Fwd: Bond Financing

[Douglas Rushkoff]

So I got an explanation from Eileen about how the financing for capital improvements works. 

First, for those who don't know, the school budget is limited by NYState. The State can mandate we spend money on things, or that we use certain expensive contractors for things, but doesn't help us pay for those things (unfunded mandates). Further, the State put in laws that limits how much a school can raise taxes, if at all. The current tax cap is 2%. (Our district generally has zero school budget increase, or actually decreases the budget.) 

In the case of the bond, we service it out of the school budget, but the servicing itself - the three dollars per month or whatever it is per family that this adds to the budget - does not count under the 2% tax cap. 

In Eileen's words:

 the cost of borrowing is part of the annual budget and there is no separate tax collection for the bond interest or principal.  However, the amount is not counted under the 2% tax cap, which controls the annual operating budget that pays for teachers, classes, and all the things we generally think of in schools. 

So, for those of us who like the idea of the school getting more money, spending on capital improvements in this way does get more money to the schools without bringing us closer to the cap. 

Of course, for me the issue remains as to whether this particular expenditure is where I'd want to direct that cash. The new website's photo selection makes it clear the district is focusing on sports - not drama, say, or visual arts, or science. Were I to select photos representing our district, I probably would have picked the art show, the alternative music scene, earth day activism, orchestra, Footloose, a science lab, a history class field trip, and a few sports shots. (Maybe they can use some yearbook photos of a general cross-section of activities?) 

There really is a "flavor" to Hastings - that a website like our new one could very easily promote and publicize. It feels like the BoE wants to project a more sports-centric, typical American public school district right now. Perhaps if they do get the artificial turf field, they will feel less of a need to over-compensate in this fashion? 

[Heidi Frieze]

It does seem like a lot of sports photos!

Heidi Frieze, LCSW

30 East 40th Street, Ste. 902

New York, NY 10016

212-213-1832

Sent from my iPhone

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[Douglas Rushkoff]

I buy that Steven. 

If we want focus on arts, we have to push for it as loud and hard as sports-loving families want to push on sports. 

And the fact that we are proud of our school district's art show (while sports families are not particularly proud of the current state of sports in Hastings) would indicate an imbalance. Whether it's a five million dollar imbalance is debatable, but I do empathize with their sense of being neglected. 

On Aug 5, 2013, at 11:26 AM, Steven Brent <scb...@gmail.com> wrote:

​<topic-drift> ​

I

​ think it's up to us Arts suporters / creators​ to take a leadership role in fostering and promoting that side of Hastings; expecting the BOE to do that may be unrealistic. Sort of like going to the hardware store for a gallon of milk :-) I will be happy to work with other like-minded folks to help out with that. </topic-drift>

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[David Skolnik]

Sorry.  You've allowed yourselves to be wholly misdirected.  First of all, this is buying into the Arts vs Sports antagonism that they have nurtured, but then turn around and accuse me (as in 'us') of having initiating, as Ellen Siegel has done, regularly.  You can have they debate within the hallowed halls.  This is about what some people are willing to do to a precious piece of Hastings.  That's why the title of the list is Reynolds Field.  It would be easy to turn the virtue of big lungs, and big money, into the singular determinant of what is right, just like what's occurring on the larger social plane.

And let's be clear.  Before anyone else has the 'right' to assert any imbalance between Arts and Sports, they should be required to obtain the information, from the district, that would support such a claim, because, in spite of my own attempts, it seems an illusory quest.  Maybe such data falls into the category of information that Douglas suggests would 'distract and confuse us'.  Poor us.

To review, to compensate for feeling neglected, we should destroy Reynolds.  It suddenly makes sense.
David Skolnik

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