Area 6 Director Dana Smith Represents the Following School Districts:

Au Sable Valley, Beekmantown, Brasher Falls, Brushton-Moira, Canton, Chazy, Clifton-Fine, Clinton-Essex-Warren-Washington BOCES, Colton-Pierrepont, Crown Point, Edwards-Knox, Elizabethtown-Lewis, Franklin-Essex-Hamilton BOCES, Gouverneur, Hammond, Harrisville, Hermon-DeKalb, Heuvelton, Indian Lake, Keene, Lake Placid, Lisbon, Long Lake, Madrid-Waddington, Malone, Massena, Minerva, Moriah, Morristown, Newcomb, Northeastern Clinton, Northern Adirondack, Norwood-Norfolk, Ogdensburg, Parishville-Hopkinton, Peru, Plattsburgh, Potsdam, Putnam, Raquette Lake, Saint Lawrence-Lewis BOCES, Saint Regis Falls, Salmon River, Saranac, Saranac Lake, Schroon Lake, Ticonderoga, Tupper Lake, Westport and Willsboro

Area Director Electronic Newsletter

Welcome to the December 17, 2009 issue of the Area 6 electronic newsletter. The electronic newsletter is designed to facilitate communication between members of your NYSSBA Board of Directors and the Areas they represent. The newsletter contains information about Area 6 and NYSSBA. I hope you find it informative. I would appreciate your sending comments and suggestions for future newsletters to me at area06director@nyssba.org. If any of your board colleagues do not have computer access, a copy will be sent to the district office for distribution. If others with email did not receive their own copy, please submit their e-mail info@nyssba.org.

My best wishes go out to all board members, administrators and staff for a safe, healthy Holiday Season.  Thank you for your continuing support.  NYSSBA isn't without you.   

NYSSBA BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

Saturday, December 5 was the date of the Board of Directors meeting during which NYS Education Department Commissioner David Steiner was the guest.  The Commissioner reviewed New York’s Race to the Top application with the Board of Directors.

New Area 1 Director Linda Hoffman attended her first formal meeting.  Area 3 Director-elect Delores Ackerman also joined the board.  Delores will officially become the Area 3 Director on January 1, 2010, replacing Tom DeJoe.  Father Gerald Sudick of Yonkers, who will succeed Florence Johnson as the Conference of Big 5 representative, was unable to join the board in December.

The Board of Directors approved the proposed 2010 NYSSBA budget and the long-range financial plan.  The Board also recommended that the formation of a statewide Dues Task Force be considered at the January 2010 meeting.

The board approved revisions to the current resolutions process.  The new process will be more member-driven and will include a survey of members to gauge the level of member support or opposition to the most pressing issues facing public education in NYS.  NYSSBA staff will review the survey and draft proposed resolutions, which will be sent to the Resolutions Committee for review.  The Resolutions Committee will meet in March to review the proposed resolutions emanating from the survey.  The Resolutions Committee will then recommend resolutions for submission by the NYSSBA Board of Directors if appropriate.  Other proposed revisions include the use of a consent agenda at the Annual Business Meeting and the use of electronic communications to streamline the resolution communication process.

Finally, the Board approved a resolution that would allow NYSSBA to join NYSUT and other organizations in a potential lawsuit against the governor of New York State if he acts to delay or cut school aid payments without the requisite legal authority to do so...

BECKER ET AL VS. DAVID PATERSON ET AL

Well, as you know by now, the governor, indeed, instructed that operating aid due December 15 be delayed.  STAR payments due after the first of the year are also expected to be delayed.   To the best of our knowledge, the governor made no attempt to work out a financial plan with school officials before ordering the cuts.  Several funding streams are being tapped including general aid, lottery proceeds and high excess cost aid. 

As per the Board’s approved resolution, we joined in filing suit on December 16 against the governor for taking unilateral action mid-year that is causing havoc among our members.  Jay Worona is leading our effort and will serve as co-counsel.  Other co-counsels represent NYSUT, NYSCOSS and SAANYS.  Additional organizations that filed affidavits in support of the suit include NYSASBO, NYSPTA, NYS Association of Pupil Transportation Services and CFE.  The suit argues that the governor has violated the State Constitution’s separation of powers doctrine by his unilateral action of withholding funds allocated by the legislature.

Jay has secured citizen/taxpayers who are named as plaintiffs, all of whom are also school board members.  They include Florence Johnson of Buffalo, Harry Reeder of Herkimer and George Heidcamp of Saugerties.  NYSSBA appears as a plaintiff in this case through its president, Wayne Schlifke.  Additional named plaintiffs will be provided by NYSUT, NYSCOSS and SAANYS.

As the lawyers were filing the papers, a press conference was held on the steps of the Capitol, which you can view in its entirely (10 minutes) at www.youtube.com.nyssba.

