Hudson City School District voters have approved the board’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year - increasing the District’s funding by just over one percent.
The budget was controversial practically from the moment it was proposed. As WAMC has previously reported, the more-than 59 million dollar package is funded by a 5.8 percent tax levy, as well as a substantial withdrawal from the district’s reserves. Even taking those into account, however, the budget still eliminates twenty-three teaching and administrative positions, and sacrifices significant funding for new equipment.
The vote became a flashpoint for debate at council meetings and online, where several influential blogs and social media accounts raised questions about why Hudson students have performed poorly on standardized tests in recent years. One of the sites driving that conversation was a blog called The Gossips of Rivertown, maintained by writer Carole Osterink. "I never actually told people to vote against the budget," Osterink said in an interview. "I just gave them information."
In a series of posts over the last few weeks, Osterink linked to reports which highlighted students’ low performance in math testing, in spite of the schools’ budget increases in recent years, and questioned the rise in teacher salaries. She referenced a report that New York public schools are first in the nation in per-pupil spending, noting that Hudson’s proposed budget would allocate nearly $40,000 per student. She also did the math on what the tax levy would mean for homeowners in Hudson - a little more than eleven dollars a month for every $200,000 of a property’s assessed value. "Every year," Osterink said, "the budget goes up. Every year the test scores are abysmal. It's not sustainable, and the school district seems never to want to look at itself and find out what's going wrong. What are we not doing? Why are we not succeeding?"
Osterink voted against the budget. And in conversations outside the polling location in Hudson on Tuesday, it was clear those talking points had resonated with many voters - including Mary, who didn't want to give her last name. She said a "no" vote was an opportunity to register her disbelief about the lack of improved test results. She voted with Weltshire, who also declined to give a last name. "If the voters just allow it to be mediocre, and the budget to continually increase..." he said, trailing off. "You know, no one wants to buy something and not get their money's worth."
Outside Hudson Senior High School, late in the afternoon on the day of the vote, a group of teachers stood on the sidewalk holding yellow signs that said “Support Your Local Schools - Public Education Works!” Horns honked in support as cars drove by, and a group of students shouted “Please vote!”
A representative from the Hudson Teachers Association was on the scene, and declined to make any teachers available for comment. The budget debate is a sensitive subject. I did, however, talk to a former special education staffer at the school, who didn't want to be identified. But she taught special ed for 29 years, and wanted to make it clear that the value special education teachers provide can’t always be easily quantified.
To illustrate this, she told me a story. For special education students, she said, the world can be really small. Many of them don’t get to do a lot of things other kids take for granted - like going to the zoo, or the movies. So teachers like her take it upon themselves to make up for that.
One year, at Christmas time, she organized a class trip to the movies - she paid for the tickets from her own pocket. She got permission from all the parents, and arranged to have students picked up at home, so everyone would have a ride to the theater. When they got to one of the houses, she recalled, one of her students was so happy that he started crying and hugging everyone else on the trip.
That, she said, is the kind of thing a school budget supports.
Many other voters I spoke to agreed with her. They said that much of the resistance to the Board’s budget proposal was fueled by newcomers to the city who aren’t invested in the well-being of children who live in Hudson. Those with kids currently enrolled in city schools acknowledged that the budget is high, and the tax levy is steep.
They voted for it anyway.
"I mean, as time goes on, you invest more into your children. And then there’s a time where your investment pays off. So I invest more in my kids every year - and this is just part of it," said Britney, another District parent.
"I know the school budget is too high. But we have no choice," added Abdus Miah.
Justin Weaver rejected the notion that test scores are a meaningful metric for whether or not to support the budget. "I think low test scores should not determine whether or not we provide funding for kids," he said. "That’s ridiculous."
When the votes were finally counted, 851 people voted to approve the budget. 485 voted no. Carole Osterink was disappointed. "Slightly more than 14% of the eligible voters actually voted, and of that 14%, only about 62% voted to approve the budget. So, you know, all the property owners in the Hudson City School District are subject to a decision made by less than 1000 people."
Osterink wasn’t necessarily surprised by the outcome. She’s lived in Hudson for thirty-three years, and says this year’s debate was similar to years past. But the former special education staffer chastised newer Hudson residents - the surge of people who’ve moved to the city in recent years, enticed by its growing reputation for elaborately refurbished historical properties. She suggested those people want the benefits of living in a hip cultural enclave without understanding the full context of the place.
In spite of the tensions that played out in Hudson, the results of the vote were in line with the rest of the state. Ninety-five percent of budgets passed. But even with their funding secured, many districts will still see major cuts. Elsewhere around the Hudson Valley, Kingston City School District, like Hudson, passed a larger budget than last year, but will lose nearly 60 staff members, including teachers.
And in some districts, the budgets did not pass. In New Lebanon and Pine Plains districts, the proposed budgets would’ve required a levy above the amount at which the state caps tax hikes. Those measures require at least 60% support, and margins in both locations fell short on Tuesday. Among other things, a pair of Pine Plains bus routes and several elementary school programs are facing elimination. Voters in these districts will now wait to see if their local boards decide to revise the budget and bring it back for another vote next month.
In other districts around the state, including the Cambridge Central School District in Washington County and the Berlin Central School District in Rensselaer County, the budget votes were also unsuccessful.
And in other notable results from last night, Broadalbin-Perth Central School District held what it calls “Kids Vote Too” elections alongside the budget and Board of Education contests. Voters ranging in age from kindergarten to sixth grade were given a choice between popcorn, nachos, or pudding cups being added to next year’s menu at a school snack bar.
Popcorn won.
