Hamilton International Scholars Program (HISP)

Last Thursday, Dr. Alston wrote Education Matters: Hamilton International Scholars Program (Proposal)

At the next Hamilton Board of Education meeting, March 10, 2016, I will present a proposal for the Hamilton Central School District to host tuition paying students from across the world. The title of this program is the Hamilton International Scholars Program (HISP). The Board of Education will seek input concerning HISP. ... The meeting will be held in the auditorium of the Hamilton Central School and begin at 6 PM...

And he says that the "model we are proposing" is seen at Great Work Stories: Newcomb School - YouTube

Published on Aug 28, 2013
How do you expand a shrinking public school in the middle of nowhere? When Skip Hults became superintendent of Newcomb Central School in the heart of Adirondack Park, he inherited a tradition of excellence, a talented faculty, a supportive community, and 55 kids to fill 350 seats. It was a case of grow or die. But how do you grow a school?

Yesterday Radio Free Hamilton reported Dr. Alston's announcement at HCS considers plan to attract foreign students Thursday, again with the August 2013 video. Hults started his program in 2006; it's still going on. It happens that in December 2013, I wrote about this as a possibility for HCS at HamiltonCentralOptions: International Students

No single proposal will solve any district's problems; we're looking for proposals which have helped other districts with low enrollment, both in and out of New York State. One is quite simple: it turns out that students from a variety of nations would like to spend a year or two of high school in the United States...

and among other links, I gave Rural Leader Buoys School With Foreign Students - Education Week

Recruiting tuition-paying international students has saved the school by bolstering its finances and population, and it's changed its culture by exposing Newcomb students to diverse heritages and languages. It's also redefined the meaning of "family" to the many residents who have hosted visiting international students.
"I believe this has the potential to become a rural norm," Hults says. "It's a win-win."

A few days later I wrote HamiltonCentralOptions: Appealing to International Students

I posted on the possibility that appealing to international students could have financial, academic, and cultural benefits for the school (and quite possibly for schools nearby, as one case where we might share benefits as well as costs). I'd like to say a little more about that.
One interesting question: why would students from China want to come to American schools?...

The following month I reported on a meeting where it was discussed, at HamiltonCentralOptions: 2014-15 Budget Process --- Join In!

Astrid brought this up at the meeting and Diana replied that HCS did indeed go through the "accreditation" process with Homeland Security so we are "SEVIS-certified"; indeed we are on page 108 of last June's official list at DHS and we can accept foreign students with "F" visas, although not "M" visas. See ...
And Clinton High School went through this in 2004 but may have dropped it, their website doesn't mention it....

That April, after another meeting, I wrote HamiltonCentralOptions: Pretty Good News from April 8 "Community Leaders/Fiscal" Meeting

Astonishingly, this could happen next year and could add another $70K--$100K to the budget. (The tuition may be less than the average cost of educating an HCS student, but is far more than the marginal cost; it's mostly "profit".) ...

Update: notes from other attendees: Susan Marafino adds

I mentioned that [Carolyn Hsu] would be a good person to be involved with the potential exchange student program...

All that is from late 2013 and early 2014, when Newcomb was in the news. There had of course been earlier reports and videos, including this Newcom February 2010 "welcome" video in Russian, showing a bit about how hard they were trying: A Newcomb Welcome.mpg - YouTube

A video introducing the Newcomb Central School community to our friends from Russia....

Then there was the Channel One report in 2011: Channel One News: Newcomb High School - YouTube

Oct 26, 2011
This New York school welcomes int'l students that enhance education.

Nowadays, the Newcomb School top page links to a USA Today story from the same period (February 2014): Public schools recruiting international high schoolers

Perhaps more significant for Newcomb: Students like Ipek have attracted more local kids, drawn by the prospect of a more comprehensive, global education. As a result, the school has doubled in size since 2007 to 109 students. Only 18 of those are international — the rest are local students who heard about the program and moved into the district to be part of it. They also were attracted by a partnership with local colleges that helps them earn credits before they graduate.

That partnership aspect continues today: Paul Smith's, Newcomb team up | Paul Smith's College

Paul Smith's College is partnering with Newcomb Central School this fall on a new advanced studies program....

Of course HCS does have rather an advantage in the local-colleges department.

Test Rejections

A week or two ago, I noticed Radio Free Hamilton's Even More HCS Students Opt Out of Math Tests

Fewer HCS elementary and middle school students took this week's state-mandated math tests than took last week's English language arts (ELA) exams.

An actual majority refused to take the tests here. In the state as a whole, it was only about a sixth, but Tens of Thousands of New York Students Refuse Tests

Pressed for a reaction to the boycott, which is fueled by allegations that Common Core is rigid and age-inappropriate, and that the tests are excessive, Governor Andrew Cuomo chose to split the difference in characteristic style, by minimizing both the importance of the schooling standards to which his state government (like most) has committed, as well as belittling objections to the same.

"My position was, the department of education had not done a good job in introducing the Common Core, and they had rushed it, so we said, for a period of five years, the test scores won’t count," Cuomo told reporters. "So they can opt out if they want to, but on the other hand, if the child takes the test as practice, then the score doesn't count anyway."

"The grades are meaningless to the student," he added, not exactly shoring up the argument for committing time and effort to filling in ovals on a sheet of paper.

Former U.S. senator from New York, and current presidential hopeful, Hillary Clinton went a step further last week, referring to education as a "non-family enterprise."

So... Maybe parents and students have no business raising a fuss, in her view.

Ouch. Well, What If They Threw Common Core Tests and Nobody Came?

Maybe Common Core would have received a better reception if it had been imposed on the country in 1946, after years of regimentation and top-down decision-making from the New Deal bureacracy and the war effort. A gray standardized approach might have suited a collectivized era. But it was decades too late.

... as with so many things, one size doesn't fit all.

School and Mental Health

The Connecticut Children's Medical Center reports on psychiatric emergencies, and psych prof Peter Gray adds up the data by month in The Danger of Back to School | Psychology Today

Just as I predicted, July and August are the months with, by far, the fewest children’s psychiatric ER visits. In fact, the average number of visits for those two months combined (70 per month) is less than half of the average during the full school months (142 visits per month for the nine months excluding June, July and August). June, which has some school days (a number that varies depending on the number of snow days to be made up), is also low, but not as low as July and August. Interestingly, and not predicted by my hypothesis, September is also relatively low, equivalent to June. It seems plausible that September is a relatively relaxed warm-up month in school; serious tests, heavy assignments, and report cards are yet to come. It may take a few weeks back in school before the stress really kicks in.

I would note that I'm not sure how much of the stress of school is from the sources he describes, i.e. interactions with adults. He has elsewhere written that kids in same-age groups seem to have a lot more negative interactions than kids in multi-age groups. It may also take a few weeks back in school before cliques have a chance to build up to full-strength mutual nastiness.

Or then again, maybe not.

Community

Lest it be thought that this blog is only about tech, here's a thought on community-building, specifically Breaking Down the Natural Isolation and Insulation of High School Teachers | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

If you wanted to isolate teachers from one another, no better way is to organize the school by grades, have departments, and a daily schedule that leaves little time for teachers before, during, and after classes to work together in a community focused on better teaching and student learning. These structures left unattended insulate and isolate teachers from one another. The dilemma is plain: How to create a community of teachers working toward common goals within a structure and culture dedicated to keeping teachers apart from one another?

Here is a veteran teacher in the sunset of his career with “school smarts” and wisdom gained from decades of experience in a high school who knows that building community begins with knowing who sits next to you.