NYSSBA’s 2010 LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES

The following 2010 legislative priorities were also approved:

A.  The State of New York should maintain public education as its top funding priority.  In a time of
financial crisis it is vitally important that the state’s most valued functions be preserved and there is no function more important to New York than education.  As such, NYSSBA must:

1. Prevent mid year cuts to state education aid and minimize education aid cuts in the 2010 state budget.

2. Oppose calls for a cap on school property taxes.

3. Oppose any attempt to “delay” payment of aid.

B.  The state must encourage the federal government to maintain an increased commitment to public educational funding.  Upon the expiration of federal stimulus funding, the increase in funding for special education and for our state’s most disadvantaged students must continue.

4. Prevent the misuse of federal stimulus funds intended for public education.

5. Preserve the increased level of federal funding for Title I and IDEA.

C.  School districts should be relieved of costly and burdensome state mandates.  The state of New York can no longer afford to impose wasteful and inefficient burdens on its schools.  NYSSBA must:

6. Work to prohibit all new unfunded state mandates.

7. Work to stop legislation that gives away local school board authority by bypassing collective bargaining and providing costly universal employee benefits.

8. Support enactment of a Tier V pension plan and advocate for increased portability, predictability, affordability and flexibility.

9. Support the creation of a local school district reserve fund for TRS employer contributions.

10. Support legislation to allow amortization of employer pension cost increases.

11. Support legislation to create a school district tax stabilization reserve fund.

12. Oppose all attempts to shift costs from the state or other municipalities onto the local school property tax.

13. Preserve the ability of school districts to receive Medicaid reimbursement for appropriately provided services to eligible students.

D.  Impediments to the ability of school districts to optimize resources must be removed.  The state of New York must allow school districts the local control necessary to operate more efficiently. This includes such measures as cooperative purchasing, increased collaboration with other municipalities and the expansion of the BOCES system to enable a broader array of shared services. NYSSBA must:

14. Seek legislation to allow all municipalities (including school districts) to “cross contract” with all other municipal entities to achieve greater savings.

15.  Seek broader authority for BOCES to engage in shared programs and services with other municipalities, so long as they provide a benefit to school districts.

16. Seek legislation to reimburse school districts for BOCES services within the next school year.

17. Seek legislation that combines computer hardware, textbook, software and library aid to provide the greatest spending flexibility for school districts.

18. Engage in a high profile public campaign to engage school officials, state legislators and the public in a dialogue about the need to provide schools the local authority needed to achieve academic success in an era of diminished resources.

19. Seek to repeal any and all impediments to economical purchasing, shared services, eliminate outdated reporting requirements and repeal wasteful school construction laws such as Wicks and Prevailing Wage.

20. Seek legislation to amend the Triborough Amendment of the Taylor Law to ensure that any contract that is extended after its expiration does so at no greater cost than the prior year.

21. Seek legislation authorizing the creation of larger employee health insurance rating pools through cooperation of all levels of municipal and/or state governments.

22. Seek legislation to allow local school districts to create an energy reserve fund to mitigate dramatic deviations in the cost of energy.

23. Support legislation to allow the purchase of capital equipment under a contingency budget when it is more cost effective than repair.

24. Advance appropriate recommendations embedded in the reports of the state’s efficiency commissions and the report of the Task Force on Optimizing School District Resources in order to sustain the core mission of public education.

E.  The state must encourage the Board of Regents to continue to move forward with its plan to improve teacher certification, training and evaluations, which includes the use of value-added analysis.  NYSSBA must:

25. Advocate at the federal level for Race to the Top funding to enable needed improvements in student testing and teacher certification and development.

26.  Advocate at the state level for legislation implementing the Regents’ Race to the Top agenda.

F.  The state of New York must empower communities throughout the state to provide academic, social, nutritional and medical support.  The State should focus resources and policy on its most impoverished urban and rural communities.   NYSSBA must:

27.  Support legislative and regulatory efforts to establish schools as the epicenter of programs and services supporting the concept of the “whole child” in recognition of non-educational impediments to student success.

BE THE CHANGE FOR KIDS

The NYSSBA Task Force on Optimizing School District Resources has produced a video called Be the Change for Kids.  The video is expected to be publicly released in January.  An accompanying website will also be released about the same time followed by a series of high-profile advocacy and public outreach efforts.

DEFICIT REDUCTION PLAN

NYSSBA recently issued a statement from Tim Kremer on the deficit reduction plan enacted by the state Legislature.  Tim’s statement was picked up by media outlets, including the Albany Times Union, and he appeared on Capital News 9 and its affiliates around the state to discuss school aid.  Tim was also interviewed by WNYC radio in New York City.  Communications Director David Albert spoke with reporters from the Middletown Times Herald Record and Gannett News Service.

BULLYING CONFERENCE

The NYS Educational Conference Board (ECB), a coalition made up of education organizations in the state – NYSSBA, NYSUT, Conference of Big 5 School Districts, NYSPTA, NYSASBO, NYSCOSS and SAANYS, hosted its 4th Annual Policy Conference on December 10 in Albany. 
Approximately 270 board members, teachers and administrators across New York State attended.  NYSSBA Past President and current Chair of the National School Boards Association National Black Caucus of School Board Members Edward McCormick is the chair of the ECB.  Also in attendance were NYSSBA Immediate Past President Carl Onken, Area 4 Director Douglas Ann Land and Area 5 Director Bill Miller.  NYSSBA’s own General Counsel Jay Worona was a featured speaker and Linda Bakst, Deputy Director of Policy Services, was on the planning committee.

