School board candidates tackle issues

Roy Lester

The financial burden that we taxpayers face in order to continue shouldering the increasing cost of education is one of the biggest issues we are currently facing. In order to educate our district's 3,565 children, the budget is projected to be $116 million. That averages over $30,000 per student compared to the average nationwide cost of $9,963.

Albany's low contribution to Long Island’s educational costs are easily blamed, but we must to look at curbing expenditures before seeking more money from taxpayers, whether it be from Long Island or upstate.

Although I have been criticized for being picky when it comes to expenditures, even small costs add up over time. The board's recent decision to buy sour cream in 5 gallon jugs instead of 5 one gallon jugs at a cost of 30 percent more (all because no one bothered to do the math) is a small example. While the difference over the course of a year is only a few thousand dollars, as someone once said, “after awhile this turns into real money.” We need all of our tax dollars watched. The other looming issue that we face is the “dummying down” of our educational curriculum. In the guise of offering more challenging courses to all, the school district is moving towards a “one size fits all” model that studies indicate will hurt children with the potential of doing advanced work. “One size fits all” has been proven over thousands of years not to fit human beings, but the old adage “Every seven years they want to reinvent education” seems to fit here. It would be a shame to have our children suffer for the next seven years from what might be another failed experiment.

Lynn Gergen

The most important issue is the fiscal condition of New York State and its ultimate effect on the Long Beach Public Schools.

By instituting a multi-year financial plan, we have reduced the tax levy while increasing reserve funds, allowing us to be prepared for emergencies.  While this year’s 1.9 percent tax levy is among the lowest on Long Island, we still maintained staff and increased programs.  

I would like to assist our community in creating an educational foundation, and future contracts must take into consideration the current economic climate.

New revenues need to be researched are outside grants, partnerships in consortiums that we will continue to pursue, purchasing partnerships with other school districts, and obviously low costs with quality results.

We have to research district consolidation. Last year the board proposed closing East School. The Board then committed to keeping East School open in order to gain additional information regarding maintaining East School as a viable K-5 school or utilizing it in other ways. I support this moratorium.  

We await the results of the 2010 census, of another demographic study and the future of the economy of New York State before continuing discussions with the community.

We need to decrease, if not eliminate, state unfunded mandates. "We must continue adding challenging curricula as those already introduced like Foreign Language in Elementary Schools, Foreign Language Exploratory for 6th graders to experience French, Italian and Spanish prior to selecting a language and the International Baccalaureate Program while maintaining AP and college courses. 

We need to proceed with our capital projects and maintain the timeline and budget for the preservation and enhancement of our schools, facilities and fields.

Do you believe that the teachers’ contract was a fair deal? If yes, why? If no, why not? 

Roy Lester

As to the fairness of the contract that the Long Beach teachers have recently received, I ask the voters to look at three numbers. The first is this year's 7.8 percent increase in Long Beach’s educational cost attributed to salaries. The second is the 6.97 percent decrease in enrollment projected this coming year. The third is the .02 percent that the area Consumer Price Index (CPI) went up during the last year.

Was it fair to the teachers? Our cost of education rose almost 350 times the percentage increase of the CPI. Judge for yourself. Was it fair to the taxpayers? To cost 7.8 percent more to educate 6.97 percent less doesn't seem right. While we all want our teachers to be paid well, we all have to work together to find the appropriate amount of money that is available. District after district have asked their teachers to forgo raises until this economic crisis abates. Given the fiscal mire our state and federal government currently face, there is much merit in asking for shared sacrifice. While asking may antagonize some employees, in the end, a team that rows together gets further.

Unfortunately, a real review of the teachers’ contract has not been possible due to this board's refusal to allow the public to see and review the contract. (See Herald Column “Transparency and Our Open and Endless Pockets,” Oct. 29, 2009.) For some reason all requests to allow the public to preview the contract, prior to a vote that would obligate the district for millions of dollars for years to come, were refused. In that respect it was the board that wasn't being fair to the taxpayers.

Lynn Gergen

I believe the teachers’ contract was a fair deal. The Board of Education and CTA negotiated for over a year. Past negotiations extended for years, creating a tense atmosphere between the board, the administration and the CTA, which could not help but spill over into the schools and the community. We agreed that we wanted to end this cycle and start the new school year off on a positive note while negotiating a fair contract.  The state was experiencing a revival in the economy towards the end of negotiations. The board reviewed teacher salaries across Long Island, discovering that Long Beach salaries were in the lower half of salaries. In order to retain and continue to hire quality staff, we wanted to be in a competitive field with other districts. 

As a result, the following CTA givebacks were negotiated:

* Slowing down salary increments, saving the district money.

* Re-evaluating professional development to insure that all teacher professional development was engaging and meaningful, integrating technology with core curriculum content.  

* Limiting the amount of hours teachers get paid for courses taken once they reach their MA 80, again resulting in savings to the district.

* Raising teachers’ contribution by 25 percent towards health insurance.  

n Adding an extra day of after-school help by teachers.

Comments about this Q&A? JKellard@

liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 213.