So every now and then groups of people (teachers, students, both) should have meals together where somebody gets a turn for a few minutes to do a self-introduction, covering specific things that might be a basis for future collaboration or simply friendship. Not complicated, not technical, but something for schools to keep in mind.
Or then again, maybe not.

Gap Elimination Adjustment Links

\ I've talked before about the HamiltonCentralOptions: Gap Elimination Adjustment and I'll go on talking about it. This is just a set of links, really. Watertown Daily Times | Senators pushing bill to end GAP Elimination Adjustment

Legislative sponsors of Bill 5452, calling for the end of the Gap Elimination Adjustment, are pushing to have the state take a serious look at ending the tax as soon as possible. State Sen. Patricia A. Ritchie, R-Heuvelton, said if there is a surplus in the state budget then there is no longer a need to continue the implementation of the penalty tax on public schools.

“This bill was originally proposed last year. This year there is a whole new dynamic,” Mrs. Ritchie said. “This bill amends the education law, requiring the state to pay down the gap elimination adjustment.”

Mrs. Ritchie and her legislative colleagues are hoping to take the bill before legislators to have the GEA’s conclusion be included in the final 2014 budget.

Bill 5424 is reported at S5452-2013 - NY Senate Open Legislation - Requires the state to pay down the gap elimination adjustment in three years - New York State Senate

Feb 4, 2014: REPORTED AND COMMITTED TO FINANCE
Jan 8, 2014: REFERRED TO EDUCATION
Jan 8, 2014: returned to senate
Jan 8, 2014: died in assembly

Note that Valesky is a co-sponsor.

There's a lot about it at the "Statewide School Finance Consortium": SSFC Responds to Gov’s State of the State | SSFC

The system for distributing state aid to schools is broken and needs to be fixed, says Dr. Rick Timbs: “We need relief and reform. First and foremost: Do away with the GEA!’’

And of course it's not just upstate; Long Island complains, and is trying to reduce the 2014 GEA impact before April 1: Legislators: Gap Elimination Adjustment short-changing Long Island’s school districts - News 12 Long Island

Local lawmakers say they will fight to increase that amount before the state budget is passed by April 1.

So, how to "fight"? Mostly send letters, I guess.

• Watertown Daily Times | General Brown launches letter writing campaign to end Gap Elimination Adjustment
• Freeport Public Schools

  All residents are encouraged to join in the district’s efforts to eliminate the Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA) by participating in a letter writing campaign.

• Averill Park Central School District

  Below are a number of advocacy resources, contact information for our representatives as well as others in position of power within the state. You will also find sample letters as well as talking points to create your own letter.

• ADVOCACY / Home

  The Coxsackie-Athens Central School District’s Board of Education and administration are instituting a letter-writing campaign NOW to eliminate the Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA) from our school budget for the 2014-15 school year. It is NOW that we need to make our voices and numbers heard in Albany.

• Legislative Action Committee

  Click here to print a letter that may be signed and mailed to legislators. You may also copy the text from the letter and paste it into an e-mail. Legislator mailing addresses and e-mail addresses are provided below.

The list goes on. A lot of people in a lot of communities are doing what they can to say that the GEA is not a good way for the state to save money. The deadline, assuming that a budget passes on time, is April 1st.

Notes on January 29th "Community Leaders" Meeting

These are very raw notes on what went on in the meeting; corrections appreciated. Some tentative corrections in red, but that does not mean this is complete; I've seen some corrections in email which I (Tom Myers) haven't entered. I'll try to go over it this weekend, but comments/emails would be good. Thanks to Astrid, Heather, Amy et al. 

Community Leadership Meeting

January 29, 2014 @ 5:30pm

Hamilton High School Library

Diana opened the meeting:

New fiscal advisory committee

Not a discussion center on what may not be possible.

School has handcuffs.

Sharing what the school's restraints are.

Last week new state runs.

Unfortunately, surprised..... as the worst happened....

Combined wealth ratio for next year: We are above 1.0

HCS is above Cazenovia and New Hartford

Due to salaries, properties

Deficit is about $250,0000

Cutting some program and 4-5 full-time equivalents.

Diana writing letter to Senator Dave Valesky.

Total additional almost $19,000 received, 0.44% increase.

GEA this year $515,000

GEA is due to a gap 5 years ago. Why still GEA if there's a surplus now and no longer a deficit?

Five years of this GEA, so the noisier we are the better.

Teacher contracts expired last year. So lots of question marks.

Diana is giving the word to Matt Crumb:

Matt provided packet. Files accessible at HCS site???

Revenues and expenditures.

Revenues:

First page is a summary of executive budget proposal and the impact on MO-Boces.

Second page unofficial overall results.

Third page anticipated wealth ratio. HCS jumped from 0.958 to 1.007

Note by Diana: HCS more students in poverty than Cazenovia yet we have a higher wealth ratio.

RWADA Aid ratio? Resident Weighted Average Daily Attendance.

https://stateaid.nysed.gov/boces/pdf_docs/boces_rwada_report-sams1213.pdf

Look at combined wealth ratio and RWADA ratio to see how much revenue we are getting back.

Please help explain this further...... (Astrid's note) From what I heard, the amount the state reimburses for BOCES services are determined by the RWADA which has gone down to .554.

Page 4 HCS almost $300,000 restored to us in 3 years. Much less than other districts.

Last column percentage GEA restored compared to tax levy.

HCS compared to other districts way higher tax burden.

In summary: Wealth up, enrollments down.... less money

Diana's note: Our reassessment means that in a year or so we will take an even greater hit.

Matt on expenditures:

We will be in negotiations with every district employee. District wages possibly 1.5% increase. Health insurance 8.5% increase. See page in packet for the remaining numbers. Tax levy: 2% allowable tax levy increase $130,000.

Summary: Projected deficit with 1.5% wage increase $210,000 and with wage increase $262,000.

Based on Susan Marafino's question regarding wealth ratio, the response was: 28% free and reduced lunch at HCS versus Caz at 16%.

Ferdinand Von Muench asked question. Technology-type funding. Voted on in November. Smart schools. These funds would not help us this coming year. Does not help with salaries.

Aaron Robinson: Tax on true 17%. Missed this question/ answer....

Matt and Diana: Our tax on true is actually not that high in comparison to other districts.

Diana Bowers explained last page in packet:

Methods of supplementing our Annual Budget to allow for financial stability:

59 FTE - versus 75 a few years back - back in 2007.

Cost per pupil $10,154 per student, tad bit higher than surrounding schools.

$19,286 total expenditure per pupil including instructional costs.

Where HCS excells: $22,624 for special ed which is lower than other schools surrounding us and state average These savings are due to servicing students in–house rather than sending them to get services and the implementation of RTI.

Diana on what has been cut regarding staffing:

We started with 3 sections in each grade. Now mostly only 2 sections. Most departments at first 4 teachers and now only 3.

To what extend are we allowed to advertise? Hands are tied in many ways. Sports boosters can collect money and Emerald Foundation as well. It’s illegal for schools to solicit donations.

Susan brought up again getting a complete HCS alumni list to request for money for Emerald Foundation.

Diana: About 5 year’s back when we started the Annual Alumni Chicken b-b-que we compiled a list of alumni, it may’ve not been complete but it was substantial.

Stephanie McClintock: What funds can Emerald provide to schools?

