bob, you would be right. He was elected in a special election this February. But in only a short time, he has followed through on his promises, among them introducing legislation to repeal the Triborough Amendment. How the public sector unions must hate him, but that’s why he needs your vote. The Record Review endorsed Bob after not endorsing him in February (see: NY Times, infrequency of Republican endorsements).
Dan Donovan for Attorney General. Both Donovan and his Democrat opponent, Eric Schneiderman, are running on platforms of cleaning up Albany. Excellent. As you know, we can’t fix the budget mess in our school district until laws are changed in Albany, and this can’t happen until the corrupt ass clowns up there are thrown out of office or arrested (less Mr. Castelli, of course). The problem is that Schneiderman is completely in bed with this crowd and had been for some time. They are among his primary contributors. He won’t change a thing.
Anyone but Cuomo for Governor. Cuomo is a vile man, something that we will all come to realize once he is governor. Yes, he has said some good things re limiting state spending on the campaign trail, but even Democrat insiders tell me all this will be forgotten once he’s in power. Does anyone really think Cuomo will take on the teachers unions, his single biggest supporter? Not a chance. But make no mistake, he’s going to win. Sadly, his opponent, Carl Paladino, has run an inept campaign, and it’s questionable whether he has the mental balance to be an effective governor. Here’s why you should vote for him anyway: if Cuomo wins by a surprisingly narrow margin, his feet will be held to the fire and he won’t view his office as a sinecure.
The Two Senate Seats: repeat advice from above.
Last but not least, Nan Hayworth for Congress. On day one, Nan might be the smartest member of Congress (see: Ivy League Tea Partier). But we all know there are lots of smart people with seriously screwed up ideas. Nan’s not one of them. Most importantly, she is committed to curtailing government spending. They all say that, I know, how many have promised not to bring earmarks back to their districts? John Hall has never seen a dollar of other people’s money he didn’t want to spend. The guy is a walking moral hazard and has to go. This race is a dead heat.
This will be the most important election our country has held in quite some time. Maybe not since the Carter/Reagan election has there been such clarity of choice between two competing visions for our country. But I stress to all those who are endorsed here: your feet will be held to the fire. We are not voting for you because there happens to be an “R” next to your name. We couldn’t care less. When your words become actions, we will happily support your re-election.
It’s unacceptable and irresponsible for the school board to agree to lavish pay increases to a labor force where the current number of resumes for teaching jobs resemble the White Pages. The new contract treats the teachers as a protected class, a sacred organization.The new contract's increases,handed out in a great recession, provides leverage for the unions to negotiate much larger increases 4 years from now in a normal growing economy. Of course the new normal will not include a meteoric rise in housing prices we enjoyed before the housing bubble popped. The severe and lengthy recession has confounded economists and investors alike, some are concerned the economy will undergo a Japan like deflationary economy that began in the 90's and continues today. In a period of deflation, the two most commonly held household investments, housing and equities, will fall in price. Others are concerned with a scenario of hyperinflation, as indicated by the huge spike in the price of gold over the last few years. Both scenarios breed uncertainty and pain that leaves school boards with no option but to hold firm against union representative’s gluttonous demands. Union President Adam Yuro disingenuously describes the process as collaborative, knowing the district is shackled with Triborough and Taylor laws that corrupt Albany lawmakers have passed in exchange for the lucrative teacher union dues that are funneled as campaign cash. Yuro absurdly characterizes the settlement as “in the best interest of the students”. The best interest of the students would be the abolishment of tenure and the end of collective bargaining for teachers. There is absolutely no benefit that unionized labor brings to our students. None at all. Today’s economic conditions and reality are reason alone for teachers to compete for their jobs on a daily basis , in a free market private sector, as over 90 pct of America does. Who can justify guaranteed employment for teachers? Why should we fund teacher’s retirements? Why do we cede control over our schools? For those parents and taxpayers who support unionized labor, it’s crucial to note this support comes at a costly price to our children, as it fosters a workforce which is not only more expensive than a non unionized workforce, but is inherently inflexible- and inflexibility denies us rights , choice and control over the schools our children attend. It’s imperative we place our children's education before the support of the unions. Each concession made to the demands of the unions are resources taken from our children. Yes, an anti-union stance is a pro-children stance. “Waiting for Superman”, playing in theatres today, is an eye opening documentary that exposes the damage unions have inflicted on our children and public schools. Taxpayers, parents and children looked to the school board and were “Waiting for Superman”, unfortunately, we still wait and the villain remains.
The following is a statement from Graham Anderson, member of the BCSD board:
Statement Regarding BTA Contract – August 31, 2010
Madame President, fellow members of the Board of Education, and Administration – thank you in advance for granting me this opportunity to speak.The following remarks represent my personal opinions and do not necessarily represent those of the Board of Education.
