Reply With QuoteVery, very sad. Prayers and thoughts are sent to Trooper Dobson's family as well as the entire fleet of NYS Troopers.
Trooper killed while issuing summons on YoungmannBy Gene Warner
News Staff Reporter
Published:
March 26, 2011, 11:42 AM
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Updated: March 26, 2011, 11:54 AM
A 14-year veteran of the New York State Police was struck and killed by a passing motorist while issuing a traffic summons on the Youngmann Highway, officials announced late this morning.
Trooper Kevin P. Dobson died in Kenmore Mercy Hospital at 8:10 a.m., about 40 minutes after the accident that occurred at about 7:30 a.m., authorities said.
Dobson, working out of the Clarence barracks, was conducting a vehicle and traffic stop on the Youngmann just east of Colvin Boulevard.
No arrests have been made, and the State Police are asking anyone who may have witnessed the incident to call them at 759-6831.
The accident led to a massive backup of traffic on the eastbound Youngmann. Troopers later forced eastbound vehicles to exit at Colvin Boulevard, as they continued to investigate the fatal crash.
Officials are expected to release more details about the crash at a news conference this afternoon.
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Very, very sad. Prayers and thoughts are sent to Trooper Dobson's family as well as the entire fleet of NYS Troopers.
What's your school's attendance rate?
March 31, 2011 - 9:16 PM / Comment
This week, we bring you a database with attendance rates from 2007, 2008 and 2009 for every traditional public and charter school in Western New York. This is the most recent data available from the state.
For a complete explanation of the data, scroll down below the database.
As always, to make multiple selections, hold down the control key (PC) or the shift key (Mac).To do a new search, click here. You can sort by various columns by clicking on each column heading.
District School Attendance 2009 Attendance 2008 Attendance 2007
Lackawanna Martin Road Elementary 94% 94% 94%
Lackawanna Global Concepts Charter 93% 92% 93%
Lackawanna Lackawanna Middle 93% 94% 92%
Lackawanna Truman Elementary 92% 91% 92%
Lackawanna Lackawanna High 86% 88% 89%
Records 1-5 of 5
Online Database by Caspio
Click here to load this Caspio Online Database.
Here's State Ed's definition of these numbers: "Annual attendance rate is determined by dividing the school’s total actual attendance by the total possible attendance for a school year. A school’s actual attendance is the sum of the number of students in attendance on each day the school was open during the school year. Possible attendance is the sum of the number of enrolled students who should have been in attendance on each day the school was open during the school year."
- Mary Pasciak
E-mail me at mpasciak@buffnews.com or follow me on Twitter. Check out the Buffalo News' education page at www.buffalonews.com/schools.
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Costly education: budgets up 19%, property taxes 12%
Enrollment has dropped, but average cost per student is 27% more than in 2005-06By Mary B. Pasciak
News Education Reporter
Published:
April 3, 2011, 7:12 AM
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Statewide database of district spending, tax levy, enrollment
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School Zone blog
The News' education pageUpdated: April 3, 2011, 8:23 AM
School spending in districts across Erie and Niagara counties has increased an average of 19 percent over the past six years.
And to help fund their budgets, school districts have increased the total amount collected in local property taxes an average of 12 percent.
Yet student enrollment has been falling in nearly every district.
Only Lackawanna, North Collins, Orchard Park and Niagara Wheatfield have more students today than they did six years ago.
Consider those two factors together, and what you get is school districts spending an average of 27 percent more per student now than they did in 2005-06.
Most of the factors that drove up spending in recent years are still at play today, as schools are putting together their 2011-12 budgets, which will be sent to voters in May. This time around, though, schools are trying to cover those rising costs with significantly less state aid than they had last year.
Many officials point to personnel costs -- the biggest chunk of their budget -- in explaining the spending increase in recent years. "Spending has gone up because employee benefits have gone up," said Deborah A. Ziolkowski, superintendent of Cheektowaga-Maryvale. "Seventy percent of our budget has to do with the people who work for us."
Districts pay a percentage of their payroll each year into the state pension system. The percentage is lower when the stock market is strong. A decade ago, schools paid less than 1 percent of their payroll toward pensions.
Next year, they will pay more than 11 percent.
Health insurance premiums have increased in the double digits each year, creating a compound effect, Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda Superintendent Mark P. Mondanaro says. The same goes for salary increases.
Many districts are still paying annual raises that were negotiated in contracts a few years ago, when the economy was much healthier.
"In the '05-06 era, things were better," Mondanaro said. "Many people were getting 4 percent raises, and those have a compound effect, as well."
Generally, contract settlements now tend to include much more modest salary increases, or even wage freezes, along with bigger employee contributions to health insurance. Maryvale teachers, for example, just approved a contract that included salary cuts, along with increased employee contributions to health insurance.
"The settlements clearly reflect the economic challenges that are out there," said Carl Korn, a spokesman for New York State United Teachers.
Employee contracts are not the only factor driving school spending.
The state has loaded schools with dozens of unfunded mandates, school officials say, from putting a defibrillator in every school to reporting student attendance electronically. Each mandate comes with its own price tag.