Heather Cigeroglu: We can provide funds for special projects, technical items, teacher grants, student scholarships but no salaries. Donations can’t be earmarked for a specific item but donors can request an area they would like to support.

Hamilton Initiative was mentioned.

Colgate help was discussed briefly.

Ellen Larson: Can we make money by offering distance learning for Latin to other schools as HCS is the only school in 100 miles to offer the language. Diana said that one of the problems is different bell schedule. But with tablets you can solve this timing issue Ellen said.

Diana: What about offering distance learning of our AP classes which Morrisville-Eaton lost due to budget cuts. Again bell schedule an issue. Also, unless teachers are hovering over a student shoulders while completing on-line course work, the success rate of such distance learning is low.

Aaron: Could ME send students over to take a half day for our AP classes. Would that work? Could that give us money.

Ellen: What about seminar type afternoon sessions for money - Ag, science groups? Lot of organizing.....

Stephanie Fadale: Longer school days and four days per week? Does it change the state aid? Are their contractual limitation?

Ferdinand: Does this benefit our kids?

Astrid: Several Governors proposed longer school year and school day. However, where's the funding coming from?

David Hollis:

Downtown businesses are already funding so much. Colgate Inn donates $30,000 per year to HCS. ($30,000 for local donations, not just HCS?) Hamilton asks already for so much.

Morgan Larson: Can we raise taxes to fund this $250,000 deficit. Yes, we can but with risks.

Stephanie: Can HCS rent out classrooms at night? Can't be to for-property organizations says Diana. Can we bring Boces here? Can we be our own Boces? Diana says moving or starting our own just hasn't happened.

Ellen: School budget for dummies. Graph in back NYS highest expense and lowest state funding.

What is this reason? Diana does not have the answers. Can we do away with Regents?

Astrid: I'm all for doing away Regents.

Heather: In response to David Hollis comment, unfortunately I believe this is going to continue to be the new normal. Schools will continue to receive less and less and their communities and/or corporations will have to subsidize the gap. I just looked over Commissioner King’s presentation of the 2014-15 budget and it’s grim. The majority of the budget is slated for testing, making tests, preparing for the tests, testing material. There is very little going towards actual instruction. Assessment so much time we have little left for instruction but yet the state and federal government wants us to increase scores?!@#!

Aaron: Write letters to our politicians.

Heather mentioned having written letters. I’ve pulled together the contact information of key state officials for other as well as some links to resources that help explain the financial and education and also provide advocacy information. She can e-mail contacts to them to all. I know the school is not technically allowed to distribute this information but maybe the PTO can help.

Ellen: Paper letters more influential than email.

Susan: Yes, paper is better, but email and phone better than nothing. Writing is very important.

Make the letters a bit personal --like if your a teacher.

Ferdinand: What do we do if we're stuck with the budget? Mayor is here. We could ask for up to 6% tax increase. Pledge from Hamiltonians to give more due to this tricky budget situation.

Jim Ford:

As Colgate acquires property does it stay on tax roll?

Mayor says yes.

What is the Colgate amount that is given to school district?

Diana: $200,000 per year. Then went up to $500,000 per year to HCS.

How many students have we lost?

Matt: 540 down from 606 which does not include pre-K numbers.

Ferdinand: Can we issue new bonds at lower rate?

Diana and Matt: Some bonds we can some we can't

Barbara Schindler: What would this district be like if we were a charter school?

Diana: Not as easy as you think. However, maybe it’s an option looking into.

I saw Diana write this down in her notes.

Aaron: Natural gas conversion - can that be bonded.

Matt is looking into that. Conversion cost would help this year.

Susan: Resource officer cost $5,000 but budgeted $20,000. Could this be cut? Could Emerald Foundation fund this. Diana answers no. Emerald Foundation mission issue. The HEF mission is to enrich programs, support innovative ideas in teaching, student opportunities at HCS, not personnel.

Ellen: What is the out of pocket cost difference to do the 6% versus 2%.

Matt: If you stayed within the cap, you could gain back the 2% tax increase.

Amy Hurta: So if you paid the extra 4% needed, you'd benefit the school that much more.

Matt: Cannot provide firm estimate on out of pocket cost for such tax increase. Differs for every person due to personal equalization rates.

Jim Ford: Very upset over Mid-York weekly ABCs advertisement. He taught in the Madison School district and felt the ad bad-mouthed our neighbors. He had never read such an arrogant piece in the paper. He called for somebody present in the meeting to come out and say who was part of this initiative.

Silence.......Awkward Silence….
(Apparently there was a discussion after the meeting, in which Jim did not identify any particular "arrogant" -- or false -- items in the ad. I [TM] was certainly one of the group, though in the end none of my too-geeky contributions to the ABCs were used, except that I was one of those objecting to a couple of things that could be misinterpreted as Morrisville put-downs. None of them made it into the ad or even into the ABCs page so I really would like to hear more about this.)

Diana: $5000 in tuition per transfer student from other districts. 25 kids total at this point. This is not a money-maker, just breaking even. They pay at cost. We are only responsible for paying transport to students going to other schools within district - like New Life Christian.

Barbara: Negotiation with teachers is very important.

Diana will be posting on blog about the meeting. All suggestions can be posted and will be brought to next meeting.

Molly: Any fundraising going on, please let us know.

Ferdinand: Budget of districts in our league would be useful. Having board members from other similar districts come over with ideas.

Matt: It’s very difficult to compare budgets between schools.

Diana: It would be more useful to compare districts with similar wealth ratios.

Ellen: We spend a lot more on programming. Are there any other obvious cooperative ventures that may fall into place?

Diana: This can't be rushed. Gotta be done right and it may take time.

Ellen: Are we still having conversations despite merger no-vote?

Matt and Diana: Resounding yes.

Ellen and Diana: RTI: response to intervention: The sooner it is implemented the less the overall cost as support is front-loaded. Early intervention ensures an earlier and better success rate and thus we spend less as the student gets older. Conclusion: money saver.

Russ Tiffany: Business park - would it bring more revenue?

Matt: Any new construction would benefit.

Mayor: We try to market it. And there is a developer that is interested in more than just Wayne's Market.

Ellen: 4-5 teacher cuts?

Diana: 1 possible retirement only so definitely some cuts.

Heather: We should really pull together our communities and discuss various options for dealing with this fiscal challenge. Even if we don’t end up sharing services we can at least discuss what has been proven to be effective money savers in other districts and in the very least, we are all extending an olive branch to one other’s communities and hoping helping to diffuse the tensions among districts. Should we invite other concerned community leaders from other districts to join in the discussions?

Diana: That may be a good idea.

Molly: That may be something the Upstate institute may be able to coordinate.

2014-15 Budget Process --- Join In!

As the Budget Calendar mentioned, our January 21 BoE meeting (which will supposedly be on Youtube eventually (see below) was largely about the budget, starting with the NYS proposed aid in the 2014-15 EXECUTIVE BUDGET PROPOSAL which had just come out a couple of hours before. It was not happy reading; Aaron commented that he had expected our Gap Elimination Adjustment to come down fairly substantially which would have led to a relatively straightforward budget process. Instead, it came down by 6%, remaining still above $500K, leaving us with a back-of-the-envelope $250K deficit. It's a big problem for many schools... as North Country Public Radio quoted What does Cuomo's budget mean for schools in the North Country?

