School Board Election: Three Candidates Vie for Two Seats

Incumbent Bob Zahm, former Milton PTO President Kendall Egan and former Board of Education President Steve Feeney are all campaigning for two available seats on the Board. Board member Michael White decided not to run again. The election will be held May 15.

The three candidates went on the record with Jim Byrne of The Rye Record.

Rye Record: For many residents in Rye, the issue is taxes. First, spending on salaries and benefits is rising at 7-8% a year. Is that sustainable? Second, taxes, if not this year, then in the coming year may have to rise by that amount or more to pay for such increases since compensation represents 80% of the budget. Are you for reducing tax increases to be no more than inflation plus enrollment?

Kendall Egan: Taxes are an important issue, but so is a quality education, a dynamic faculty and small class size. Theater productions, athletic teams, extracurricular activities and AP classes are also important. A great public education was part of the equation when I was looking for a place to raise my children. I think that is the reason a lot of people choose Rye.

Salaries and benefits are the bulk of the school budget, and negotiations with the RTA are ongoing. I'm hopeful that the Board of Ed is negotiating to gain some control of the increases; 7-8% salary and benefit increases are really high. In recent years, NY State has reduced the amount of aid given to districts like ours, but that number changes every year.

I don't think taxes rise in lockstep with salary and benefit increases because there are other variables, like state aid, changing enrollment numbers and perhaps the future use of the tax cert reserve to ease taxes. However, you can't punitively tax property owners and the Board is very aware of this issue. I think the Board of Ed and the Administration understand that if a new program is implemented, it has to come from an offset somewhere else in the budget.

I also think a tax increase of roughly 5.4% is a whole lot more palatable than an austerity budget. I think a budget that only allows for contractual increases like salary and debt service and an increase for enrollment is extremely limiting.

Steve Feeney: There has been no settlement of labor contract negotiations with the Secretarial, Nurse, Computer Aide bargaining unit whose contract expired June 30, 2005, and with the Rye Teachers Association whose contract expires this June 30. No one knows what those contracts will contain by way of wage increases and union "give-backs".

In the 2008/2009 school fiscal year the principal amount and interest relating to the $10 million "Boiler Bonds" approved and authorized by the community will come on-stream. While the District's Finance Committee expects bond interest rates of less than 4% using today's market rates, the new, incremental debt service should add one-half of 1% to the tax rate for 08/09.

Predicting future budget and tax rate changes is an imprecise art at best. No one knows what will occur in Albany with regard to NY State aid allotted to Rye. And what of the impact of the final settlement/outcome of the Osborn Memorial Home Association litigation and appeal, if any? The District has reserves against this litigation that may possibly be repatriated and utilized wisely for all Rye citizens.

Bob Zahm: Let me re-state the questions so that I am able to answer them clearly. First, is the present rate of budget and tax growth sustainable by the residents of the City of Rye? No, it is not sustainable. We’ve seen some improvement over the past three  years, but the growth rate is still too high compared to property values and income. Surrounding communities are experiencing the same problem, which means that there are plenty of intelligent people looking at the problem, but no one has solved it yet.

Second, how would I solve the problem of compounding tax rate

growth? Action is needed on both expenses and revenue. The core driver of spending growth is salaries and benefits. They make up a bit more than 77% of the budget, year in and year out. The District could reduce this growth by reducing the number of staff or the salaries paid to staff. Taking either of these actions unilaterally would drive out many of our high performing teachers, directly reducing the quality of a Rye education, and indirectly reducing the  value of Rye real estate.

I believe the right approach to containing spending consists of  multiple actions: 1) seek to moderate salary growth to the rate of  inflation growth; 2) seek to re-balance the cost of health care by  shifting an increased percentage to the District’s employees; 3)  leverage technology to reduce the cost of instruction for appropriate  core courses and electives; 4) work to change State mandated retirement plans so that employees continue to contribute  throughout their careers as opposed to during just the first 10 years  of employment; 5) work to shift State mandated retirement plans  from defined benefit to defined contribution plans as has happened  in most of industry.

On the revenue side, the District (and the City) faces a growing  problem in the form of tax certiorari case settlements, which are effectively shifting the tax burden from businesses, condominiums  and clubs to home owners. Unfortunately, fixing this situation  requires action by the State, a fairly “distant” and unresponsive  organization. Each of us can and should contact our representatives to seek the necessary changes.

RR: In terms of academic excellence, we are ranked around fifth or sixth among our peer group, which is in the top 10-12 districts in the Westchester. Is it your goal to get us into the top three? If it is your goal, explain how. If not, explain why. Keep in mind the Newsweek rankings placing us higher are widely disregarded by US educators.