And the educational landscape has shifted dramatically in recent years, officials say. No Child Left Behind now requires schools to provide extra help to struggling students. The state requires all students to pass five Regents exams to graduate.
"Even if you have declining enrollment, you have more kids getting academic intervention services, and more kids needing remediation services to pass the five Regents exams," Mondanaro said.
The biggest spending increase locally has been in the Buffalo Public Schools, whose budget is now 40 percent bigger than it was six years ago. And on a per student basis, the increase is slightly higher because it's affected by the city's falling enrollment.
Buffalo today spends $22,063 per student, when the district's total budget -- including payments to charter schools -- is divided by the number of enrolled students, including those attending charter schools.
Buffalo officials say that besides all the usual cost drivers, the city schools also have to provide health insurance to retirees -- a cost that now exceeds employee health insurance. At more than $60 million a year, retirees' health care costs taxpayers more than $1,600 per student, officials point out.
Debt payments on the district's massive school reconstruction project cost $79 million this year, triple the bill from 2005-06.
And although the district has lost more than 7,000 students to the charter schools over the past decade or so, the district has not been able to translate that into a major cost savings, chief financial officer Barbara J. Smith said.
That's because the students are drawn from classrooms and schools across the district, she said.
"Envision a single classroom and one or even two students leaving that classroom such that there are still too many students to close it," she said. "What costs have decreased for the district? The teacher is still there, and so is the principal. The utilities didn't go down and will most likely increase the following year."
Higher than average special-education rates also drive up costs in Buffalo, as well as in Cheektowaga-Sloan, which has seen a 41 percent increase in spending per student over the past six years, the biggest increase among the suburbs.
"We've got a lot of kids with a lot of severe needs," said Superintendent James P. Mazgajewski. "They generally need a small setting with more adults with specific training."
Many of those students attend private facilities such as the nearby Stanley G. Falk School, whose intensive services the district pays for. The average cost of educating a special-education student in New York State is about $26,500; in Sloan, the average cost is about $34,000, he said.
The Tonawanda City School District has lost more students -- 16 percent over six years -- than most districts.
It has also been more aggressive than many districts in dealing with that loss.
Two years ago, officials closed one of the four elementary schools in Tonawanda. Last year, the district reduced its work force by 10 percent. The cuts resulted in a number of teacher layoffs.
"We looked at how many staff we had in relation to students, what our class sizes were, and we made some adjustments," said Joseph A. Giarrizzo, administrator for business and financial services. "It was not so much downsizing the district as right-sizing the district -- making the staff numbers balance with our enrollment numbers."
But no school district has managed to control spending the past few years better than Royalton-Hartland, a small district in Niagara County.
"As student enrollment has decreased, staffing has decreased," said Superintendent Kevin MacDonald.
Spending has gone up less than 1 percent a year.
It comes at a cost.
Business electives are no longer offered at the high school. Spanish is the only foreign language that's taught. And the football team last year was cut from the district budget -- although the boosters stepped in to raise outside funds to save the team.
"I think the Board of Education has really tried to balance providing a quality education at a price taxpayers can afford," MacDonald said. "But I'm sure there are varying opinions out there as to how successful they've been."
mpasciak@buffnews.comnull
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Lackawanna board OKs bond for repairs to streets, firehousesBy Harold McNeil
NEWS STAFF REPORTER
Published:
April 5, 2011, 12:00 AM
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Updated: April 5, 2011, 6:29 AM
Lackawanna lawmakers Monday unanimously approved legislation that would allow the city to borrow $5 million to resurface deteriorated roads in parts of the city and make long-neglected exterior repairs to the city’s three firehouses.
It is the same bond that the City Council failed to approve March 7 because it lacked a listing of the streets that would undergo repairs and the estimated cost for resurfacing them. The major change to the bond since then is that it now includes $1.25 million for exterior repairs to the three firehouses, an increase of $250,000.
“The rest [will go] for different projects we have in the city, and then the majority of it [will be used] for street pavement,” said Council President Charles Jaworski.
First Ward Councilman Abdul K. Noman balked at the fact that none of the streets designated for repair under the bond are in his ward, but he joined the other four lawmakers in voting yes on the measure.
“Just to let everybody know, I’m going to vote yes because my main concern is the fire stations,” Noman said.
Firefighters have for several months been clamoring for repairs to the city’s firehouses. They include repairs to the roofs of the buildings, new doors and repairs to the brick work. Scaffolding has been erected outside Firehouse No. 3 at 2900 South Park Ave. to capture crumbling pieces of brick facade from the building.
At the Council’s Oct. 17 meeting, lawmakers considered borrowing $975,000 in emergency funds but voted against it until officials could provide them with an assessment of specific repairs that needed to be made.
Monday, Warsaw Street resident Dennis Mulqueen questioned whether it would be more prudent to use the entire $5 million that the city seeks to borrow for not only exterior but interior repairs to the fire houses.
“I mean, [the firefighters] have been waiting since November,” Mulqueen said.
Second Ward Councilman Geoffrey Szymanski retorted: “And the streets have been waiting for about 40 years. It’s a fair balance.”