"...it seems odd that the governor touts increasing aid to education on the one hand and fails to say that he’s taking it out of the pockets of educators with the other hand"

Of course it's not just the GEA; our insurance costs jumped sharply, more than in quite some time; apparently this is a consequence of Obamacare. (It's a surprise to me; I had thought NY to be one of the very few states where our existing mandates would make the ACA look good, except for the "narrow networks" phenomenon which may provide nasty surprises for New Yorkers who spend time in other states and expect to have non-emergency care while they're away.)

And there are mandates for equipment for simultaneous test-taking, and there's an individual property which was reassessed a couple of years ago from $1.3M to $1.7M and the appeal is almost certainly going to result in a settlement back down to $1.2M with our school on the hook for some excess taxes. Ouch.

The applicable tax cap is Whichever Is Less of 2% and the official CPI which is 1.46%, plus a local growth factor of almost exactly 1%, so income is not rising to match outgo unless we vote to override the tax cap.So...

---

Please Come To The 5:30PM Jan 29th High School Library Meeting

Bring Ideas

---

Ideas? Of course there is always sharing; the actual merger plan did not save money (long-run) because the diseconomy of scale from added transportation cancelled the economy of scale from cutting staff, but sharing doesn't have to involve large-scale transportation costs. Diana discussed doing more (mainly administrative) sharing among the 4 local schools through BOCES, and we can do more athletic sharing (girls' basketball with Madison). This will not save a lot, but every little bit helps.

Shared Admin can go pretty far, there is such a thing as a Shared Superintendent possibility; it's not obvious that this is applicable to our situation. In general, if we consult the New York State Professional Staffing Ratios" (large PDF) (we're on page 244), we might find that some other small schools do it with reduced staff and maybe we can do what they do...or maybe we can do New Things; telepresence robotics is taking off, after all, and getting lots cheaper than being there.

Smart Schools Equipment for telepresence, for distance learning (below), and to satisfy the mandate Diana mentioned for simultaneous test-taking is not just getting cheaper: it may be covered by the "smart schools allocation" at the bottom of the "BUDGET PROPOSAL", which for HCS is $409,770. It's likely that the "allocation" is intended to encourage long-term shift towards options like the Khan Academy, or simply lessons like our own Youtube channel to be used locally or shared. In the long run that's important, but it's possible that some replacement of people cost with machine cost will actually be feasible even in the fairly short term. (It's also possible that the geek writing this is overly optimistic.)

Natural Gas was discussed; my understanding of Diana's remarks is that it will save each year but that this coming year the savings is roughly cancelled by the installation cost. Ken Bausch points out by email that if if that understanding is correct, then it's a normal capital cost which should be funded by a bond issue, just as we do to amortize bus cost; in fact it's far more obvious in the case of the one-time-only natural gas cost. If indeed that's how it goes, and if the link above was correct in projecting $160,000/year savings, then we're more than halfway home right there. If.

Distance Learning is a current topic for Madison; Ferdinand sends a link to MCS bringing new instruction via distance learning through BOCES and in the long run this may be a major winner, but probably not a big issue for the next few budgets. Well, it might be.

Alumni/Community Fundraising was discussed; Amy Hurta as Treasurer reported that she had learned the day before that the Sports Boosters, like the Emerald Foundation, is in fact a tax-exempt 401(c)3 organization listed with the IRS, "and always has been." Send Money! Andrew Coddington says the Emerald Foundation is always looking for alumni donations and tries to keep an alumni list, so Send Names/Addresses! (And Money!) And there's also HCS alumni site which isn't very active--but links to a facebook page.

Sponsorship Stephanie McClintick (via email) brings up the possibility of local company sponsorship of teams and other activities, which is a common development elsewhere; the Albany Times-Union reported a year ago on Schools look to sponsors to help pay for programs - Times Union

Cuts force districts to find alternative funding

which is certainly a familiar story; from this past fall we can add This student planner brought to you by… | The New York World

New York City middle and high school students will be receiving free planners next school year courtesy of corporate sponsors, under a new city Department of Education plan.

There is an organization to support this kind of thing: Sponsorship and Advertising | School Administrators Association of New York State

The Corporate Sponsorship Program helps SAANYS to achieve its mission of continuing to provide programs and services to the school leaders of New York State - leading to greater opportunities for the students within their care. Participating in the program provides companies with many opportunities to interact with school leaders from all over the state.

Of course, there can be problems, and caution is advised; from Utah we hear High school sponsorship contracts raise concerns, but also benefit programs | Deseret News

In this piece, Amy Donaldson examines the regulatory environment surrounding these deals and how local coaches have gotten into legal trouble with respect to such contracts.

It could happen here.

Foreign Students I've written before about the possibility of tuition-paying international students and about some of the reasons why HCS might appeal to some. Astrid brought this up at the meeting and Diana replied that HCS did indeed go through the "accreditation" process with Homeland Security so we are "SEVIS-certified"; indeed we are on page 108 of last June's official list at DHS and we can accept foreign students with "F" visas, although not "M" visas. See SEVP Certification Basics and maybe Everything you need to know about Foreign Students (F-1) studying in Public Schools

• Secondary school attendance is limited to twelve months.
• F-1 secondary school students are required to pay the school the full cost of education by repaying the school system for the full, unsubsidized, per capita cost of providing the education to him or her.
• F-1 students are prohibited from attending public elementary schools or publicly-funded adult education programs.

And Clinton High School went through this in 2004 but may have dropped it, their website doesn't mention it. The idea went nowhere at HCS, beyond conversations with a company which actually offered to provide students and pay $2,000/year to HCS for their education. Not a good offer, in fact much less than is required by the second requirement above. Is the idea hopeless? I don't think so, not at all. Consider the town of Millinocket, Maine, reported in Millinocket using China program money to keep schools going in 2014 — Bangor Daily News...

Seven Chinese students attended Stearns this year, each paying about $24,000 tuition. ...
Millinocket is among several Maine municipalities hoping to offset shrinking school revenues with Chinese students but had recruiting difficulties. An informal poll of state public high schools’ Chinese student enrollments taken in February showed the most students, 12, at Orono High School. Some private schools had close to 100.

What does Millinocket have that we don't? Connections with Chinese high schools, apparently. Hmm... but we do have potential connections through Colgate faculty/students/admin, including the China Study Group. USA Today reported last July on U.S. summer camps increasingly popular overseas

U.S. summer camps are increasingly popular in countries such as China, where rising middle class can send their children to experience American life -- and possibly set the stage for going to college in the USA

The article featured Colgate rather prominently. At the wrong level for our purposes, but still -- it's worth exploring. Do we have such connections? (Carolyn?) Do we have people, preferably parents of current HCS students, who'd be hosts? (Astrid?) Of course this doesn't have to be China, but China is prominent in the F-1 high-school student visa discussions.

That's all I can think of right now. Diana wanted to emphasize that ideas need to be considered in the context of our layers of regulations, mandates, subsidies... When Ferdinand talked about transportation costs, working with local transport to save some of the $90,000/year we give to BOCES, she replied that transportation is among our highest aid-ratio costs so that much of the money we give BOCES comes back to us, and even if we found a cheaper transportation solution it's likely that the budget cost would be higher. We can't count on specific aid ratios for long-term planning, but for right now, let's talk about the next few years' budgets, with focus on next year.

Update: I didn't mention Activism, or at least Letter-Writing; note that the state's disappointing Budget Proposal is not a Final Budget. There will be a post about this, Reasonably Soon Now.

Update2:The BoE meeting is now a (long) video at ▶ Hamilton CSD BOE Meeting 1.21.14

...apologies, the next one will have better sound.

