NOTE: As with most Internet polls, this poll is not balanced against a weighted sample. There is no statistical accuracy relating to any specific demographic of poll takers. Anyone can take this poll and the Northender collects no data about the respondents.
The current proposed budget of $43,666,045 averages to about $27,000 per student. The facts of the Budget levels and the salary levels speak for themselves. The current school board has tried to hold the budget increase down, but undeniably, past budget increases have resulted in these obese budget levels - current and future budgets deserve healthy "diets," perhaps reductions. Proposition 3 should pass to allow OBEN to take advantage of the one-time availability of EXCEL Aid.
More aggressive cost controls with much more aggressive contract negotiations are necessary for the taxpayer’s fiscal survival as we go forward.
Did you know that a teacher/administrator retiring at $180,000 salary is eligible for a lifetime annual pension of $144,000? - and possible lifetime healthcare benefits? - that the taxpayer will have to pay for this? As of 8/31/06 the average OBEN teacher salary was $80,959 (highest teacher salary was $116,187) and the average administrator salary was $132,694 (highest $196,833) – these are salaries for 180 days/year which do not include the additional cost of health care and pensions - which can be an additional 50-60%.
Underpayment of teaching and administration professionals, while maybe true 20 years ago, is currently a myth. The increasing longevity of the retiring workforce should signal a change from defined benefit plans (with unknown future costs) to defined contribution plans (with known current costs) as has become the accepted practice in the private sector. Approximately 80% of your property tax is school tax and approximately 75-85% of that underwrites salary/benefit costs. Changes are desperately needed. And, very importantly, our politicians must be engaged to help make real changes in these costs.
The recent Long Island Index study comparing Nassau and Suffolk schools/costs with two comparatively prosperous northern Virginia counties (Fairfax and Loudoun) was "startling but encouraging" for very comparable school experiences - VA average cost per student was about $12,000 - lessons to be learned and applied are contained in the data. We don't have to increase cost to get quality.
Only 8-25% of eligible voters have historically determined our school district's fiscal future - make sure your vote is counted!
Please vote for your fiscal future.
Anita MacDougall, Oyster Bay
cc Governor Eliot Spitzer
County Executive Tom Suozzi
State Senator Carl Marcellino
