Call for BOE resignation by supervisor called reckless by former school board member

[Lee Chowaniec]

In a recent Buffalo News report Lancaster supervisor Dino Fudoli was quoted as saying the entire Lancaster Central School District (LCSD) Board of Education (BOE) should resign for squandering the $6.1 million provided to the district from LIDAS and where no services were provided by the district.

Former BOE member Joseph Maciejewski, Director of Erie County Real Property Tax Services, addressed the board Monday evening and declared that he considered supervisor Dino Fudoli a friend, but shared differences on certain issues. He came tonight because Fudoli made a statement that suggested that the entire Lancaster school board should resign.

Maciejewski: I spent six years on the Lancaster BOE; six years of the most rewarding time of my life. I spent time on that board as vice-president and took that unpaid, volunteer job seriously. I understand that two board members came to this body and took shots that you may have found personal.

Fudoli: Some of them I took personal.

Maciejewski: I was not here so…

Fudoli: That’s okay, I wasn’t offended by them.

Maciejewski: And I am not trying to defend them. We may agree or disagree on this. You all know that when I come and speak before anybody I come with data, I come with facts. I am data driven and I know each one of you believe in performance figures.

You made a remark regarding PILOT revenues and I did my homework. Payment-in-lieu of taxes agreements does not overall benefit school districts. I understand that if the commercial projects were granted a PILOT would generate higher property tax against those companies and would reduce budget…

Fudoli: Explain to me when you say the district doesn’t benefit from commercial projects.

Maciejewski: Commercial projects that have a PILOT?

Fudoli: Right. If you get money and you don’t have to provide a service for that money, is it not a benefit?

Maciejewski: There would be a benefit that commercial company coming in to both the school district and to the residential property.

Fudoli: The point is this that my comment in the paper (Buffalo News) was that $6.18 million was given in PILOT payments just to the Lancaster school district; that is what was remitted just to LSC in the three years I have been here (as Chair of the LIDA).

Maciejewski: My date shows $1.8.

Fudoli: It’s $6.18 million. I know my figures are right.

Maciejewski: My data…

Fudoli: Either way, let’s agree to disagree on the money. Say they got $1.8 million dollars, your number; it was $1.8 million dollars of free money. When I say it’s free it’s because there is not one single student attached to that money; right?

Maciejewski: And there is not a single student attached to senior citizens.

Fudoli: Right, but the point is this: when we get a residential development we sit down and say okay, there is umpteen students that go to school from these houses and so that pay millions of dollars in taxes. You can justify and say that it is something they had to do for that money (provide educational services). This (commercial) money they (LCSD) literally have to do nothing. It was handed to them and said, “Here you go, spend it how you will.” That was the basis of my argument.

Maciejewski: I am going to counter that. Since 2010, and through 2015, the Lancaster Central School District has lost $22.9 million in state aid.

Fudoli: How many layoffs did LCSD do?

Maciejewski: I’ll get to that in a second. In that time, while I was a BOE member, we sought the need to cut any waste. We cut nine central educational programs; as taxpayers demanded. We closed Central Avenue elementary school. At that time my son was going to that school. We did replace administrators and ant managerial confidential managers. $22.9 million was cut in state aid. We did not add $22.9 million to the property tax levy.

During that time let’s talk about performances. LCSD had the highest graduation rate (this year) and over the last five years LCSD went from 14th to 6th in Business First rankings. In those five years we were #2 for four years in cost-efficiency and #1 this year; in Western New York. It has only been for the past two years that Business First has been tracking upstate New York and Lancaster has gone from third to second.

Now let’s go to my feelings about having a BOE member, regardless of who it is, picked by four members of this board, who you didn’t care for, but who I fully support being a member of the BOE and being a member of the LIDA. While I was on the board of education the Village Community Development Organization approached the board and asked us if one of us would be interested in serving. I choose to serve. I felt it was important to be part of any future development, any type of business investment, because it does impact fiscal school use.

I also want to talk about the time I worked on the negotiating team with the Lancaster Central Teachers Association (LCTA); for two terms I probably had their support. I did not go in there as a pro union negotiator. I went in there as a trustee; again, a volunteer. We spent a lot of time and what we were able to accomplish was a fair contract for the members of the LCTA; with genuine give-backs. They paid a portion of their health insurance on n incremental basis. We were able to sit down and negotiate that.

