School tax summit

Small turnout aside,‘people understand the system is broken’, By Linda Smith Hancharick Warwick — The Warwick School District opened its doors to the decision-makers in Albany and Washington Saturday and told them there needs to be a meaningful change in how education is funded. “The overall feel that I had — I was happy to see the response from our elected officials,” said Warwick School Board member Coleen Johnson, who chaired the committee that put together the summit. “I was disappointed in the community’s response, though. I expected to see more community members.” That was the feeling expressed by many who attended. While the district prepared for more than 200 attendees, barely 60 showed up. School Board members and local elected officials were in the high school auditorium, which was only scattered with other taxpayers. “I was disappointed at the number of people that came to listen to the issues and who took part in it,” said Dr. Frank Greenhall, the Warwick superintendent of schools. “That said, once it got going, the purpose was felt. It was evident that the people in this community are pushing for some change.” And it wasn’t just this community. School board members and superintendents from other districts came as well, including those from Florida, Marlboro, Monroe-Woodbury, Goshen and BOCES. Questions Prepared questions and those taken that morning from audience members were asked of the eight-member board. Only one person answered each question. On the board were Congressional candidate John Hall, state Sen. Thomas Morahan, Assembly members Annie Rabbitt, Nancy Calhoun and Kevin Cahill, Assembly candidates Michael Paduch and Richard Randazzo, and state Senate candidate Christopher McBride. Nancy Low-Hogan, who is challenging Morahan for his Senate seat, was represented by her husband, Michael. Many of those who accepted the invitation, which was sent to all candidates representing Orange County in the county, state and in Washington, were late to the forum because of another function in Greenwood Lake. Billy Easton, the executive director of Alliance for Quality Education, opened the forum, telling the audience his group is interested in securing a quality education for all children. “We want a quality education for our children,” said Easton. “We want accountability, that the money we are putting in is wisely invested. We want a way to finance our schools that is sustainable.” Easton said the checks that were sent from Albany to help offset school taxes was basically politics. “Much is controlled by political decision-making rather than sound process,” he said. When the questioning started, it was time for the candidates to do the talking. Randazzo, the supervisor of the Town of Cornwall and challenging Calhoun for her Assembly seat, was asked about lottery money and what happens when that dries up. He said he is sure there is no plan. “I’m sure there is not a plan,” said Randazzo. “We have to talk about real reform; the way we spend. Albany needs to make a lot more plans.” His opponent, who is the ranking member of the Real Property committee, was asked about the mysterious state aid formula. “I believe strongly that all schools that meet the standards should use categorical aids how they need it,” said Calhoun. “My commitment is to continue and increase state aid and do what you (the districts) do best.” Politics aside Assemblyman Cahill said he came to the summit because he felt it was a very important issue. After determining that no one from his district was in attendance, Cahill said this wasn’t politics to him. “I’m not here to get votes,” he said. “I’m in favor of eliminating local funding of education.” Cahill said he has proposed a bill that would be implemented over five years. “My bill is comprehensive,” he said. “It is not just about property tax relief. It is also about educating our children.” Hall, whose opponent Sue Kelly was not in attendance Saturday, turned his attention to the federal government. “We should have a new slogan here — ‘Kids, not Pork,’” he said. “I don’t believe the state or federal government should tell any district what to do without the funding to do it.” Hall hit on unfunded mandates — laws passed by the state and federal government requiring districts to implement programs without any additional funding. “This has caused an adversarial relationship,” he said. “Property owners are at odds with school boards. That is not good for us. The state formula needs to change and the federal government needs to treat this as the national security issue it is.” Hall said he would either repeal the federal No Child Left Behind law or fully fund it. He said 48 of the 50 sates have been petitioning to get out of it. “You can’t fund education properly from the federal level while giving tax breaks to people earning millions of dollars and the oil companies,” he said, referring to Kelly who voted to cut funding to the No Child Left Behind legislation. “Something has to change.” Rabbitt said local school boards should keep control of their districts, not Albany. “School board members are in the community. They know the needs,” she said, “not a legislator in the Senate or Assembly. Control should stay in the districts.” ‘Something has to change’ Maria Palladino came out to hear what the candidates had to say. The mother of two school-age children in the Warwick district said she was disappointed in both the turnout and the tone. “I was disappointed with the turnout,” she said. “So many people came out to vote down the budget I thought many would be here to help make change.” As for the politicians, she also felt that some of them, anyway, they should have focused on the job at hand. “The politicians should have checked their politicking at the door,” said Palladino. “The issue was funding for education, not their politicking.” Overall, though, both Greenhall and Johnson said their goal was met with this forum. “Overall, our goal was to open communication and have our elected officials converse with us about these issues,” said Johnson. “We are constantly told we have to address taxation. We reached out and told our elected officials they have to address this in a serious way. That message was relayed.” “For a first time, it was successful,” said Greenhall. “We’ve kicked it off and we would like to see another district host it next year. If nothing else, people understand the system is broken. How they work it out is up to them, but something has got to change. We’ve got to stop sitting inside our little box.”