Below is the order [of] events and the times in which each Agenda Item appears:
0-10min: Items 1.0-3.6, Call to order, Preliminary Action, Consent Agenda (Business Operations)
10-11 min: Item 4, Consent Agenda (Old Business)
11-17 min: Item 5, Community Participation Part 1
17-21 min: Items 6-6.4, New Business
21-35 min: Item 6.5, Budget Sports
35-55 min: Item 7, Information and Correspondence
55-1:41 min: Item 8, Community Participation Part 2.

Hooray for open government!

Update 3 Yes, the sound is terrible. If you have LOTS of energy then

• (a) download the video from youtube, lots of e.g. Firefox extensions for that;
• (b) split off the sound track, probably in iMovie or whatever basic video handler you have;
• (c) download Audacity (free) from http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/
• (d) follow, e.g. http://www.podtopia.net/gettingstarted/removenoise.shtml

No problem. Well, umm, assuming you have several hours...make it a day, this is a long video and there will probably be synchronization issues when you put it back together so you may have to do it one clip at a time. And the result will not be perfect. No, I'm not gonna try, but I'll post the result if somebody else does.

Pro-Merger Guest Post: Coby Merkle

Here's a pro-merger letter in response to the ABCs of HCS; he's actually responding, letter by letter, to the newspaper ad which I don't have online, so beside each letter I've inserted a link to the corresponding letter in the slightly older Google-site version; click on the "*". Coby's really quite eloquent, and I feel sad -- but on the other hand, I hope and expect that he'll do very well in the end, even though I think that his schoolmates will be long-run worse off if the proposed merger goes through. I look at "A" and think "(1) Yes, of course we do. (2) No, not really, but smaller than it would be if distance weren't an issue. (3) Please click through and read the research summary we were citing. (There were others, but we had to cut for length.)" I look at "B" and think "Extremely small? We live in different worlds, which happen to both be in upstate NY." And I go through the rest of the alphabet, and think: There's no rebuttal here, and I hope and expect that Coby will do well in the end, but I feel sad. It's all about people, doing their best. Anyway, here are Coby's responses:

---

---

What was written in the Mid-York Weekly on December 5th was absolutely preposterous. Let me tear it apart for you..... (All letters correlate and are rebuttals to the article listed in the newspaper)

* A- Academic Achievement- Do you have any idea how small our merged school would be? Compared to other schools in this state, and even country, it would be microscopic. How would the academics lead to worse outcomes in a school that is still small in size and number, with the same amount of staffing available?

* B- Buses- Of course Morrisville-Eaton's buses log twice the mileage, our district is fairly bigger and not centered in one town! The extra prices of fuel had been counted into the study as miscellaneous expenditures. Plus, a 75 minute bus run is extremely small. Have you ever checked into VVS's bus times now that the three school districts are merged? (And VVS is doing fine monetarily after the merge)

* C- Comparisons- Our communities are actually very similar, with a few exceptions to the numerical figures you listed which are unimportant to our students education. How would merging two schools of two different assessment levels lead to more problems?

* D- Debt- Hamilton will acquire more debt as a school,however the study calls for a decrease in Hamilton’s taxes. Also, our nation was created by the nation assuming state debts, why can't one school assume two?

* E- Environment- I believe the importance of the education of our students is superior to a small environmental impact that could be reduced in the future due to better technology.

* F- Finances- Financially, 40,000 dollars is quite a savings for a school of our caliber, and we would also be acquiring the money for merging from the state over a fifteen year period.

* G- Go Green!- How exactly would a merger damage a environmentally green aspect on a village? The village of Hamilton, its farmers’ market, new utilities, and village committees would still exist and be unaffected by a school merger. The village of Hamilton can still keep it's green color and spirit, but its school would be a different color, big deal.

* H- Hamilton- Although there are uncertainties to the study,a significant change like school locations as opposed to what the study encourages is very doubtful. Also, Colgate has been feeding you for years now. Anything uncertainties can happen at any time. If we don't merge, and Colgate decides to pull funding from HCS, your school might realize the troubles schools have all over.

* I- Incentive Aid- If suddenly the state decides to renege on its promises and take money back from our incentive aid because of financial crisis, don't you think the two separate schools would be in trouble due to this financial crisis anyways?

* J- Jurisdiction and Local Control- Hamilton is far from losing a say in the schooling of their students; half of them are Hamilton students anyways! Have you ever heard of compromise? We can raise tax rate lightly to preserve programs- win win?

* K- K-12- Synergy can be created, unlike energy. Why couldn't there be a program to increase synergy between the high school, middle school, and elementary schools upon a merger situation?

* L- Life, Quality of- There would still be many sporting events, concerts, shows, and art events at the present HCS school in a merger situation because it would be our high school as portrayed in the study. Also, with only a free hour between sports practice and school ending, there isn't much to do. Walking home or eating would already consume nearly all of the hour given.

* M- Merger- Get used to change, there will be a lot in both of our futures regardless of a merger. If something goes wrong you make it right, a procedure we have taught to children for centuries. If we don't get along, or if there is issues in our school, we will find ways to make them better and resolve them.

* N- Neighbors- If we are good neighbors why can't we be good as a merged school? We already have many sports agreements, and shared service agreements that pretty simply aren't cutting the monetary funds that we are in search for.

* O- Organizing Loca Support for HCS- This isn't even a valid reason to vote no against the merger. It's an advertisement for your social networking page, way to be creative.

* P- Population- If we merge, can't we still be seen as a school with a fine reputation so we can also increase in population. Morrisville also has some fine, if not as large as Hamilton’s, businesses and workplaces in our environment and community.

* Q- Questions- Stating where questions about this situation can be answered is another fine reason to say no; you're gaining many gold stars in creativity.

* R-Real Estate Values- Where are you seeing such disparities between our two districts to the point where real estate values would decrease because our district would be less desirable? Mind me, but I believe the fine kids of Hamilton combined with the fine kids of Morrisville would be more desirable than one or the other.

* S- SES Study Team- These aspects have already been commented on which are other 'letters' in your write up.

* T- Taxes- Like I've already interpreted, it would be fairly rough and very unlikely to not follow the study which took 7 long, hard working meetings to piece together. In this case, Hamilton's tax rate would probably decrease to Morrisville's. What would be the point of raising one to match the other if we are gaining money and saving money anyways?

* U- Uncertainties- Of course there is uncertainty, there is uncertainty in anything. Also, as a member of the study, I was pro high school in Hamilton contradicting the conflict in the study meetings. I also wasn’t the only Morrisvillian contradicting this act. The school board (with combined members) would probably not make dramatic changes due to people like you being on the board as well.

* V- Vote- Another great reason to vote no! The date of the vote!

* W- Walking and Biking to School- Only the middle school, as portrayed in the study, would move to Morrisville, and then the students that continued to high school in Hamilton could again walk to combat your childhood obesity issue. It seems you’re getting very picky and delving very deep to find issues to support your opinion.

* XYZ- ‘X’ Merger, It’s up to You, Zero Gain from Merger- X and Y are another example of your creativity to include valid reasons. And with ‘Z’, as a student I believe that a lot would be gained by a merger between the two districts financially (see F), educationally (see A), and finally socially/culturally (see C,G,H,K,L,N,P) It saddens me that one group can be so close-minded and centered on their action that they would jeopardize the education, sporting opportunities, extracurricular activities, and the interactions between students of two districts. Hamilton and Morrisville already have shared services, sports teams, and link other activities together. Separately, neither have the population to support all of these programs and activities. If the proposed merger is declined, Morrisville-Eaton will be in search of another school for possible consolidation. Therefore, if M-E decides to merge with another school, Hamilton will lose it’s ME/H combined football teams, field hockey teams, wrestling teams, and soccer teams, as well as all other joint services. Would Hamilton benefit in the end by voting ‘NO’ on December 10th? I guess it’s for each individual to decide, but with all of these aspects in mind, I’d assume not.

