School Board Ponders Tax Caps at First Meeting of the Year

At its first meeting of 2011 the Scarsdale Board of Education touched on a variety of issues: the stellar Boys Varsity Soccer team, the snow day policy, a visit from exchange students from China, a report from the Scarsdale Teachers Institute, a discussion of a resolution regarding potential state tax caps and the District gift policy.

The Scarsdale Boys Varsity Soccer captains and coaches as well as Athletic Director Mike Menna were at the meeting to receive commendation from the Board of Education for the conclusion of an extraordinary season. They ended the season with 20 wins and 3 losses and were League Champions, N.Y.S. Eastern League Champions and proceeded to the state championship tournament. The Board conveyed its warm congratulations to the players and the coaches for their accomplishments.

Board President Jill Spieler reported that she and Mike McGill attended a meeting of the Phi Beta Kappa Society on Liberal Arts Education in the 21st Century. They reported that the presentations at the meeting echoed many similar themes to those now being emphasized in Scarsdale, such as developing a love of learning, problem solving and connecting subject matter to the broader interconnected world.

Spieler also discussed a recent article in the NY Times that reported that the College Board is redesigning the AP program to focus on the curriculum rather than the test. The new curriculum will emphasize concepts rather than facts and teach students to craft arguments and think critically. Spieler told the group that Scarsdale was ahead of the curve on the transition from AP to AT and that the College Board was responding to Scarsdale teachers and several independent schools who initiated this change.

McGill clarified his criteria for declaring a snow day. According to McGill, he looks at conditions in Scarsdale, decides whether or not the buses can operate safely, whether the side streets can be cleared and if parking lots can be plowed.

A video of Chinese exchange students who came to SHS for two weeks was aired and among their interesting observations were the following:

• Scarsdale students can choose from a wide variety of classes while Chinese students take only prescribed classes
• American students have one-to-one communication with their teachers
• American students work as hard as Chinese students
• American children share household responsibilities and have informal, friendly relationships with their parents. Parents in China are more authoritarian.
• The food here is exotic, and our neighborhood is not crowded as China
• Americans are very friendly

In the second portion of the exchange, a group of Scarsdale High School students will visit China this spring.

The next item on the agenda was an Education Report from Susan Taylor and Kenneth Holvig on the Scarsdale Teachers Institute. The entire presentation can be viewed on the Scarsdale Cable Channel.

The Board then turned to a discussion of whether or not to sign a resolution from the Westchester Putnam School Board Association concerning state mandates and a potential New York State tax cap. As drafted, the resolution asked for relief from state mandated costs in the event of the imposition of a property tax cap. The conversation touched on many issues including whether or not a tax cap was an effective way to reign in costs, and the ability of localities to control costs when so many expenses are mandated by the state. The Board also discussed a provision that would allow localities to override the tax cap and what percentage of the vote would be required to do so.

During the discussion, Board members were polled to see where they stood on a cap and here are their views:

• Linda Chayes opposed a tax cap saying it would be “too destructive to educational goals now.”
• Mary Beth Gose reluctantly supported a tax cap but favored a provision to include an override
• Suzanne Seiden opposed the tax cap saying that it is” already the Board’s job to be fiscally responsible to our students everyday”
• Lew Leone favored a tax cap
• Barbara Kemp opposed a tax cap, saying that if there is one she would favor an override provision.
• Liz Gugggenheimer was opposed to current proposals for a tax cap, saying that it “threatens our public education system and local control.”
• Jill Spieler opposed the tax cap as well as Assistant Superintendant Linda Purvis who said, “I think the tax cap is a bad idea. Educational programs will be eviscerated by this legislation. The most important thing to ask for is the ability to override.”

Since the Board was not in agreement on the language for a resolution, Board President Jill Spieler agreed to draft suggested language, circulate it to the Board and revisit the issue at the 1/24 BOE meeting.

Last, the Board considered two gifts to the schools.

There was considerable discussion of a gift of $12,131 from the Scarsdale Friends of Music and the Arts for equipment and guest artists. Linda Chayes called the gift enormous and generous but questioned whether the Board should accept the gift for these “extras” when the district could require funds for the arts programs themselves in the near future. However ultimately the Board voted unanimously to accept the gift, for the following reasons:

• Not accepting the gift would signal a change in policy from the Board
• The 22 items listed in the gift would be used to benefit children and teachers at many grade levels
• The arts budget had already been cut 10% and these gifts would boost morale among the arts teachers.

In addition, the Board accepted a gift of $5,720 to repair the field at Edgewood School from the Edgewood Athletic Association.