So what I am saying to you Dino is that we have known each other a long time. We worked together on the Erie County Legislature and this isn’t personal. You made a comment publically and I was not asked by anyone on the BOE to come here, any administrators, and I don’t have a political agenda. But I feel those comments were reckless. I don’t think they were productive. I understand your position as taxpayer watchdog, but we all are in some way, shape or form.

But performance matters, The BOE members work hard. Mr. Chowaniec knows that every year we have to beg people to come to the budget public hearings. We go line-by-line through the budget; in public. I would love to have you come and sit in on those. You said you may consider running for the board (BOE); I would encourage you to do that. I would think you would really see that some of your energy aimed at telling seven volunteers (BOE) your position may be better directed toward state and federal law.

Fudoli: Just because the state cut the money somebody else should have been number one. That’s how a business is run. I know running government and businesses are different. You made the comment that Lancaster went from two to one in cost-efficiency you are talking about a bunch of big spenders all across the board; every school district.

If you were to ask, nine out of ten people, and this is no shot at our teachers, one would argue that you would have a better chance of an education coming out of Canisius or Saint Joe’s than out of Lancaster or any public school.

Maciejewski: I agree. My son…

Fudoli: Whether you agree or not the point is $17,000 buys 1-1/2 students at Canisius or Saint Joe’s.


Maciejewski: I don’t think LCSD is spending $17,000.

Fudoli: Do the math. We are spending $95 million on less than 6,000 students.

Maciejewski: I have done my homework and I don’t agree with your numbers.

Fudoli: It’s a lot more than at Canisius or Saint Joe’s; private schools. I am not saying the education is bad at the public schools, but I am saying that you have a much better shot at the private schools I mentioned for $12,000.

Maciejewski: It’s not realistic. It can’t happen.

Fudoli: It does happen.

Maciejewski: We are talking facts here.

Fudoli: You say Lancaster is frugal. You are talking about a bunch of big spenders and you can consider yourself frugal when in comparison to all big spenders. In Buffalo, $25,000 kid, that’s ridiculous.

Maciejewski: Lancaster’s performance is important.

Fudoli: The numbers don’t add up. It’s expensive, it’s a lot of money to send kids to school, and I think when we give them $6.18 million and they don’t do anything to lower the taxes or to control taxes, and they press up against the tax cap every year…

Maciejewski: We will have to sit down on this and talk sometime.

Fudoli: I don’t need to sit down, I look at the budget.

Maciejewski: You need to see how much of that budget is mandated. And the decision was made by seven of us. And, our budget is presented before the public.

Fudoli: Let’s face it, Joe, the biggest scam on planet earth is to put the school budgets out in May. If you put your budget out in November on Election day, I would be willing to bet that 99% of the time it would be shot down.

Maciejewski: Maybe we should lobby that.

Fudoli: I would consider you a very good lobbyist for students. You take that to the state and say, “Let’s put school budgets in November.” I would be that 90% of the budgets would go down in flames.

Maciejewski: I don’t think so.

Fudoli: There’s a reason for it in May.

Maciejewski: I m here to present my opinions. I respectfully disagree with you. We cut stuff. We are not going to cut educators that are doing a fine job, that are trainers of the state and federal law; and that’s what we did. I just think that statement (Buffalo News) was reckless.

[4248]

Here we see again the obvious conflict of interests Erie County and Lancasters Democrats have enjoyed for years - This man - Former BOE member Joseph Maciejewski while attacking the Supervisor - claims , "I don’t have a political agenda" .

Yet, he forget to mention he's a high ranking Erie County Democratic Party Member/Operative - I wounder why - he listed all these other positions -
Former BOE member,
Director of Erie County Real Property Tax Services,
Village Community Development Organization,
as well as multiple other appointed positions for the Democratic Controllers within Erie County(he forgot to mention).

He claims he has no Political agenda but sat as a representative of the "Tax Payers" on the school board - while actually working/negotiating for the benefits of the Teachers Union - he claimed - he "worked on the negotiating team with the Lancaster Central Teachers Association (LCTA)" Isnt that a obvious conflict of interest?


