Rye residents rejected a $20 million school bond today by a vote of 1,777 to 1,471, ending a plan to build a new wing of science labs onto the high school and renovate locker rooms, guidance offices and other areas. The plan was designed as an answer to growing enrollment, adding a total of 16 classrooms.
School board President Laura Slack read this statement after the results came in:
Although the Board of Education is disappointed by the results of our bond vote, our space challenges have not changed. The fact remains the middle school and high school buildings are already over capacity, and the enrollment projections indicate this will continue to be the case in future years. And our science labs from the 1960s and ‘70s are another critical area of concern. It is troubling that in a community like ours, a well funded campaign of consistent disinformation, distortions and fabrications was used to undermine our schools….
Slack made reference to last-minute ads and robo-calls overstating the property-tax impact of the bond. According to the district’s estimates, the project would have added $47 onto the average homeowner’s bill for 2012-13 and $300 thereafter over the life of the 20-year bond. She concluded:
Unfortunately those unable to vote, our children, were the true losers today. The vote today will not end this board’s commitment to finding a solution to the enrollment issue. This board will continue our dedication to the education of children in the district.
The referendum appeared to have a very strong turnout. “I haven’t seen a presidential election this crowded,” resident Chip Barnes said after casting a “no” vote at the single polling place in the middle school.
“We just don’t need any more taxes,” he said.
Laura Breckenridge voted “yes.”
“I think we need to think forward about the future of our community,” she said afterward. Both Barnes and Breckenridge have children in the district and specifically at the high school. Breckenridge said the schools were her reason for moving to Rye. “I think it would deter people from this community if it didn’t enhance and show a concern for our school system,” she said.
9 Comments
This was bound to happen. Just another instance of public school leaders believing that there’s endless blood in the rock. So now the anger and disenchantment has reached the affluent communities … a tell-tale sign that schools, no matter their reputation, can no longer water endlessly at the taxpayer trough.
This was, by any measure, an exercise in arrogance by a select few who wish their youngsters to have the most elite experience at the expense of the many. I’m glad to see such obvious selfishness slapped down.
Hey, nice you have quotes only from the pro-tax community…MIGHT be nice to add one from someone who voted it down.
As an 11-year Rye resident, with no children, and one of the smallest properties in town, I have seen my taxes more than double in that time. In the “fat” years, the sky was the limit- I only recall one time when a budget was voted down. Nothing was too good “for the children”; and of course, subsequent tax increases were based on previous ones.
And now that it’s some emergency, we need to cough up $ for a $20 MILLION dollar bond? This might have been one of the final straws that would force us out of this town that we love.
And that would REALLY be a crime.
Since we have several multi-millionaires who reside in this town, and who DO have kids, maybe they could put a crowbar in their wallets and fund a new science lab. They could even get their NAME on it.
To Ms. Slack, members of the board and the other selfish pigs who pushed for this ridiculous bond…ARE YOU LIVING ON PLUTO??!!” I held my breath until I read the results this morning. I have lived and paid taxes in this city for over 40 years. If this bond passed, I would have had to sell my beloved home with all its memories and move out of Rye. Ms. Slack says, “the project would have added (ONLY) $47 onto the average homeowner’s bill for 2012-13 and $300 thereafter over the life of the 20-year bond.” Well, well, Ms. Slack, that would be cheaper than sending your kids to private school.
I have a solution…take HALF of the $15M we have in reserve and spend it on classrooms and science labs. It would be more than enough and the result would be more than adequate. I am very happy this bond was defeated. Finally a vote for us old-timers.
According to Newsweek, Rye High School ranks #50 out of approximately 25,000 public high schools in the United States, or in the top 98.8%. Clearly it has not been starved for resources.
I have lived in rye for 10 years with my family. I have a high school and middle school kid in the system. I moved here because of the community and the schools and also the taxes. My taxes have doubled since that time. I am having a hard time as it is right now! I am not a multi- millioniare hedge fund manager who has no problem throwing money at anything for little Johnny as long as he is happy and spoiled!
