Greenstein letter to Vaughan on the Edgemont school budget

Edgemont resident Arnold Greenstein recently wrote the following letter to Jack Vaughan in response to earlier communication from Vaughan. (I reprint Greenstein's letter here with permission of the author.) Greenstein has also written a letter on the Edgemont budget to The Journal News.


(Click on above images to open letter in new window.)

Here is the text of the letter:

Mr. Jack Vaughan, President
Edgemont Education Committee for Fiscal Responsibility

I am one of the “two-thirds” of the residents that does not have a child in the schools. I have not had a child in school for ten years. I used to work in finance, but currently I’m a teacher, and my wife has been a teacher in Edgemont for over twenty years. Years ago I served on the School Board’s financial advisory committee. So, even though I support education, I too was astounded when I first saw the Board’s proposed tax increase. But after some investigation and reflection, I have come to a different perspective on the budget, and I believe that it is necessary to pass the current budget.

As educators, my wife and I have difficulty keeping up with increasing taxes and spiraling costs. Although you think teacher salaries are exhorbitant, I don’t know any teachers that can afford to buy a house in Edgemont without some form of additional income.

It is, however, unfortunate that you use misleading and inaccurate “facts” to inflame sentiment against an incredibly successful and well managed school district. Your percentages are stated in a very misleading way. “Teacher salaries increased 25% in the last three years... in the face of record low inflation,” seems to intentionally imply that teachers are making 25% more than they did three years ago. You must know that this is untrue. This increase is due to adding more teachers because of increasing enrollments. If you’ve investigated this at all, you know that salary increases were 2.9% and 3.1% in the last two years compared to the 2.7% cost of living increase. And Edgemont teachers are paid at the median of districts in Westchester (less than in Scarsdale, for instance). You must know that these kinds of mis-statements are erroneous and inflamatory.

In your first letter, you state, “An average Edgemont home assessed at $25,000...” and in your second letter you say, “an average Edgemont home assessed at $30,000...” I was unaware that a re-assessment took place in the past month. The last time I checked, the average assessment was about $22,000. Where are you getting these numbers? I can’t help but think that you are making them up as you go along.

Most of your other “percentages” are either wrong or misleading. I wonder where you obtained the figure that “two thirds of our community do not have children in the schools.” I don’t think this number is verifiable and am curious as to your source. You seem to be implying, however, that we’re paying for someone else’s child’s education. Have you considered that the average taxpayer pays for less than half of their own child’s education. If you have a child in the schools for 12 years, it takes 24 years to cover one child’s education. And if you’ve had two children in the schools, it’s 48 years.

Another example is your statement that it costs “~$20,000/student to send a child to Edgemont schools.” According to Westchester Magazine last month, Edgemont’s per pupil expenditure was $16,163 last year. Your figure is off by 25%. Edgemont is the top rated school district in Westchester and one of the top rated school districts in the country. It has been for over twenty years. And yet, our per pupil cost (according to Westchester Magazine) is $2,000 per pupil less than second rated Chappaqua ($18,200 per pupil), $5,000 less than #3 Briarcliff ($21,183), and $3,700 less than #7 rated Scarsdale ($19,873). Why can’t you rely on the correct numbers? Why are you trying to be inflammatory? Many of your other numbers are equally agregious, but it would take a much longer letter to go through them all.

Your solution is to vote down the budget. You show little regard for the educational environment. You want the board to negotiate teacher contracts that would make our teachers among the lowest paid in Westchester. You want to take away sports and co-curricular activities from students. You want to increase class size. I would prefer productive, positive solutions. Edgemont residents have enjoyed an increase in home values that astronomically exceeds the increase in real estate taxes. Your reliance on percentages belies the fact that a 30% increase in taxes over 3 years may be a couple of thousand dollars while a 30% increase in property values represents hundreds of thousands of dollars. I will gladly pay an extra thousand dollars in taxes to realize a two or three hundred thousand dollar increase in my real estate value. Even if I never plan on selling my home, if necessary, I can easily go to the bank and extract some of the equity, pay my taxes and put a couple of hundred thousand dollars in my pocket. This is only possible because of the quality of our schools.

People pay exhorbitant real estate prices for homes in our community because of the schools. I am terrified that if the budget is defeated this will no longer be the case. Students are not admitted to the best colleges without sports and extra-curricular activites on their applications. Eliminating teachers will curtail many activities and increase class size. Parents will no longer pay higher real estate prices to send their kids to a school district that eliminates sports, cuts extra curricular activities and increases class size.

Edgemont is Magic. I have to applaud the Board, Administration, teachers and staff for creating and maintaining a World Class school district, and spending less doing it than very similar communites. I don’t know how they’ve done it, but I wouldn’t fool with it. There are many other school districts, in very similar communities, that are spending significantly more money, and haven’t achieved the same results. My Edgemont home is the best investment I have ever made. There are many ways of using your substantial home equity to offset your taxes. I don’t know of any other investment or institution that provides the kind of returns, for our children, our community and our pocketbooks than the Edgemont schools. You are unnecessarilly threatening our schools, our children’s futures and our real estate values.

Sincerely,

Arnold Greenstein
Moorland Drive