How bold these people are - how confident they are of their control. They believe home owning tax payers are blind to their actions.

You can disagree with how our new Supervisor speaks so bluntly - yet he shows time and time again these people have been acting in their Party's best interest - not home owning tax payers.

How much better Lancaster could be now if so much wasn't wasted - how much safer our roads could be instead of padding pay checks - our school system is bragged about by those who benefit from it -

Yet the undisputed truth is less than 13% of our students go on the receive a four year collage degree. Check out the facts - what good do inflated claims of achievements do for your student/son or daughter five years after they graduate ?

Supervisor Fudoli offered the Town Board a way to maintain Police Services without cuts - he wants our schools to teach our children and better manage their/our tax money - yet these same Party Players keep attacking him and refusing to change.

Will we change or just keep voting in the same people with the same agenda ?

[ichingtheory]

Supervisor Fudoli brought up a good point regarding voting for the school budget in May. Although I do make it a point to vote in May, many of my neighbors do not bother. The complaint I hear most often if why bother since the contingency budget is not much better. I have to agree that the results would be very different if combined with November elections.

[shortstuff]

Joseph Maciejewski stated that he is a data person, but it "appears" that his data might not be accurate. Supervisor Dino Fudoli graduated from college with a degree in Accounting from Canisius College. In reviewing his numbers throughout his 3 years as supervisor and who has the figures from Dave Brown, I'm pretty sure his numbers might be correct.

If anyone had attended BOE meetings, you can agree that it is not resident convenient/friendly. I think the BOE meeting with the public should be held first prior to the sessions on what is happening at the school. It is a long session on a week night which might bring more residents if the education meeting was held first. That should be the first change, the next change in a referendum should be to hold the budget vote at the same time as the November elections.

The Supervisor makes good points, his conservative views are relevant in today's fiscal challenges.

[Lee Chowaniec]

I addressed the town board on another matter Monday evening but did state in my comment opening that Mr. Maciejewski well understood why I am a Lancaster Central School District (LCSD) supporter – and five years ago that was not the case.

I said that as someone who did attend and graduated from Canisius High School, I believe we have a great school system in Lancaster and put out a great product – 98% graduation rate. “I find Mr. Maciejewski’s statements relevant and your (Supervisor Fudoli) “squandering of money” inappropriate, as well as the call for the resignation of the Board of Education (BOE) irresponsible.”

That was all the time I could spend on this subject as I was addressing another matter. I would now like to add to Mr. Maciejewski and supervisor Fudoli’s comments.

1) Fudoli’s quick and dirty math of declaring it costs $17,000 to education a child in Lancaster by simply dividing the budget ($95 million) by student enrollment (6,000) is not a complete picture on how that number is derived. Data can be manipulated and presented to favor either side. According to NYSED data in 2012 the cost for General Education in Lancaster is $7,298; for Special Education it is $17,896 and there were 851 students with special needs.

2) Included in the LCSD budget are expenses incurred for providing transportation for the private schools in Lancaster, books, materials, etc. LCSD also provides transportation needs for Lancaster students to attend private schools like Canisius, St. Joe’s, etc.; apples to oranges and how many families can afford to pay district school taxes and spend $12,000 to send their children to a private school. The district also provides the cost for special education children at the private elementary schools in the district.

3) Fudoli claimed that what is spent on educating a Lancaster student would provide for 1-1/2 Canisius students and they would get a better education. Private high schools do not provide for special needs and choose students based on entrance examine performance.

4) I moved into the Lancaster Central School District to send my children there – especially considering my daughter was the first special needs child to enroll in that program (1973). Other private and public school districts were not offering such program at that time.

5) As Mr. Maciejewski pointed out, since 2010 LCSD cut a lot of stuff out of the budget – material and equipment stuff, closed Central Avenue School, and have reduced teacher staff by 62 positions and where enrollment has declined by approximately 400 cohorts; but is again on the upswing with the development that is taking place in the town.

