April 20, 2011
To the Editor:
This the first time I have ever written a letter to the editor, but felt compelled to so in this case.
Last night I attended the Cornwall Central School District Board of Education meeting. This was the rescheduled meeting in which the board voted to adopt the 2011-2012 budget. The board voted to adopt a budget that will result in a 5.32% school tax increase.
I am not opposed to an increase, the cost of everything (gas, food, etc.) is going up and so does the cost of educating our children. My concern is that once again the burden of the cuts has fallen on those things that directly affect my children, after-school programs, sports, and teachers.
If you look closely at the items, this was not an across-the-board cut. There were no administrative positions touched. When asked about this, school superintendent Mr. Rehm dismissed the question by saying we have the leanest administration of all the districts in Orange County. I have no idea about the validity of this statement nor do I know where to begin to look for this information. Even if it is true, does that mean the administration shouldn’t have to absorb some of the burden also? If teachers and programs are being cut, why shouldn’t the administration also be required to make sacrifices? It seems only fair to me.
I will vote to approve the budget because the alternative is the austerity budget and the way it was briefed last night this would be worse. Had the administration been willing to make some sort of sacrifice I think this bad situation would be slightly more acceptable to me.
Lance Richardson
Cornwall-on-Hudson
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