Jaworski said the Council may consider approving a smaller bond for interior repairs to the firehouses next year, or lawmakers might consider using funds from the city’s general fund budget.
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County District Spending per student 2010-11 Spending change 2005-06 to 10-11 Tax levy change 2005-06 to 10-11 Enrollment change 2005-06 to 10-11
Erie Lackawanna $19,547 32.4% 23.9% 4.1% Details
The database excludes large urban districts, which do not levy their own taxes. Enrollment numbers include students enrolled in charter schools. Spending numbers include a district's total budget for a particular year.
Spending per student includes all spending in a given year, divided by all students (including charter school students). This figure will differ from the "per pupil" expenditure figure posted on the State Education Department website. That per pupil figure excludes certain expenditures, such as transportation and debt service for building projects.
- Mary Pasciak
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Williamsville Has Highest Teacher Pay
April 6, 2011
Updated Apr 6, 2011 at 8:54 AM EDT
Williamsville teachers are paid the most in WNY. Business First is out with new rankings of teacher pay this week. Researchers say Williamsville has the most generous pay scale for teachers. Its median salary is nearly $68,000, highest in the eight-county region. North Tonawanda is next, followed by Lackawanna, Sweet Home and Niagara Falls.
The region's smallest district, Wyoming, has the lowest teacher pay, followed by Genesee Valley, Hinsdale, Canaseraga and Fillmore.
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Tightening Belts Not Enough to Avoid Tax HikesBy John Borsa
Bio | Email| Follow: @JohnBorsa
April 5, 2011
Updated Apr 5, 2011 at 11:25 PM EDT
TONAWANDA, NY (WKBW) - There is not just one worst-case scenario in the Kenmore-Tonawanda School District this budget season.
There are three . Each comes with layoffs and tax hikes.
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"We've gotten some union concessions," said Mark Mondanaro, Ken-Ton's superintendent. "We're trying to put ourselves in the place of the student."
Administrators have agreed to a wage freeze and the district is considering dipping into its fund balance.
The district needs to close an estimated $18.3 million budget gap. It is presenting three options to residents.
Option 1: A tax hike of 14 percent and the elimination of 42 full-time positions.
Option 2: A tax hike of 10 percent and the elimination of 40 full-time positions.
Option 3: A tax hike of 7 percent and as many as 100 layoffs. Class sizes would increase to near the state maximum.
The school board will hold a public work session Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. at 3200 Elmwood Avenue.
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Number 2 on the bottom of rankings but Number 3 at the top in salaries. How nice! LOL Kind of confirms what people have been saying right along!!!Originally Posted by literal
It was your buddies Bryniarski and co. that made them # 3
Dear Youcangohome - Of course the UNIONS and UNION NEGOTIATIONS had nothing whatsoever to do with the salaries, right? And having to settle contracts that should have been settled 3 to 5 years PRIOR to "Bryniarski and Company's" term also had nothing to do with the increased salaries either, right? If I remember, NOBODY was crying when the contracts were finally settled.
It is NOT that simple. Contracts are NOT SETTLED for a number of reasons......
the most important that being the district (on the advice of the Business Manager) wants to hold on to district $$$$$ to earn interest. Sometimes the stall has to do with union concessions in not wanting to trade something for something else like, paying into health insurance to get an extra personal day. But by not settling for three years the district banks that money and even when they have to finally pay and give retroactive money back...they still earn extra money for the district.
It is very complicated and in Lackawanna that Superintendent does the negotiating along with the board attorney. The Superintendent gets his raise yet he stalls to settle contracts. Blame the administration NOT the board who has no power in negotiations (other than telling those negotiating what they would like to see). The board IS continually informed of all negotiations and can tell the Superintendent to settlle quickly. Bottom line...this is the Superintendent and attorney business and you'd have to ask THEM why the delay....
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No, it is just easier to blame Bryniarski and Co....they failed to mention that Rozwood and Parker signed previous Contracts.....they always try to reflect the blame on someone that isn't/wasn't in "their" company! Who was on the board when "Rozwood and Co." and "Parker and Co." signed Contracts?
I'm confused. This is all "double speak" to me. If I understand your answer, there is a REASON why contracts are not settled...all have to do with MONEY and the interest it would earn not to settle the contracts. When the contracts were settled...it all had to do with MONEY - which included RETRO pay. But somehow it's Bryniarski and Company's fault? Somehow the previous Board are heroes for NOT settling contracts and therefore helping the school district MAKE MONEY through interests? Like I said, I am confused. Are you saying that it's OUR FAULT now that there will be layoffs due to the budget cuts because we settled the contracts and gave the teachers and administrators the money they were demanding? Part of our fighting so hard AGAINST the outrageous demands was BECAUSE WE SAW THE FUTURE BUDGET CUTS AND IT WAS U-G-L-Y!!!!
Yeah I know about the 3% raise given in the newest Contract. There were concessions given from the Bargaining Unit as well......Rozwood and Miller were on the Board and approved the Contract along with Bryniarski and the rest of her "Company"!
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