[Company Logo Image] 

Home What We Found Out Contents Links of Interest FAQ

Concerned Taxpayers of Monroe-Woodbury

 

CTMW Supports the Coalition for Property Tax Reform

In late September fellow property tax reformers from across the state met to discuss the dire straits the whole property tax mess is in.  Out of that came a coalition which will provide resources for the dozens of grass roots groups to help pull them all together to show our elected officials just what the problem is and how they can solve it.  That it must be solved.  See the press release here.  Please visit the Coalition for Property Tax Reform site.

NYS Education Department Releases District Report Cards

Three days after the school district elections the SED released all the report cards.  We have them for Monroe-Woodbury and all Orange County districts.  The results will be very surprising to you...or maybe not.  Change in the Board of Education (BOE) composition may very well be exactly what this district needs to get back on track.  More to come later this week.  NOTE:  The District Performance article below is based on the previous year's performance is not from last week's report cards.  Use it to compare which direction Monroe-Woodbury is going.

District Performance

According to data from the State Education Department Monroe-Woodbury's student performance has steadily declined over the past four years when compared with other Orange County schools.  Now to be fair our district has done very well in sports and has achieved some recognition for our music programs.  We need to consider what is truly important here.  The following facts may surprise you.  You will not see these in any board of education meeting minutes but rather the minutes reflect what a wonderful district we have.  You judge for yourself.

4th Grade Performance

For the last year which there are records Monroe-Woodbury followed three other Orange County school district in regards to 4th grade Reading Proficiency!  Yes, that's right, we are 4th in the county!  Warwick is 1st, Cornwall is 2nd, with Greenwood Lake in 3rd.  If we ask who did better than us with both lower Operating Expenditures ($ per Student) and lower Instructional Expenditures ($ per Student) both Warwick and Cornwall performed better at a cheaper costs! 

If we examine two years worth of data Warwick maintains it's top level position with Cornwall in second and our district in third.  Both leaders not only out performed our district but also did it at cheaper Instructional and Operating costs!

4th grade math is a little better.  Warwick leads again but is tied for 1st place in the county with Greenwood Lake.  Monroe-Woodbury is tied with Cornwall for second.  If we factor in costs we see again that Warwick out performed M-W at a lower cost.

High School Performance

Again Monroe-Woodbury lags behind first place Cornwall and second place Goshen in High School Math Performance and they did it with lower, yes, you guessed it, Operational and Instructional costs on a $ per Student basis. 

In the Reading Proficiency our high school students again lagged behind Cornwall and Warwick, again the leaders did it with lower costs to the taxpayer.

Overall Reading and Math Proficiency

Warwick has continued to outperform Monroe-Woodbury and takes the overall top spot in the county!  Do I need to tell you they also did it cheaper?

 

Your tax dollars at work!  According to the latest data M-W is now third in the county for student academic perfomance!

Support Others

The NY Property Tax Reform Coalition has information you may find helpful.  The Hudson Valley Property Tax Reform folks also have some information you may find of interest.  More can be found at The Tax Nightmare site.  The New York Tax Reform Organization can be seen here.  The National Taxpayers Union site also has lots of great information.  Care to take a look at other state's taxes?  Try this retirement site for a state by state listing.  Another site with good, but dated, information can be seen here. 

 

Property Tax Report Card Data for the 2007-2008 School Year

Districts are required to report on school property tax data each year.  The N.Y. State Education Department has usually posted it where you may query for your district.  This year they have just placed it all together or in an Excel file you may download.  You can get the entire report here.  Below is the data for all Orange County districts that have reported.

