Opinion: What I Learned at Last Night's Budget Meeting

On Monday night, I attended my first-ever school budget meeting. I decided it was time to finally get involved and informed about the school system that's been educating my children.

(Plus, it took my mind off the earlier parent-teacher conference where my daughter's kindergarten teacher showed me a handout where my she spelled the number 6 as S-E-X.)

I avoided previous budget meetings for many of the same reasons (logical or not) my fellow residents probably failed to attend:

• I'm confused about everything that's been going on, and I'd feel like a guy starting his viewing of Lost with the fourth season, wondering why the hell no one's actually trying to get off the island. 
• I'm apathetic and feel that I have as much say about school budgets as I do about what's for dinner or what sheets we're going to buy or why I can't watch football all day.
• I'm lazy and would rather begin my "Tito's Vodka Monday Nights" a little early. 
• I'm terrified that if I say something too critical of the administration or teachers, my kids will be transferred to Green Fields elementary school (note: Green Fields was closed in 1982 and demolished sometime after that)

I stepped into the Burr auditorium bearing only the usual talking points (gleaned from reading and overhearing my neighbors), some of which contradict each other:

• The teachers make too much money.
• The superintendent makes too much money.
• The teachers work too hard for the money they earn.
• Our taxes are too high.
• We should be taxed higher, for the sake of the kids.
• There is a lot of fat we can cut.
• There is nothing we can cut.

The following is my recollection of last night's meeting. Note that during the meeting I was not taking notes, did not have a copy of the presentation, was checking e-mail on my phone (my taxes are definitely not being wasted on fast WiFi at Burr, I can testify to that!), and was not instantly familiar with many of the issues being discussed — so I'm not the most reliable source. (Also, after I got home it was Tito's Vodka Monday Night, so there's that.)

Anyway, as a still-naïve budget-meeting newbie, here's what I learned (feel free to correct me if I'm incorrect or otherwise misinformed):

Commack has a lot of passionate parents. I was very impressed with the turnout, and was proud that many of the parents came well-prepared and ready to spar with the administration.

Many of the problems related to the budget are beyond the control of the administration. The administration claims we're at the mercy of Albany and the teachers union.

• From what I gathered, it seems that Albany (by which I could mean any elected officials including Cuomo/Skelos/Silver; I don't know all the details) is making itself look good with “low taxes,” but that creates a gap that has to covered on the local level. Also, and I don't know all the details with this issue either, there's a lot of money that Commack sends to Albany (along with all the other school districts) for some sort of collective pool for redistribution, but we get the short end when it comes to getting some of that money back.
• The teachers union is the reason that teachers' salaries and benefits are what they are, and the administration has no control over how much teachers should put into their own retirements and health insurance, for example.
• There's also a pension system, for which both the state and the union has control (I think it's both; I might be wrong). According to the administration, the pension costs from year-to-year are very volatile and impossible to predict.

The taxes are going to go up, but how much? Combining what I learned last night along with some helpful information I received from the Rolling Hills PTA, Superintendent James is proposing a budget resulting in a 2.6 percent tax increase, but this will still cause a reduction of 40 to 60 teachers (along with some other positions) district-wide. To keep everything as it currently is, we'd need a 6.32 percent increase.

At last night's meeting there was an impassioned plea and support for a increase somewhere between 4 and 5 percent (I don't remember the exact number), but I can't imagine other residents, even those with children, being too gung-ho for even that 4 percent. (Bring up that 4 percent at a seniors event and you'll get pelted with mahjong tiles.)

Then again, my tiny house is worth about a third of some of the newly built houses in the area that I see advertised on Patch ("Want to see what ?" You mean besides an envy-induced stroke?), so what do I know?

There are no easy answers. If I could solve this mess, I'd certainly be worth a lot of money — like half of what an administrator makes! (Had to slip in a salary dig somewhere). Many attendees requested, and the administration promised to provide, a line-by-line accounting of everything in the budget. I'm assuming we can find things that we can cut — I heard something about a school trip that costs 50 grand, or one and a half month's of the superintendent's salary (oh snap, there I go again!) — so I'm hoping there's still time to work something out that benefits the kids with smaller class sizes, keeps the hardworking teachers employed, and helps the already overtaxed residents to stay in their homes — even the ones that are worth far less less than what (that's the last one, I promise!).

But even if all that happens, we can't pat ourselves on the back. What happens next year?

That being said, I'm glad I went to the meeting. I plan to attend other meetings in the future, and I recommend that you do the same. After all, you don't want to have to rely on a hazy recap like this if you want to know what's going on in the district!