BZ: Comparison with other districts provides us with a quick, easily grasped assessment of how well we’re doing in educating our students. We should use such benchmarks as a vehicle for identifying educational concepts and techniques that will help us improve our student’s performance.

While performance varies by age group and by year, Rye is consistently in the top quartile (our strategic target) versus our peer districts in the county. The absolute high performance of our peer districts means that Rye also does well in statewide comparisons.

So would I like to see Rye ranked as No. 1? Yes, we should work continuously to improve our student’s performance. But we must not sacrifice the development of well rounded young adults by “teaching to the test”, de-emphasizing areas of education (athletics, the arts, etc.), which provide balance, or creating an even more internally competitive environment than we already have in Rye.

KE: I think that looking at Westchester Magazine's data is more interesting. It looks at the correlation between test scores and socio-economic levels. Rye is 10th in terms of households with at least $100,000 in income, but 4th in the "reading and math proficiency rate," and AP stats, graduation rate stats and SAT scores are all very respectable. This magazine also points out how important small class size and excellent teachers are to achieving success.

However, my goal isn't to rank as high as possible in every magazine's poll, my goal is to be a part of providing the highest quality education in Rye schools while keeping a close eye on tax increases. I think the goal is to encourage every child to be the very best student that he or she can be. The school district plays an active role from the time a child is 5 until they are 18, fostering a love of learning and providing opportunities to be an active participant in the school – like sports, the arts, clubs – are so important for creating a well rounded young adult.

SF: In my 15 years of prior Board of Ed service, Rye's objective was to be ranked in the "Top 10%" of Westchester-Putnam school districts in terms of academic performance. I agree with the District's use of this yardstick. The challenge for a high-achieving school system like Rye, is incremental improvement and determining the appropriate measuring tools from a wide array of available yardsticks ranging from standardized test score results to competitive college admissions.

The Rye Schools are dedicated to "Continuous Improvement" through adherence to the District's Strategic Plan, creation and disciplined use of the Curriculum Council and many other incremental programs and services designed to nudge excellent academic performance even higher.

RR: Some say that the Board should let the professionals do their jobs and not interfere in curriculum matters. However, education can be a faddish arena, and in the recent history of American education there are numbers of learning programs that American schools have adopted, e.g. “whole language,” and then dropped because they didn’t work as promised. What happens when common sense tells you the professionals may be wrong?

BZ: The Board is responsible for setting the District’s direction and goals and works through the administration. Because we’ve  created a very high performing organization, the Board needs to  carefully consider going “outside” for help. However, doing so is, on occasion, necessary, such as when expertise is needed that is not resident in district staff, district staff do not have available time or a new perspective on an issue is required.

The Board needs to be clear and considered in explaining the reasons for seeking external assistance. Not doing so de-motivates our professionals and creates unnecessary conflict in the community.

KE: First of all, I don't think Rye follows the fad bandwagon. Education can't be looked at in terms of a "keeping up with the Jones'" mentality.

Things are tweaked, improved and I hope we continue to have an environment where innovation in curriculum by the faculty is encouraged. I think that new programming and new topics for curriculum are pursued because the educators believe they are compelling and perhaps looking toward the future. So as a Board member, one needs to look at the data presented, to ask a lot of questions, to strategically assess the plan and to study the feasibility in terms of scheduling and costs. I think a Board member should use common sense, but not rely on the anecdotal evidence of a few or personal experience in decision making. I also believe that a Board member shouldn't tell the professionals – whether an educator or an architect – how to do their jobs.

SF: There is a fine line between a Board of Education performing its role and the temptation by individual members to micromanage District programs and affairs, including seeing those programs through the individual experiences of their own children. Board members are counseled in their training that their most important job as a Board Member is the hiring of the School Superintendent. As the CEO, it is then the Superintendent's responsibility to manage the affairs of the District. If the results are not to District and community expectations, then it is the Superintendent who has not performed. Gratefully that has not been the case here in Rye. However, judging by their conduct and performance during the 2006/2007 school year, it seems that the current Board has forgotten the School Board Association training previously received.

RR: What was the last book you read?

SF: “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.”

BZ: As usual, I am in the middle of a bunch of books. I’ve  recently finished “IT Governance: How Top Performers Manage IT  Decision Rights for Superior Results”. That’s more than a little  wonkish, but its insights are relevant to more than technology  management.

On the lighter side, I’m just about through “From Dawn to Decadence: 1500 to the Present”. Reading history and biographies tends to put current events in perspective for me.

KE: “The Power of Nice: How to Conquer the Business World with Kindness”, by Thaler and Koval. I picked it for my book group. The authors are two advertising executives who affirm that you can be friendly, show appreciation for the people around you and still be a successful and respected business person. I have always believed that more gets accomplished with a smile. Being polite doesn't mean that you can't be effective and tough at the same time.