2007-08 Property Tax Report Card Data                    
ClaimYear: 2006-2007                    
    2006-2007 2007-2008   2006-2007 2007-2008   2006-2007 2007-2008    
    Budgeted Budgeted Percent School School Percent School School Percent Cost per
Code School Name Spending Spending Change Tax Levy Tax Levy Change Enrollment Enrollment Change Student
440102 WASHINGTONVILLE CSD 71,876,909 76,339,811 6.21 44,726,168 46,489,314 3.94 4,922 4,869 -1.08 $15,679
440201 CHESTER UFSD 19,698,527 20,845,595 5.82 12,675,527 13,295,054 4.89 996 997 0.10 $20,908
440301 CORNWALL CSD 47,661,088 50,942,049 6.88 33,852,455 36,049,727 6.49 3,256 3,288 0.98 $15,493
440401 PINE BUSH CSD 87,144,738 93,216,843 6.97 40,057,294 42,002,549 4.86 6,133 6,055 -1.27 $15,395
440601 GOSHEN CSD 51,711,300 55,290,743 6.92 32,820,520 34,238,935 4.32 3,062 3,126 2.09 $17,687
440901 HIGHLAND FALLS CSD 20,637,045 22,779,071 10.38 6,786,398 8,489,562 25.10 1,178 1,160 -1.53 $19,637
441000 MIDDLETOWN CITY SD 109,407,240 121,887,151 11.41 49,441,012 51,074,429 3.30 7,100 7,150 0.70 $17,047
441101 MINISINK VALLEY CSD 71,166,852 77,516,449 8.92 32,251,852 34,646,524 7.42 4,645 4,671 0.56 $16,595
441201 MONROE-WOODBURY CSD 126,474,474 134,035,915 5.98 86,967,481 89,861,423 3.33 7,625 7,748 1.61 $17,299
441202 KIRYAS JOEL VILLAGE UFSD 11,204,383 12,369,684 10.40 4,174,014 4,697,715 12.55 264 289 9.47 $42,802
441301 VALLEY CSD (MONTGOMERY) 72,218,075 76,971,111 6.58 39,393,966 41,208,003 4.60 5,170 5,170 0.00 $14,888
441600 NEWBURGH CITY SD 183,118,102 203,711,965 11.25 87,437,892 92,662,209 5.97 11,916 12,163 2.07 $16,748
441800 PORT JERVIS CITY SD 50,049,514 54,010,666 7.91 22,126,475 23,010,342 3.99 3,214 3,253 1.21 $16,603
441903 TUXEDO UFSD 15,438,111 16,133,395 4.50 8,487,265 9,550,619 12.53 670 685 2.24 $23,552
442101 WARWICK VALLEY CSD 71,762,216 75,030,661 4.55 48,485,216 49,008,305 1.08 4,560 4,468 -2.02 $16,793
442111 GREENWOOD LAKE UFSD 20,338,477 21,927,191 7.81 14,304,063 14,909,229 4.23 674 650 -3.56 $33,734
442115 FLORIDA UFSD 15,200,000 16,094,925 5.89 10,805,780 11,420,195 5.69 877 855 -2.51 $18,824
Averages     7.55     6.72     0.53 $19,982
Median     6.97     4.89     0.56 $17,299

Misconception:  The School Board doesn't have a say in rising costs!

Fact is that the school board has a say in almost all costs in the school district!  Let me illustrate with a budget item that makes up most (about 70%) of our school budget...the personnel costs.  Every employee in the district is represented by a union except for the top four administrators.  Each union has a contact (as do each of the four administrators) that is negotiated (look that one up!) between the school board and the union (or administrator.)  In more simple words:  The school board is completely responsible for these costs.

Let's take a quick look at some personnel costs that cover the six years starting with School Year (SY) 01-02.  We'll also take a took at the largest employee group in the district which accounts for the most of the personnel costs, our teachers.  NOTE:  Figures cover a five year period because we don't know the salary each type person had under the contract prior to SY 00-01.

Keep in mind that during this period of time our school tax increased 63.2% while inflation ran just 16.2%!  And the biggest outcry for more money...more kids had an 11.29% growth!  That's right, we average a student growth rate of about 1.8% a year!

A teacher (with a Bachelors degree) starting out in Monroe-Woodbury just prior to the SY 01-02 received $33,444 and will end up next year with a salary of $45,941.  That is a $12,497 total increase (37.37% total increase) or about 6.56% a year!

A teacher (with a Masters degree) already working for the district about five years had a salary of $46,941 going into SY 01-02 and will end up next year with a salary of $63,749.  That is a $16,808 total increase (35.81%) or about 6.31% a year!

A teacher (with a Doctorate degree) already working for the district about nine years had a salary of $60,194 going into SY 01-02 and will end up next year with a salary of $98,347.  That is a $38,019 total increase (63.38%) or about 10.32% a year!

Editor's note:  One of our members did the math on the above figures and found some errors.  I apologize for the discrepancy.  It has been fixed and the numbers above are correct.

These figures are only for teachers who do nothing but teach during the regular school year.  They can make a little extra by coaching or advising a club.  Those stipends run anywhere from $900 to $8,000 per year.  Additionally if they teach summer school there is additional money