In today’s NY Times Governor Cuomo took at shot at school district superintendents’ compensation; and while it is an easy shot to take to strike up the ire of the general populace, don’t be fooled. This is a political deflection that is meant to put blame for high taxes on non-union, hard working leaders of education instead of a Governor that has turned his back on the education of the middle class in New York State. The Governor does not want to go after the unions or all of the protections union employees are granted under legislation and their protective body, the Public Employee Review Board (“PERB”), nor does he want to alienate legislators that he needs to approve his budget – a budget that will remove $1.1 million dollars of State Aid revenue from Elwood next year. The Governor has also rushed into a tax cap that has not been thought through thoroughly and does not provide the necessary exemptions and mandate relief. It is a tax cap that protects big business and large municipal school districts more than the families and homeowners on Long Island. These are the same legislators that have kowtowed to public unions for decades and filled the system up with more unfunded mandates than progressive reforms. These are the same legislators that significantly lowered employee contributions to their defined-benefit pensions in the laws of 2000 when the economy was good, and are now asking the taxpayer to step up and pay a backbreaking 11.5% - 15% of salaries as a contribution to the pension plans of school employees. These are also the same legislators that gave us the Tenure laws, the Triborough Law, and the Taylor Law that makes it almost impossible to gain leverage in a collective bargaining negotiation with public unions so we can remove the contract provisions that are vestiges of the 1950s and 1960s that should no longer apply to the business of educating children in the 21st Century. Laws that have allowed the public unions to hold our children hostage in any collective bargaining contract negotiation, employee evaluation, and necessary disciplinary actions. Now, allow me to stop my rant on the Governor and his cronies in Albany for a moment and give you some facts.
There are 121 school districts of various size and configurations on Long Island with an overall educational product and results that are among the best in the state, if not the country. The cumulative budget for these school districts collectively is $10,667,516,176, as reported in Newsday within the past week. Now, let’s imagine that each school district on Long Island employs a superintendent with a salary package of $300,000 per year on average. By the way, superintendents have individual contracts with school districts and are NOT protected by unions or are eligible for tenure. So let’s do the math: if you have 121 superintendents earning $300k per year that is $36,300,000, or 0.34% of the cumulative budgets of all schools on Long Island. If we eliminated every superintendent on Long Island, our collective cost of education would be lowered by 1/3rd of one percentage point. I do not believe that is the type of cost reduction that we are looking for; especially when you realize the value of a strong superintendent of schools. By the way, the Governor’s proposed budget reduces $250 million of state aid revenue to all Long Island schools, so it makes sense that he would look to deflect the financial devastation he is proposing to LI education somewhere other than his office or his pals in the senate and assembly.
The superintendent is the Chief Executive Officer of a school district. They are responsible for everything and to every resident in a school district. They need to assure instructional quality in the classrooms, they need to craft and provide the best educational product possible on a budget that becomes leaner every year versus the expenses that are only partially within local control. They focus on the curriculum, finances, personnel, policy, and student issues on a daily basis. A superintendent has a position of leadership of which a strong school system cannot survive without. If I learned one thing in my years as a member of the Board of Education it was this: there is no single component of a school system that is more meaningful to the success of the system and its benefits to children and community than a strong, experienced leader in the superintendent’s office. The value of an effective superintendent of schools is, as the saying goes, “Priceless.” I am sure there will be plenty of people that would like to debate my last statement, and it would be my pleasure to engage you in that debate. Because if you think that a school district can be productive and efficient by just turning it over to the teachers in the individual classrooms or a building principal (no matter how dedicated and talented they are) you are grossly mistaken.
Thank heavens we live in America Mr. Governor - a place that still embraces a free-market economy as part and parcel of our democracy. Please focus on reforms and mandate relief that will really make a positive difference in public education. Remember this as you pass through Albany on your way to bidding on that big White House on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC, and stop deflecting blame on the true leaders of education who should not be considered the epicenter of our problems so you can gain popularity for your obtuse political agenda.
There are 121 school districts of various size and configurations on Long Island with an overall educational product and results that are among the best in the state, if not the country. The cumulative budget for these school districts collectively is $10,667,516,176, as reported in Newsday within the past week. Now, let’s imagine that each school district on Long Island employs a superintendent with a salary package of $300,000 per year on average. By the way, superintendents have individual contracts with school districts and are NOT protected by unions or are eligible for tenure. So let’s do the math: if you have 121 superintendents earning $300k per year that is $36,300,000, or 0.34% of the cumulative budgets of all schools on Long Island. If we eliminated every superintendent on Long Island, our collective cost of education would be lowered by 1/3rd of one percentage point. I do not believe that is the type of cost reduction that we are looking for; especially when you realize the value of a strong superintendent of schools. By the way, the Governor’s proposed budget reduces $250 million of state aid revenue to all Long Island schools, so it makes sense that he would look to deflect the financial devastation he is proposing to LI education somewhere other than his office or his pals in the senate and assembly.
The superintendent is the Chief Executive Officer of a school district. They are responsible for everything and to every resident in a school district. They need to assure instructional quality in the classrooms, they need to craft and provide the best educational product possible on a budget that becomes leaner every year versus the expenses that are only partially within local control. They focus on the curriculum, finances, personnel, policy, and student issues on a daily basis. A superintendent has a position of leadership of which a strong school system cannot survive without. If I learned one thing in my years as a member of the Board of Education it was this: there is no single component of a school system that is more meaningful to the success of the system and its benefits to children and community than a strong, experienced leader in the superintendent’s office. The value of an effective superintendent of schools is, as the saying goes, “Priceless.” I am sure there will be plenty of people that would like to debate my last statement, and it would be my pleasure to engage you in that debate. Because if you think that a school district can be productive and efficient by just turning it over to the teachers in the individual classrooms or a building principal (no matter how dedicated and talented they are) you are grossly mistaken.
Thank heavens we live in America Mr. Governor - a place that still embraces a free-market economy as part and parcel of our democracy. Please focus on reforms and mandate relief that will really make a positive difference in public education. Remember this as you pass through Albany on your way to bidding on that big White House on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC, and stop deflecting blame on the true leaders of education who should not be considered the epicenter of our problems so you can gain popularity for your obtuse political agenda.
