Thank goodness there are some board members across the nation who have the courage to stand up to the establishment…
By Steve Gunn -
QUEENSBURY, N.Y. – In school districts across America, too many timid school board members tend to sit still, keep quiet and rubber-stamp decisions made by school administrators.
And too often those decisions result in an insane waste of tax dollars.
Thank goodness there are some board members across the nation who have the courage to stand up to the establishment and question the wisdom of the status quo, even if they stand alone.
Unfortunately one of those leaders is reportedly leaving his post.
Doug Beaty only served on the Queensbury, N.Y. school board for two short years. But in that time he was widely noted for rocking the boat on a regular basis.
Beaty reportedly fought a one-man war to contain labor costs and control property taxes in his financially-challenged school district.
He thought employees should take pay freezes to help the district avoid the layoff of younger teachers and higher taxes for residents. He thought overall labor costs should be controlled before the district drove itself over a financial cliff.
Beaty was often the lone “no” vote on financial matters that the board considered. He reportedly made more than a few enemies along the way. As the local newspaper put it, “His criticism of district spending has sometimes irked board members and guests in the audience.”
That fact should be considered a badge of honor. Too many union leaders and school employees believe school districts have a sacred responsibility to meet their financial desires, regardless of the cost.
Beaty was apparently the type of board member to remind everyone that schools exists, first and foremost, for students. In hard times the adults should accept less to make sure kids aren’t shortchanged by the rough economy and lack of tax revenues.
“We can’t keep giving raises and unsustainable medical benefits,” he was quoted as saying. “If we keep doing this, we will keep laying off people.”
The lone dissenter
Beaty is leaving the Queensbury school board in January for professional reasons. He reportedly has a new job that will keep him away from the school district on a regular basis.
But his short service earned the respect of at least one local journalist – Ken Tingley, editor of the Post-Star. He penned an editorial last week, thanking Beaty for providing a voice for fiscal sanity in an environment dominated by free-spending union robots.
“During his tenure, Beaty was regularly the lone dissenter on budget and salary increases, and instrumental in starting a conversation about what taxpayers could afford and how much school boards should spend,” Tingley wrote.
“Queensbury taxpayers owe him a debt of gratitude for fighting the good fight, even though he was regularly outvoted. I know that frustrated him, but he should know he did indeed make a difference. Even if you disagreed with him, you had to admire his relentless commitment in trying to curb spending.
“I know many who work for schools characterize Beaty as anti-education. That is unfair and untrue. As we are seeing now, if expenses are not harnessed soon, the quality of education will be impacted dramatically, and that was what Beaty was trying to prevent.”
Tingley offered a sampling of Beaty’s resignation letter, which offered some insights which should be taken seriously by his fellow board members.
Beaty wrote that Queensbury district is only a few years away from insolvency if spending patterns don’t change. He wrote that there is an unfortunate “business as usual approach” to negotiating expensive contracts with various employee unions, and faulted the district for spending more on labor as the number of students declines.
“The simple fact is that the cost of insurance is so far out of touch compared to the private sector that it is laughable,” Beaty wrote in his resignation letter. “I have all the numbers between the private and public sector and it is almost criminal what the difference is. Yet this board continues to march the lemmings (taxpayers) over the cliff.
“The simple fact is the total compensation package for the teachers union as well as the other eight unions in (the district) is unsustainable. We cannot afford 15 sick days (out of a 180-day school year), two personal days, a $20,000 handshake upon retirement for every teacher, and on and on it goes.”
The sad part is that those words come from someone who’s leaving the education scene. We can only hope the example he set will inspire others to serve on school boards and demand accountability from the people who run the schools on a daily basis.
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January 3, 2013 at 10:16 AM
History
The Education Action Group (EAG) first appeared in the summer of 2007, organized by long-time Republican General Counsel Eric Doster and former Republican staffer and lobbyist Kyle Olson. It attempts to influence school bargaining in order to reduce union influence and to lower MESSA market share. It also enters into school board campaigns to oppose union-endorsed candidates.
Kyle Olson, Founder and CEO, The Education Action Group
Kyle Olson is the former lobbyist for the Michigan Association of Realtors, served as district director and campaign manager for Republican Gerald VanWoerkom’s campaign for state Senate in 2002 and lost his run as a Republican for Muskegon County Board of Commissioners in 2006. He now works as “Vice President” of EAG and is 2nd district Republican State Committeeman.