To whom it may concern, Coby Merkle, Class of 2015 of Morrisville Eaton Central School District, and student member of the ME/Hamilton merger study. Thank you.

Notes on Mid-York and NextDoor

  Yesterday (Thursday December 4) the Mid-York Weekly came out, with an advertisement version of the ABCs of HCS. There were also letters to the editor: our continuing commenter Wanda Berry; Alice & Peter Klepeis; Charlie Naef; Susanne Farrington; Stanley Roe.  In no particular order:

  Charlie, as former mayor, notes (as I have various times on this blog and elsewhere) that it would be possible to vote "yes" now and still vote against the merger later, concluding that "I haven't made up my mind how I would vote next February, but I don't want a determined minority to deny me and others that choice before we see a final proposal." I don't know who is in the minority here, I really just don't know -- but in fact we have seen the final proposal. The final proposal is to merge and have a single Board of Education which will then decide where all the students will go, how much in local taxes they'll ask for from all members of the combined community, and so forth. (We've also seen a "merger plan" which will very likely be followed for the first year or so, which doesn't save money because there doesn't seem to be any way to do that while complying with state mandates.) If there's some detail that Charlie wants to wait for, something which the DoE would provide but only after our December 10th vote, then now is the time to say so. His letter is the first time I've seen anyone suggesting that some such detail might exist, and I have no idea what that detail might be. (I would be happy to put up guest posts from him or from other merger supporters explaining this.)

  Alicia & Peter, like Stanley and like Susanne, are concerned with transportation both in terms of cost and in terms of quality of life. Well, yes -- if Morrisville and Hamilton were in walking distance, we'd have merged. :-) And if transportation were cheaper, so that the merger proposal represented an actual opportunity to save on costs and therefore improve district financial stability and long-run student opportunities, then I personally would still be regretfully supporting the merger, despite the quality-of-life and community damage and loss of real estate value and blah blah blah. But transportation is a big cost, in financial and in human terms, much bigger than I thought at the beginning -- so I'm with them on this.

  And back we go to Wanda, who says that HCS was "too small a social pool" for her daughters, and I sympathize...but I don't think this would help much. My three adult sons seem to have formed life-long friendships at HCS, friendships based on year after year of shared experiences of classes and athletics and music and theatre, experiences linked by walking (e.g., to after-school music lessons), by bikes, by (short) car rides to bring groups together. A week ago, walking back from PriceChopper, I was offered "a ride and an update" which included the information that my daughter-in-law, graduate of a high school in Athens, will soon be visiting his daughter on the west coast; HCS friendships don't just last, they spread. (They did attend one another's weddings, in Greece and in Hamilton.) Would my kids be better off if we'd been merged with Morrisville? Maybe, but I don't think so. As Carolyn Hsu (I think) was noting at ABCs of HCS (A), research indicates that the merged district "would be more likely to segregate internally into cliques." We get enough of that already.

  Wanda also objects to the thought that Hamilton and Morrisville-Eaton voters have made different choices, calling it "exceptionalism". She wants centralization, so that everybody has to make the same choices. Well, sure: people who want to make everybody makes the same choices should generally vote for centralization. I am not that confident that my choices are right for everybody else -- and I'm not that confident that my views will prevail in a more centralized district, where (from the CAC experience) about half the voters would apparently want the high school inside Hamilton and the other half would want it 3.5 miles north of Morrisville and one side has to win and the other side has to lose and in the end it depends on turnout. I don't like win/lose, even when it's me winning and the other guys losing. And I really, really, really don't care that the merged district would include the geographical center of the state. I'm sorry, I just don't care. People who care a lot about that should certainly consider voting for the merger.

  On nextdoor.com, Wanda comments on the Ellen Larson letter that also appeared here, saying "Perhaps our main difference is that I am less frightened of democracy." I was a bit distressed; the two-district system that Ellen supports is exactly as democratic as the one-district system she opposes, so this comes off as a piece of gratuitous nastiness. Ellen is probably opposed to motherhood and apple pie, as well. Well, perhaps it's a typo: perhaps Wanda meant to say "Perhaps our main difference is that I am less frightened of centralization." That would be true. Centralization is good and bad, and it's an issue that pervades almost everything we do. It was the center, so to speak, of one of my first blog posts, years ago. My ideal school system might have no administrators on-site because all those functions can be centralized right out of the building...even some teaching functions can be centralized. But most can't, or at least shouldn't be. If we centralize in the sense of this merger, then the new school board will do its democratic best, but it will no longer be possible for different communities to make different choices...and we won't be saving money, either. So I'm agin it, personally....and Wanda's not. (Would it be better to say Professor Wanda Berry and of course Professor Charles Naef, and similarly refer to my co-bloggers Professor Carolyn Hsu and Professor Heather Roller along with Dr. Ellen Larson on the other side? I don't think so, indeed Carolyn is the only one with relevant qualifications, but then my own PhuD is surely more irrelevant than any of theirs; I've never understood people very well. Let it be noted that many of us, with and without academic credentials, are thinking hard, and each of us has a vote. Hooray for democracy! (No, I'm not being sarcastic. May we collectively do the right thing.))

Guest Post on the Merger: Ellen Larson

At the PTO meeting, I offered to put statements about the merger on this blog (pro or con). Here's a statement by Ellen Larson. update: Also published at Radio Free Hamilton.

Get out and Vote
re: Hamilton Central and Morrisville Eaton School District Merger
Tuesday December 10, 2013, 10AM - 8 PM
Hamilton Central Bus Garage (for the Hamilton Community)
ER Andrews Elementary School (for the Morrisville Eaton Coummunity)

To keep it simple, my vote is NO to the merger but the important thing is that both communities get out and make EDUCATED decisions and vote for what is right for you and your community.

Understand what you ARE voting for:
You are voting on whether or not to merge the Morrisville Eaton and Hamilton school districts into one unified district.
That is all you are voting for.
All of the other discussions, benefits, risks, and "road maps" are all just theories.

If both communities vote yes to the merger, there will be another binding vote before this moves on. If both communities vote yes in the binding vote then the next step is to elect a new school board. Part of the binding election would be for the communities to vote on how many members the new school board would include (I believe the options are 5,7, or 9). Election of the new school board would be based simply on what participants get the most votes. There is no way to allocate 1/2 from each community. The estimate is that the new school board would be elected around Feb. 28, 2014 and the students would start in the new merged district September of 2014.

Understand what you are NOT voting for:
You are NOT voting for the plan that was proposed by the SES consultants. That is simply a suggestion. The new school board can do anything.
You are NOT voting to keep elementary schools in their respective communities. That is also a suggestion (and everyone agrees it's a priority right now). Many previously merged districts start with that as a priority but in less than 5 years eventually one or both districts lose their home elementary schools.
You are NOT voting for decreased taxes. The SES consultants did suggest that some of the incentive aid money be put towards decreasing taxes. Again, the new school board gets to decide how to spend that money and there is no guarantee that it will be put towards decreasing taxes. From most of the data I have seen from other districts who have merged in the past, even if there were tax reductions initially, after just a few years taxes were back up and higher than where they started.