6) Mr. Fudoli declares the budget date is a sham to get the budget approved and that he would wager that if it was held on Election Day it would fail 90% of the time. That is his opinion and I also disagree. The May budget voting day is more likely to bring out the budget opposition crowd as it impacts their taxes.

7) Mr. Fudoli discredits the fact that LCSD has been recognized as one of the most cost-efficient school districts in Western New York (#1 this past year) by declaring that doesn’t mean much considering all public school districts are big spenders. It is true that far too much money is being spent on public education, but to dishonor the district for spending less on a budget where at least 85% is mandated than other districts (while putting out a good product) is inappropriate.

8) Mr. Maciejewski encouraged Mr. Fudoli to attend the budget work sessions and Mr. Fudoli declined. For Fudoli to say that all he has to do is look at the budget bottom line and make a determination is disingenuous. Budgets are complex and he knows this better than anyone.

9) Residents should attend the district budget work sessions. The BOE has been encouraging participation for years and in the great majority of meetings scheduled less than a handful of residents appear. The BOE encourages residents to attend and tell them what they want cut. Budget work sessions begin next Monday and have been scheduled outside of regular meeting dates so it prevents anyone from saying they cannot attend because they are held after the regularly scheduled meeting and that’s too long to wait.

10) I long for the day when I can vote on the town budget. Supervisor Fudoli is to be commended for putting out budget decrease in the three years he has been supervisor. I appreciate his fiscal policy responsibility. I would have voted for his personal tentative budget proposal this year. I would have voted against the final proposed budget which included add-ons by the four council members.

Unfortunately, everything is political.

[4248]

The point is Lancaster could have done better with the massive influx of tax dollars due to almost 20 years of over development.

Yes, everything is politics - preferred hiring - log rolling contracts - at some points the Dem Committee actually had students print campaign material at the High School.

People like Councilman/School Teacher/Union Rep D Stempniak and County Democrat Committee Member Mr. Maciejewski’s working all sides of the fence - pretending to be serving tax payers while helping the Unions get more money. Both live on tax funded pay checks and have collected multiple tax funded checks and enhancing their tax funded pensions - to them "Everything is Politics".

We do have to look at the big picture - not just some manipulated numbers or articles in B.F. which is not much more than a cheer leaders manual.

Lancaster as a whole, School System, Parks, Highway, and most other tax funded employment systems have bearing. Each and every level has been affected by the controlling Members and their friends.

We could have done better - now that all the surplus funding from the state and Feds is drying up - now that pensions and benefits are steam rolling our budgets/wallets - now that all the Giza/Stempniak Era time bombs are breaking the surface - who's going to pay ?


Also , I strongly agree you have to include all the "extras" the schools provide now - including transportation of our students to other schools - sports transportation and so much more. Its all part of the over all budget needs - isn't that fair to say ?

We have to look at every single tax dollar being spent and what the long term carrying costs will be to home owners.

Stats can be used to prove or disprove every argument/debate - the reality is taxes are the bottom line and they keep going up.

How much more can we afford ?

[Genoobie]

1) Fudoli’s quick and dirty math of declaring it costs $17,000 to education a child in Lancaster by simply dividing the budget ($95 million) by student enrollment (6,000) is not a complete picture on how that number is derived. Data can be manipulated and presented to favor either side. According to NYSED data in 2012 the cost for General Education in Lancaster is $7,298; for Special Education it is $17,896 and there were 851 students with special needs.

I am impressed that you are beginning to see how the "spin" works and how real problems are more complex in nature. The artificial stat of total budget / total students is a nonsense statistic. Thanks for learning, I guess a Buffalo Teacher can teach.

[nogods]

Does Fudoli have kids attending the public schools?

[4248]

Yea - saying you divide the total school budget by the number of students is dumb ! Its like taking my yearly earnings and dividing that by the number of people I support -

Why not dissect it - spin it - cut it up and make it sound easer to swallow. You know - some for food - some for electric - some for repairs - just ignore it all comes from the same bottom line - my budget/income.

Dollars - in students enrolled each year - sounds pretty dam close to reality - NA - who wants reality. Just ask Buisness First !

---------------------------------

Mr.Maciejewski’s /Union Rep/Taxman Dem Committee Player sends his kids to private school - he even admitted private education is better.