Kyle’s brother Ryan was the Director of Education Policy at the right wing think tank Mackinac Center in Midland Michigan. They do not appear to be related to D. Joseph Olson, Vice President and General Counsel – Government Relations for Amerisure Insurance Company and founder of the Mackinac Center.
The Education Action Group was incorporated by Eric Doster
EAG was incorporated by Eric Doster, who has been General Counsel for the state Republican Party for the last 18 years. He’s also an attorney at the Lansing law firm Foster, Swift, Collins and Smith, PC, whose website lists healthcare as one of Doster’s practice areas.
Doster represented U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg in his recall fight in 2007. He was appointed to the Judges’ Retirement Board by Gov. John Engler in 1996. In 2004, he represented Citizens for the Protection of Marriage, and was widely quoted as promising that the ballot measure would not impact domestic partner benefits (see Rewarding dishonesty in Lansing, Detroit Free Press, May 9, 2008.). He is a member of the ultra right wing Federalist Society, and sits on the board of the Great Lakes Education Project political action committee (GLEP PAC).
In 1999, the conservative wing of the Michigan Supreme Court authored the holding in the Husted v Auto Owners Insurance Company case, widely seen as benefiting insurance companies at the expense of individuals. Kalamazoo attorney James B. Ford, who represented the plaintiff, said the ruling was “completely political” and “makes no sense when compared to the language and history of the no-fault statute…This is almost an absurd decision on its face,” Ford commented. “And until widows and orphans can donate as much money as insurance companies [to judicial campaigns], we’ll continue to see these types of decisions.”
Eric Doster filed a complaint with the Attorney Grievance Commission, demanding that Ford’s license to practice law be revoked. The complaint was dismissed but a state-wide debate among attorneys ensued, over whether such comments warrant discipline or constitute protected free speech.
One such debate appeared in a State Bar of Michigan newsletter. The pro-discipline side was written by D. Joseph Olson. The bio box at the bottom of his arguments (presumably written by him), ends with: “He proudly confesses to being Chairman of the Mackinac Center and a member of the Federalist Society.”
The EAG website is located on servers owned by “Domains by Proxy” a division of Godaddy.com that allows people to anonymously sponsor websites. As a result, anyone who investigates the EAG website will find that the “owner” is located in Scottsdale, Arizona, where DBP is located. Website owners pay a premium to have DBP host their sites. DBP is a favorite for spammers to host their operations
A month after Eric Doster incorporated the Education Action Group, Kyle Olson filed articles of incorporation for the “Education Action Fund”. It differs in a number of ways from EAG.
Although both are incorporated as non-profits:
• EAF was organized under the provisions of IRS section 527. (The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth were also a 527.) EAG was organized under IRS section 501(c)(4).
• EAG’s resident agent is Foster Swift attorney Eric Doster; EAF is run by Olson.
• EAG is financed by: “… contributions from corporate foundations and private foundations.” EAF describes its financing as: “… Bequests, grants, gifts and donations from Corporations, organizations and individuals, and grants and donations from federal, state and local governments…”
• While EAG’s professed purposes included: “To assist the education community to harness public support for meaningful education reform.” EAF is intended to “… raise public consciousness about … the positions of incumbent public officials … without engaging in express advocacy for or against any identified candidates,” and “… to engage in … political activities, including activities the will encourage … members of the community to become… members of a Board of Education … except that the Corporation shall not… expressly advocate the election or defeat of any clearly identified candidate …”
In September 2007 Foster Swift junior attorney Todd W. Hoppe incorporated the Michigan School Board Leaders Forum, a 501(c)(3) non-profit designed to “To be a portal for school board members to gain information and research as it relates to present-day problems, unions and issues facing school districts in Michigan” and to “be a forum for school board members to share ideas, experiences, and to coordinate to (sic) create the best public schools possible for the students of Michigan.” It’s name was changed to “The Center for Government Reform” in late 2008.
http://eagtruth.wordpress.com/history/
January 3, 2013 at 10:39 AM
Sounds like a good old boy just trying to exposed the problems with public education…what an issue with doing that unless folks would rather hide the true facts.