Because we do not have the ability to change the fundamental nature of our District’s employee contracts, I believe we delay making tough decisions and ultimately make the future more painful for our students, taxpayers and employees.We vote today to make a slight improvement over the status quo, which is why I am very reluctantly voting “yes” for the proposed BTA contract.A deal is better than no deal – and although we make important inroads in areas such as health insurance and we begin the process of changing our spending trajectory, we fall short of the fundamental rethinking of contracts necessary for success in the future.
In agreeing to a contract, we grant our able Superintendent and Administration the freedom to set aside contentious negotiations and focus more appropriately on educating our students.District teachers can now do the same.
Nevertheless, today we agree to a contract that does not solve the fundamental problem our district faces.The Bedford Central School District has incurred contractual obligations that it cannot afford to meet in the future.Our district cannot meet such obligations because it cannot secure voter approval to raise tax rates to a level high enough to support our employee contracts.We know this is the case from our In Focus Survey conducted last year.
For a great many years in the past, school districts underpaid teachers and compensated them instead with increased benefits and generous contractual terms. Over time, however, teachers’ salaries improved, but these benefits and contractual terms accumulated to impose substantial costs and prevent needed change.Therefore, to resolve this problem, our District must change the fundamental nature of the contracts it has entered into and reduce the growth rate of its spending.Today, we agree to incremental alterations rather than substantial changes.
I want to be out of the business of firing classroom teachers and back in the very difficult business of determining how to educate our children properly and prepare them to compete in the global markets of the 21st century.With the approval of this contract, we are notout of the business of firing teachers and will almost certainly have to do so in the next several years.Moreover, we do not have the financial flexibility to increase the elementary school day by 1 hour to bring it more in line with regional averages, to introduce foreign language education into elementary schools, or to provide more compelling computer science and information technology skills and education that our middle and high school children definitely need in order to become college or career ready.Therefore, we are not making some important progress we need to make toward preparing our students to compete effectively in a global market.
One of the major difficulties we face is that our district is primarily financed by local property taxes.The proverbial straw has broken the camel’s back and we cannot afford to return to mid to high single digit annual tax increases.Our taxes are some of the highest in the country and the situation is grim for homeowners.New York Metro Area home prices are the lowest since 2004.Home prices do not appear to be headed higher anytime soon so increasing local property taxes becomes a heavier burden with each tax year – especially in an economic climate where private sector jobs are scarce.
The benefits packages (both health and pension) for the employees of our schools have become unaffordable when combined with contractually and legislatively mandated salary increases.Most taxpayers do not know that under “step schedules” teacher salaries rise by several percentage points even before cost-of-living adjustments.Moreover, benefits now total nearly 30 percent of the total compensation package, far exceeding private-sector averages.
District employment contracts do not enable us to keep combined wage and benefits increases to 3% or less per year.If we cannot keep increases to such a supportable level, we must draw down reserves or let go of more teachers and programs or do both.Therefore, once prudent reserves are exhausted, our district will have to make annual staff cuts just to pay teachers for staying on for one more year.
What can we do?Today, we can do nothing without the help of the BTA.I encourage the teachers to help the BTA reinvent itself.I would like to see the BTA become a champion of public service instead of primarily a defender of the current salary and benefits of its own, more senior members.Instead of demonstrating endless obsession with wages and conditions in a contract that exceeds 100 pages, I challenge the BTA to be a force of change to improve the quality of education in our schools.We can no longer afford to reward failure and laud mediocrity.We desperately need fresh ideas on the local level to combat the Washington policy wonks and non-governmental agencies that have elegant “solutions” that never seem to work.I would like to see the BTA serve as a constructive force for change rather than an obstructive force bent on getting its “fair share” to the detriment of the students its members purport to serve.We can only improve our financial situation and our schools with the support of the employees willing to make a fresh start and scrap preconceived notions, outdated ideas, and archaic contracts.
More specifically, we need to remove regulations that strictly define specific staff positions and the use of school time. We need to become more flexible.Subjects and programs do not have the same requirements and time commitments and we need to recognize this fact.We need to remove lockstep pay and alter teacher compensation, including benefits and pensions, to increase rewards for teachers who have the most marketable skills, who have the best results and who contribute the most to improving student performance.We should work with the BTA to define what this means for our District and how to implement it.
We need to move toward a post-Us/Them world and toward a more civic minded community so that together we and the BTA can find mutual support for the difficult, inevitable changes that we are facing in our public finances and in our educational system.Although we were not able to do so today, in the future I hope we will be able to work together more effectively and not at cross purposes to make Bedford Central a leading district in the nation and avoid the bunker mentality that will lead us to irrelevance.
Thank you for your time and patience this morning.