So from here on out this is simply my opinion. I ask that you respect that. I am a parent. If I don't fight for what I feel is right or best for my children no one else is going to. I respect that there are many others out there with other opinions. Please respond, comment, discuss, whatever... but I request that we all respect that we have different opinions- not right or wrong just different.
Also, note that money is not mentioned in any of the discussion below. My sincere opinion is that considering this merger a panacea to solve our financial woes is a mistake. I honestly feel that even if we go ahead with this merger, and take this incentive aid money, that in 5-10 years we are going to be right back where we are- trying to creatively solve our financial problems. As a result I am choosing to make my decision and vote about this merger based on what's best for kids, not on the finances. By the way, finances is the only thing the SES merger study looked at... there was nothing in this merger study about outcomes for kids.

What do I see that my kids/district/community have to gain from this merger:
A theoretical increase in opportunities. It appears that the general assumption in education is that more kids means more opportunities. Right now we can't offer class Z because there aren't enough kids who want to take it. If we double the number of students we will now have enough to offer class Z. The same analogy applies to sports. Again, this is theoretical. There is nothing even in the SES proposal that shows any increase in opportunities for the Hamilton school district either academically or extracurricularly. This also assumes that just because there are more kids that more of them are going to want to access class Z.

A theoretical increase in diversity and social opportunities.

What do I see that my kids/district/community have to lose from this merger:
The little school that I love.

You can call this an emotional argument but I'm not sure there's anything wrong with that, especially if it's balanced with the other information. I am very proud of the school that my children attend. I am very invested in the school that my children attend. I spend a lot of time in the school that my children attend. This is a nurturing, personalized, caring environment. When I enter the school the school faculty and staff know who I am, they know which kids belong to me, and I know who they are and if appropriate which kids belong to them. When my child was struggling academically the teacher stopped us in the hall and started the conversation- no email, no phone tag. This is all part of a small school. I will not be able to be a presence in the school in a merged district the way I can be now simply because of geography. That is a loss for my children, for myself, and for the extracurricular programs that I help to support by volunteering my time (boy does that sound conceited but it's true- and not just because of me- if there aren't parent volunteers, a lot of things our school community values cannot happen).

My kids walking to school.
I value my children's ability to walk or bike to school. Because they have been raised in this community, my children walk/bike everywhere. They walk/bike to school- often with a cello or french horn (or both) in tow. If they go to a friends house in the village, they walk/bike (there's no argument, there's no discussion, they just do it). If they go to the public library or a piano lesson or a dance lesson they walk/bike. Often they are walking or biking with a friend. In a world of screens, electronics, and instant gratification I really value this about this community. This also gives them a level of independence and responsibility in a safe setting and provides an age appropriate opportunity for socialization (watching a group of children walk or bike together is a totally different experience than watching a group of children on a bus- often with heads down playing with iPods, phones, or some other form electronic entertainment).

Knowing my kids teachers and them knowing me.
See the above discussion about the little school that I love.

Being able to be a presence in the school.
See the above discussion about the little school that I love.

Opportunities
It is proposed that this merger will increase opportunities including extracurricular activities. I am actually concerned that the kids of Hamilton may lose some extracurricular opportunities. One of the unique things about the Hamilton Central School district is that a large percentage of kids need to participate in many activities otherwise those activities don't happen. This also means that kids that might never have tried out for a play or a team or have thought to join FFA- not only try out but participate. Right now, there are no cuts (plays or music or sports). If the number of kids doubles, the numbers of slots are not going to. I'm all for competition and encouraging kids to work to be their best, but I do think there are settings where this is actually going to limit opportunities in Hamilton, not increase them.

Our sense of community
There are people who have tried to mock this statement, but I feel strongly that there is a lot of truth in this. The school is literally and figuratively in many ways a center of the community. Obviously it's where our children spend a large portion of their time. The sports activities draw in not just the families of the players but the community at large. The school plays and musicals draw in not just the families of the children on stage but the community at large. Several residents of the local nursing home attended the last school musical. It is and has been the meeting place for Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts through the years. Joys Dance Studio brought grandparents from around the country to Hamilton Central School to see their children to shine on the stage. I am sure there are many other groups and organizations that consider the school their meeting place and home (I just haven't had a chance to experience them all yet.) It is a meeting place. It is a place to celebrate. It is a place to have a Halloween parade. It is a place to be proud of. It is a place for a community to rally around. I am proud of our school and think we should fight to keep the unique experience and community that we have. I think Hamilton Central School is worth fighting for!


Ellen Larson
Village of Hamilton Resident
Parent of an HCS 4th grader and an HCS 7th grader

More (Most) Students Against the Merger

In a more representative sample than that reported in October's Students Against the Merger, we have an actual poll of HCS Students Weigh in on Merger and Say 'No'

A poll of 234 students in sixth through 12th grades taken by the Student Council last week found that:

• 76.1 percent of all students oppose the proposed merger
• 14.5 percent are in favor of it
• 9.4 percent are undecided.

Superintendent's Slide-Show on Merger-Related Issues

The Superintendent's blog presents More Information About the Scheduled Merger Meetings, Survey Results, and Tours at the Morrisville-Eaton and Hamilton School Districts. - Dr. Bowers - SuperintendentHamilton CSD

the power point that will be presented at the upcoming Merger Study Information Meetings

(If the slide-show at the bottom seems small, your browser probably has a "View/Zoom" menu option.)

Some of the terms will be unfamiliar to some readers; there are lists of acronyms at NYSED: State Aid Glossary but if you want to know what "High Cost Aid" actually is, look at the New York State Educational Terms Guide (pdf)

High Cost Aid – Aid available for resident students with disabilities served in a DSE approved public school or BOCES, for whom the annual cost exceeds three times the district’s Approved Operating Expense per TAPU for Expense (without limits).

Of course, then you may want to look up several other terms, or you may just say "oh, special needs kids, for whom we have a substantially expanded program over the past several years. Okay." Some terms you may want to Google for, like the GEA or Gap Elimination Adjustment

Those might now be the three dirtiest words in New York's public schools.

We see again that state aid expectations really can't be relied upon. (Some of us aren't even blaming the state for cutting aid; we're just sceptical of plans which depend on future aid not being cut.)

And each slide deserves thought... "Wealth of the Community" rising from $220M to $350M in the 2004-2010 period is of course partly inflation, but less than half, and you can think of that curve as a faded upstate echo of the housing bubble, but it's real enough, and the student decline was real enough too. Will either trend continue? We have more elementary students than at any time since 1997, and elementary students become high school students; Colgate just invested heavily in expanding the nursery school to meet expanded demand, and those are future elementary students. That suggests that the situation is much less urgent than the 2004-2010 trend suggested, but we really don't know what the trends of 2013-2065 will be, or even 2013-2026 for current students.

Note the penultimate "If We Don't Merge" slide, in particular "Increase political pressure to: return of the GEA, modify unfunded mandates." The basic problem is that New York State education, including our own, costs about twice as much as the national average without being obviously better, and many of the costs are imposed by Albany as items to be paid for by local taxes. "Return of the GEA" means paying for those with state taxes; "modify unfunded mandates" could mean funding them, or could mean removing them. Every one of them has defenders, with arguments as to why this cost isn't the one to cut.

No easy answers....

Drahos Presentation, Previous Merger Files

From the Morrisville point of view, an excellent presentation by Superintendent Drahos at Impending Financial Challenges facing M-ECS - Is a merger in our district's best interest?

