Random Thoughts

From the responses I’ve seen from various sources, I think a lot of people are going to attend the school board meetings this month. I’m happy people will go to have their voices heard, I only wish they would do it more often.


One thing I would hope is that people come prepared with facts & real suggestions. It is doubtful that the school board & administration like the option of eliminating middle school sports or think it is a good idea. Anyone who knows me, knows that I speak up when I disagree with the Board & Administration and that I will stand up & say that I approve when I do agree with them.

What I see here is a situation with no good solutions. There is a fixed pot of money that needs to be budgeted without harming academics. In order to meet their obligations, some cuts will be necessary. As someone who has been in the position of budgeting for an organization with limited funds, I understand their predicament. At what point do you go from cutting the fat to cutting into muscle & then the bone? Are there other areas of savings I would have looked at & proposed for cuts?.…Probably. However I don’t know what federal & state mandates might drive those items. I also didn’t have the constraints of multi-year contracts with unions & vendors. When the economy tanks, the district can’t say “no pay raises”, “we need to reduce hours”, “I’ll find service elsewhere”…they are stuck with the increases contracted, unless the other parties are willing to reopen the contracts & negotiate. The district can’t make changes to the pension plan to save money, like a private company can –there is no converting the plan to a defined contribution from a defined benefit plan – the plan is defined by the State.

There is no way to increase that pot of money without raising taxes. A school district doesn’t have the ability to sell a new product or increase charges since that isn’t how a district is funded. They can’t bill the state for more funds to cover mandates. The state, through Act 1, has limited how much a district can raise taxes. What is a district supposed to do when the percentage of increase guaranteed through employee contracts is greater than the limit set by the state?

Tough choices have to be made in these situations, unpopular choices. Someone is going to be upset by whatever the school board decides. People need to help them come up with solutions.

Athletics at Octorara has been supplemented by booster organizations for many years. Whether it was a resident taking a second mortgage to fund the track; the Soccer Club paying part of the cost of girls’ soccer its first year of existence, putting up the lights, building the concession stand, installing the irrigation system, purchasing goals & nets; the Football & Lacrosse Clubs self-funding; the Football Club building the current & future fields; the Baseball & Softball associations doing field maintenance & upgrades; coaches who have taken money out of their own pockets to purchase supplies – I’m sure a WHOLE lot more has been covered by these groups & the coaches. What we are facing now would have happened years sooner. I’m not sure how much more these groups can contribute toward athletics. And people have to keep in mind that whatever occurs must be within Title IX compliance, because the courts have ruled that booster contributions have to be considered when determining if a district is in compliance.

At this point, the only way the district can raise more tax money is to increase the commercial property in the district that can be taxed. The district doesn’t have ability to make this happen, but the residents’ municipalities can certainly make it more conducive for commercial property to be developed. They need to be encouraged by their residents to make this happen.