If you live in a community like ours, you have to be concerned about all the people in the community and the good of the community. When we try to sell our houses in the next 10 years because our kids are gone and we cannot afford the taxes anymore, who will buy?? I guess the name of the game is keep voting for the taxes to eliminate all but the snobs.
A good solution for the so called over crowding schools is to add a second teacher to the classes over an agreed upon number of students. This way every student including the lazy ones can get the attention they deserve. This could end when and if the numbers reverse. But remember parents, you have an obligation to check on your child’s progress on a daily basis not when the report card comes in. That is what will keep our schools as they are.
I voted no and I have been a Rye resident all my life. My children attended Rye schools as did myself and others in my family. Rye has great schools, no doubt about it. Most graduates go on to college and real careers. However, having said that, I also believe that we don’t need to simply throw money out the window every time some school official wants to further their career by increasing the size of the facility.
I believe in a science education. My son got a great math and science start in Rye and went on to schools like Stanford and is now a successful engineering working on international projects. The problem with science education is not gee-whiz gadgets and classrooms. It’s good teachers and a culture of respecting math and the sciences that has to start at the grade school level.
At a time like the present, we need creative thinking outside the box to accomplish some of the expansion programs suggested by the bond issue and not by just throwing money at it. The Rye High School and Middle School complex is an astonishingly large facility which could no doubt be re-thought to include better science labs. There appears to be no end of space for non-teaching staff which has grown at an alarming rate in the last 30 years. I suspect there are many cuts that could be made in this area alone that would result in savings without impacting the actual learning process. Let a good architect into the buildings and look them over and you would be surprised at what could be accomplished without spending twenty million dollars.
I am very proud of the Rye residents for voting this issue down. The high school is just fine. The recent temporary classrooms and overhead structure where the tennis courts used to be is pathetic. The school is a classic structure and can always be worked on. As for 20 million in renovations you are thinking crazy. Or like a new Rye yuppie who thinks this should be Beverly Hills. Thank you to all the old Rye residents who stood up to the new yuppie swines!
Build a heliport on top of the multi-multi-million dollar “children’s museum,” shuttle the kids back and forth and charge it all to the county. They won’t learn anything, but you might finally get a few American kids interested in careers in aeronautical engineering.
As the saying goes, “Get used to disappointment.”
It seems today’s reality has finally run up against the fairyland known as public education. Educrats and teacher unionists have enjoyed an uncontested existence for the last several decades… and it now appears that it is coming to an end. The Rye defeat is even more significant than the Hen Hud thumbs-down as it signals that even affluent communities have reached their breaking point.
To be sure, even proposing such bond issues in this environment has to qualify as asinine arrogance. But it also speaks to the absolute disconnect between those who run (and profit!) our public schools and those who fund them. Visit either of these districts and try to make a sincere case that these youngsters are educationally deprived and you’d need an army to suppress the laughter. Both of these districts offer wonderful opportunities few would find elsewhere in this nation. Yet the pre-bond moaning by supporters relied on the old and tired cliche of “It’s for the children”. It’s not. It’s for the self-serving educational power bloc that feels entitled to never-ending funding as well as deserving of every whimsy they can conjure. No more.
The rumblings that have rocketed across this nation’s economy have now come to this fairyland… and it’s time those in the lead both realize this reality and react to the will of the funders. Those taxpayers have had it with lush salaries and benefits, automatic raises, generous sick leave, almost absolute job security, union clout, stifling contract language and swollen pensions… as well as requests for lavish plant stylings and pie-in-the-sky upgrades of all sorts. In short, the taxpayers have screamed, “No more!”.
Every school board, almost always populated by parents or extreme education sympaticos, seeks to provide a sort of heaven-like experience for that generation… all the while failing to acknowledge that the vast majority of voters do not have a personal investment in that dream. Most voters believe that they have done their fair share… and more. But it is never enough for those who wish to have their neighbors fund their personal fantasies. Now, the jig is up.
Unless the school community comes to their senses in quick-time, it will see a series of votes that will leave them little choice but to finally address the run-away expenses… and abuses… in the world of public education.
Yes… “Get used to disappointment.”