John Vorperian seems to argue that because he believes that the Capital Improvements Analysis Committee is not a representative of the community as he would like it to be, he is voting against the budget. That’s certainly his right, but with all due respect to him, it is as much of a non sequitur as I could dream up. It makes no sense to me to try to vote down a budget, and in turn wind up with a contingency budget that would close down sports, music programs and the like, just to try to force some changes in a committee. That doesn’t sound to me like acting in the best interests of our children.
With regard to ‘Budgeter’ I would note that I am a public budget analyst and have been for almost 20 years, and I think this is not a bad budget. I believe, and I’ve said this more than once publicly, that the Board and ABC did the best that they could given the constraints they faced of costs going up beyond our control and a crumbling tax base. I think that those who are concerned about the latter should talk to the Mayor and the Common Council, not the School Board.
As far as teachers’ salaries go, even if I agreed with ‘Budgeter’ and the League of Women Voters that the Board should ‘get tough’ on this issue, I don’t see that voting down the budget would change this, at least for now. What it might accomplish is to cause vacant teacher positions to go unfilled which would increase class size. How this would benefit our children or improve the quality of education is beyond me as well.
The fact is that none of the critics on this issue have given us an analysis showing that teachers’ salaries based on comparable experience and qualifications are substantially higher here in White Plains than they are elsewhere in the area. The fact is that we don’t exist in a vacuum, and if you want to hold the line on techers’ salaries you will have to convince me that we don’t run the risk of losing our best and brightest teachers to neighboring districts, and being left with either a handful of dedicated staff and a group of those who aren’t really wanted elsewhere.
Now I don’t know ‘Budgeter’ but s the saying goes, if I were a ‘betting man’ I’d wager that the incomes of the members of the board of the LWV far exceed those of teachers in this district (who will soon not be able to live here given the lack of affordable housing for working families). Why should the privileged members of our community begrudge decent salaries to those who do the work that you can’t or won’t do? I respect the LWV’s work but I think that they have yet to make the case on this issue.
It is interesting to note that the Journal News this weekend printed a chart showing budget increases throughout Westchester and Putnam, and White Plains showed the lowest increase from 01-02 to 05-06 of any district in Westchester. Now that doesn’t sound like a district on a spending spree to me. Anyone who knows me knows that I am not shy about criticizing the Board or the District when it’s needed, but I just don’t see it when it comes to this budget.
So that’s why I’m voting YES on Tuesday, and I encourage all those who care about our schools to do the same.
Steven Rabinowitz
