ELLENVILLE – The budget for the Ellenville School District, at approximately $43 million, is by far the largest expense that the taxpayers of Ellenville and Wawarsing face. Of that total, about $20 million or so must be raised by local property taxes, the very taxes that are hurting Ellenville so badly at this point.

Jim Pidel is the Union President for the Teachers of Ellenville School District and the local representative of NYSUT. He has been a teacher at Ellenville High School for 21 years, and today he teaches classes in Social Studies, Participation in Government, Economics, and a special class about the Holocaust.

"I grew up in Ulster County, and from fourth grade to college, I lived in New Paltz.

Later, I chose to come to Ellenville because I like the small town life, the sense of community we have here."

So, what's in store for taxpayers, parents, kids at the Ellenville Schools? There will be negotiations soon for a new contract.

"Well, nobody's rushing to the negotiating table right now," says Pidel. "The economy's so uncertain that we have no idea what next year will bring, let alone the years after that. That said, I represent the Union and we have a contract which was negotiated and which both sides have to live by.

"But I think we have to remember some important things. What teachers are about is something more than money. We're there for the kids. I see 125 kids a day, and I love that. Being Union President is actually the worst part of my job. The teachers I know are teachers because they like kids and they want to have a good influence on them. So that's our first job.

"Another thing, though, that's very important, is that we are also a big contributor to the town. Sixty percent of the district's employees live in the Village of Ellenville. We own houses, we pay taxes. A lot of the teachers at the school are, in fact, former students of Ellenville High School."

But what about salaries? The concern for some residents is that our teachers are overpaid. This is a town with many people currently living on small incomes.

"Ellenville's teachers are the eighth -best paid in Ulster County, when we're looking at the main body of our teachers. Most of our teachers are between one year and fifteen years. We are third in the county when it comes to our best paid teachers. Those are the teachers who've been in Ellenville their entire careers, and have been on the job for 25 years.

"The first twelve years that you're a teacher you move up a step each year. Then there's a holding pattern until you reach 16 years and you get a small bump. Then again it holds up until you reach 19 years and you get another small bump, and then again at 21 years and at 25. At 25 years you've reached the top."

This information regarding an Ellenville teacher's tenure track — and the salary-increases that go with it — may be a bitter pill for residents to swallow, especially considering how many of them have lost their jobs in recent years.

"That's the other thing we have to keep in mind," says Pidel. "We've lost so many jobs in Ellenville. And I see this as a New York State problem. Go across the border to Pennsylvania and you see factories all over the place. New York has just had a harsh climate for business for far too long. I don't believe we're a very business-friendly state. But, beyond that, the jobs that have left this area have left this country too."

What about cuts? Can we cut things out of the budget?

"It's easy to say cut this or cut that, but wherever you cut there's people behind it, and those people are the kids.

"Now the word that I'm hearing is that Governor Patterson is calling for cuts in education in the middle of the school year, and a cut of $600,000 for Ellenville alone.

That's going to mean a loss of teachers, an increase in class sizes, perhaps a doubling up of some classes. It seems to me to be very unfair to the kids to do that in the middle of the year."

With the economic problems the Governor is facing, we all expect much larger cuts next year. What will that mean?

"It may mean we have to lay off teachers. That will definitely mean larger class sizes, less programs, less of everything. It will affect the quality of the education we can provide for our kids, and the kids are our future."

It seems like an intractable problem. What possible solution is there to this?

"The people that pay our bills in the education system are our neighbors. That's particularly true here in Ellenville. And we're well aware of that. I feel that the way we pay for our schools drives a wedge between taxpayers and the education system. So I think we have to have reform at the state and even at the federal level.

"Taxpayers often feel they have no say in things. Well, we feel the same way. The federal and state governments love to send down unfunded mandates, as they've done with special education. This area, from Ellenville to Liberty and Fallsburg, has been designated an 'area of need.' We have a lot of kids with special education needs here. We were promised 40% financing for special education, but I think all we've received is 10%. That's a big burden for a district with many low income families. So that's the first thing has to be changed at the state and federal level. If they mandate something, then they have to come up with the money for it and not just add it to the local property tax burden."

What else might be done to help taxpayers?

"NYSUT supports the 'circuit breaker' proposal. That's to help people who are struggling to stay in their homes because of high property taxes. That's something we think should be adopted quickly to help those people having the hardest time."

Pidel emphasizes what he thinks is one of the most important aspects of the situation here in Ellenville.

"The teachers live here. Many of them went to school here. So we're all in this together."

Phone calls to Lisa Wiles, Superintendant of Schools for Ellenville, were not returned as of press time.

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