2010-2011 EXECUTIVE BUDGET

The NYS Educational Conference Board sent a letter to Governor Paterson on December 11 urging him to make educational funding priority in the 2010-2011 Executive Budget.  The letter was signed by representatives of the organizations that make up the ECB and is available for viewing on NYSSBA’s Facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/NYSSBA?ref=search&sid=100000033536551.901631143..1

2010 CONVENTION SPONSOR

We are pleased to announce our second year-round sponsor for 2010 – The Palombo Group – at the Merit level!  We look forward to working with The Palombo Group next year. 

WHAT'S NYSSBA STAFF BEEN UP TO?

NYSSBA Senior Writer Marc Humbert, a former political writer in Albany for The Associated Press, was interviewed by Susan Arbetter for her morning public radio show “The Capitol Pressroom” produced by Syracuse’s WCNY. A streaming audio of the interview, which originally aired on Nov. 27, is available on the NYSSBA Facebook page. 

NYSSBA’s Director of Governmental Relations Dave Little served as a panelist alongside NYSUT president Dick Ianuzzi, for a televised League of Women Voters discussion of tenure in Rye, met with local school board presidents in Monroe County on state comptroller audits and spoke to members of the new Columbia County SBA about advocacy efforts.  Dave then traveled to Washington, D.C. where he met with senior staff from Senators Schumer and Gillibrand and Congressman Tonko. 

Executive Director Tim Kremer participated in a pension reform discussion along with EJ McMahon, Director of the Empire Center for New York State Policy, and Peter Baynes, Executive Director of the NYS Conference of Mayors as a guest of the Capital Region Local Governmental Council.  Tim also met with Bob Scardamalia, Director of the Center for Research and Information Analysis, and Lenny Gains, both from the Department of Economic Development, to discuss ways NYSSBA can help encourage the use of census materials supporting New York's efforts to get everyone counted next year.

Episodes 17 and 18 of The NYSSBA Mailbag are available for viewing on the NYSSBA website – www.nyssba.org.  John Carroll, Leadership Development Manager, speaks about Board Operating Protocol and Courtney Sanik, Policy Consultant, tells us whether a board is required to adopt a wellness policy.

NYSSBA RECOGNITION PROGRAM

NYSSBA continues to recognize board members who meet requirements for the Association’s recognition program.  The following recognition awards will be sent to board members:

• Development Achievement Award    231Board Member Recipients
• Leadership & Governance Award      19 Board Member Recipients
• Master of Boardsmanship Award       19 Board Member Recipients

Congratulations to the latest recipients!

2010 NYSSBA DUES

To date, 533 boards of education have paid their 2010 NYSSBA dues. This number represents 77% of NYSSBA’s Year 2009 membership.

UPCOMING EVENTS - 2010

Winter Law Conference
  January 21, Islandia
  December 10, TBD
  December 16, TBD

Fiscal Oversight Fundamentals Workshop
  February 6, White Plains, Crowne Plaza
  March 6, Latham, NYSSBA
  April 17, Rochester, Marriott
  July 17, TBD
  August 7, TBD
  August 21, TBD
  September 25, Olean
  September 25, TBD
  October 2, TBD
  November 6, Islandia
  December 4, TBD

Claims Auditing Workshop
  February 12, Islandia, Marriott
  February 26, Syracuse, Hilton Garden Inn
  March 5, Latham, NYSSBA
  March 12, White Plains, Crowne Plaza
  March 26, Buffalo, Hyatt Regency

Fiscal Oversight ONLINE (6 week course)
                                                                                    Registration Dates:
  February 17 - March 31                                            January 13 - February 10
  April 7 – May 19                                                       January 13 - March 24
  April 28 – June 9                                                       January 13 – April 21
  May 12 – June 23                                                      January 13 – May 5
  September 1 – October 13                                        August 4 – August 25
  October 27 – December 8                                         August 4 – October 20
  November 3 – December 15                                     August 4 – October 27

State Issues Conference
  March 14-15, Albany, Crowne Plaza

NYSAWA Conference
  March 14-15, Albany

NSBA Annual Conference and Exposition
  April 10-12, Chicago, IL

Spring Law Conference
  April 20, Rochester
  April 22, Latham
  May 6, Islandia

BOCES Conference
  May 1, TBD

10th Annual School Attorneys Conference
  June 4-5, Bolton Landing

NYSASBO Annual Conference
  June 6-9

Rural Schools Association Conference
  July 11-13, Cooperstown

16th Annual Summer Law Conference
  July 15, TBD
  July 22, TBD

Board Officers Academy
  July 30, TBD
  August 13, TBD
  August 27, TBD
  September 16, TBD

NYSCOSS Fall Conference
  September 26-28, Saratoga Springs

Policy Workshop
  September 30, TBD
  October 7, TBD
  October 8, TBD

14th Annual Pre-Convention School Law Seminar
  October 21, New York City

91st Annual Convention
  October 21-24, New York City