Fiscal Realities dictate “tough decisions!”

Yes indeed. (He does not discuss the uncertainty of future state aid, although he does document the way that previous planned state aid was cut. Also, his slides seem to assume that the proposed merger plan would be implemented unchanged; we think both of these uncertainties should be factored in to the decision.)
At the same time, Ken Bausch has provided some historical data as a Previous Merger Outcome Articles, Feb 2011 file added to his School Mergers in NY State - Hamilton Central Options page.

Students Against the Merger

Radio Free Hamilton presents news on the proposed Merger: Students Present Petition Opposing It

Two HCS girls -- fifth grader Ava Robertson and sixth grader Molly Stahl -- last week presented the Board of Education with a petition bearing the signatures of 56 of their classmates. The kids added their names to the list of people opposed to the two districts becoming one.
Here's why:

• Class size
• Transportation
• Familiarity of schools.

Note, by the way, that in a merged school (if it did merge according to the plan) this collaboration probably wouldn't happen -- it would certainly be harder. That's because the sixth grader would be physically going each day to a different school, and spending a chunk of her non-school time on the bus between. One advantage HCS has always had is the chance for older and younger kids to interact, and to develop habits of interaction that last through childhood. The proposed merger plan wouldn't destroy all of this, but would certainly hinder it.
Long-term readers may remember that I've suggested a possible later "merger" plan, if enrolment declines far enough: a plan in which Andrews Elementary would be closed and sold, Morrisville & Eaton elementary and middle students would go a few miles north to the current main building, but at least their last few grades would come to Hamilton, possibly the whole high school. That would leave Hamilton's inter-grade interactions intact; Morrisville already gave them up.
Or then again, that might not work either.

NYS Education Department Assessments, Grades 3-8

I just saw the Assessments for grades 3-8 for HCS and MECS, so I'll put them down with links:

MECS 3-8

at http://www.p12.nysed.gov/irs/ela-math/2013/2013ELAandMathemaitcsDistrictandBuildingAggregatesMedia.pdf#497

Group	#Tested	%Level 1	%Level 2	%Level 3	%Level 4	Mean Scale
Grade 3 ELA	50	52	40	8	0	276
Grade 3 Math	51	56.9	25.5	15.7	2	274
Grade 4 ELA	60	36.7	45	16.7	1.7	290
Grade 4 Math	60	40	40	16.7	3.3	287
Grade 5 ELA	51	45.1	33.3	13.7	7.8	290
Grade 5 Math	51	54.9	27.5	17.6	0	287
Grade 6 ELA	54	29.6	48.1	11.1	11.1	296
Grade 6 Math	56	51.8	33.9	8.9	5.4	277
Grade 7 ELA	54	29.6	46.3	16.7	7.4	299
Grade 7 Math	54	44.4	38.9	16.7	0	289
Grade 8 ELA	53	34	30.2	28.3	7.5	298
Grade 8 Math	52	32.7	46.2	21.2	0	296

 The median scores would be 1,1,2,2,2,1,2,1,2,2,2,2.

HCS 3-8

at http://www.p12.nysed.gov/irs/ela-math/2013/2013ELAandMathemaitcsDistrictandBuildingAggregatesMedia.pdf#499

Group	#Tested	%Level 1	%Level 2	%Level 3	%Level 4	Mean Scale
Grade 3 ELA	51	27.5	39.2	27.5	5.9	309
Grade 3 Math	51	25.5	29.4	35.3	9.8	308
Grade 4 ELA	46	23.9	41.3	28.3	6.5	302
Grade 4 Math	46	32.6	41.3	17.4	8.7	293
Grade 5 ELA	37	35.1	40.5	13.5	10.8	300
Grade 5 Math	37	29.7	37.8	21.6	10.8	303
Grade 6 ELA	40	15	47.5	12.5	25	311
Grade 6 Math	40	25	27.5	15	32.5	315
Grade 7 ELA	31	9.7	19.4	35.5	35.5	329
Grade 7 Math	31	16.1	29	38.7	16.1	320
Grade 8 ELA	41	26.8	26.8	24.4	22	311
Grade 8 Math	41	29.3	41.5	24.4	4.9	297

 The median scores would be 2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,3,3,2,2.
(update: In other words, the median performance levels for MECS student groups are split between "does not meet" the standards and "partially meets". The median performance levels for HCS are split between "partially meets" and "meets".)

Update by Carolyn Hsu, 2013-11-01:

NY State Assessment Test Results, ELA/Math 2013

Tables:

ELA = English Language Arts		Level 1: Students performing at this level are well below proficient in standards for their grade.	Level 2: Students performing at this level are below proficient in standards for their grade.	Level 3: Students performing at this level are proficient in standards for their grade.	Level 4: Students performing at this level excel above the standards for their grade.		Level 3+4: Students who are performing at or above the standards for their grade
Morrisville-Eaton
Group	#Tested	%Level 1	%Level 2	%Level 3	%Level 4	Mean Scale Score	% Passed=L3+L4
Grade 3 ELA	50	52	40	8	0	276	8
Grade 3 Math	51	56.9	25.5	15.7	2	274	17.7
Grade 4 ELA	60	36.7	45	16.7	1.7	290	18.4
Grade 4 Math	60	40	40	16.7	3.3	287	20
Grade 5 ELA	51	45.1	33.3	13.7	7.8	290	21.5
Grade 5 Math	51	54.9	27.5	17.6	0	287	17.6
Grade 6 ELA	54	29.6	48.1	11.1	11.1	296	22.2
Grade 6 Math	56	51.8	33.9	8.9	5.4	277	14.3
Grade 7 ELA	54	29.6	46.3	16.7	7.4	299	24.1
Grade 7 Math	54	44.4	38.9	16.7	0	289	16.7
Grade 8 ELA	53	34	30.2	28.3	7.5	298	35.8
Grade 8 Math	52	32.7	46.2	21.2	0	296	21.2

Hamilton Central School
Group	#Tested	%Level 1	%Level 2	%Level 3	%Level 4	Mean Scale Score	% Passed=L3+L4
Grade 3 ELA	51	27.5	39.2	27.5	5.9	309	33.4
Grade 3 Math	51	25.5	29.4	35.3	9.8	308	45.1
Grade 4 ELA	46	23.9	41.3	28.3	6.5	302	34.8
Grade 4 Math	46	32.6	41.3	17.4	8.7	293	26.1
Grade 5 ELA	37	35.1	40.5	13.5	10.8	300	24.3
Grade 5 Math	37	29.7	37.8	21.6	10.8	303	32.4
Grade 6 ELA	40	15	47.5	12.5	25	311	37.5
Grade 6 Math	40	25	27.5	15	32.5	315	47.5
Grade 7 ELA	31	9.7	19.4	35.5	35.5	329	71
Grade 7 Math	31	16.1	29	38.7	16.1	320	54.8
Grade 8 ELA	41	26.8	26.8	24.4	22	311	46.4
Grade 8 Math	41	29.3	41.5	24.4	4.9	297	29.3

Data source: http://www.p12.nysed.gov/irs/ela-math/2013/2013ELAandMathemaitcsDistrictandBuildingAggregatesMedia.pdf

NOTE: in 2013, the NYS Assessment test was revised to fit the Common Core standards. As a result, statewide scores dropped significantly compared to previous years. The statewide average for passing (Level 3=Level 4) was 31%.

 


With thanks to Susan Marafino and Carolyn Hsu.