• Some people have suggested this project is too large and too costly. Reducing this project in size and cost may seem like the obvious alternative, but there are major drawbacks to this option:
   
  • Three of our four schools are currently overcrowded. This means they are beyond the State of New York’s functional capacity rating. All three of these buildings need additions to meet the growing enrollment.
     
  • If the project was reduced in scope, the school district will have to ask the community to approve another building project shortly after this one is completed.
     
  • The last capital project was completed in 2002. In five short years from that date, we already require more space. The proposed building project will meet the needs of the District for ten to twelve years.
     
  • The Growth Task Force examined smaller options and after a great deal of study, concluded the proposed project was the most cost effective (the District maximizes its State Aid ratio of 58.4% with this plan).
     
• We all recognize the timing of the proposed capital project could be better. However, the cost of a building project will not decrease in the future. Every year we wait the building cost escalates at 6%-8% and enrollment will continue to grow. It is important to remember a building project is not completed overnight. It takes five years from voter approval until the project is completed and available to students.
   
• There is no doubt that we all find ourselves trapped in a broken and antiquated system of financing public school education. This taxing system may have worked hundreds of years ago when owning land equated to having significant wealth. All the attempts by local and state governments of creative assessments and equalization rates have not kept pace with the rising costs of education. More is being asked of schools by the state and federal governments, yet the operating and building aid has fallen over the last twenty years. Local residents feel “squeezed” by all the taxes they must pay. School districts are also “squeezed” because as enrollment grows and educational expenses rise, administrators under this current antiquated system have no choice but to seek funding from school district residents.

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The proposed capital project was planned to meet the educational needs of our students as well as to accommodate a growing enrollment. With only a few days remaining before the proposition vote on December 4th, there is still time to have your questions answered by going to our website or by calling 294-2410.

REMEMBER TO VOTE: DECEMBER 4, 2007 FROM 6 A.M.–9 P.M. AT MAIN STREET SCHOOL.

Roy Reese
Superintendent of Schools