MEET THE BAUMANN SCHOOL BUS DRIVERS
SCHOOLS
06-07-96
Comparison of Bedford with CUNY is valid
By PETER A. STARK
In the letter published in your May 30 issue, Dr. Marvin Markowitz attacks the Taxpayers Oversight Committee (TOC) for comparing the per-pupil costs in the Bedford Central School District (BCSD) with those of the City University of New York (CUNY). While admitting that TOC facts and figures are in themselves 'accurate, he claims that the TOC "frequently uses them in ways that distort their meaning and are meant to arouse anger and resentment rather than measured analysis."
As the CUNY professor who spotted the CUNY figures in a publication of the CUNY Faculty Senate and then provided them to the TOC, I feel compelled to respond.
For those who did not see the TOC Newsletter to which Dr. Markowitz refers, let me summarize. The TOC Newsletter presented a table listing the budgets of BCSD and the 18 campuses of CUNY, the number of students, and the per-student costs. At a time when the BCSD cost was more than $15,000 per pupil, CUNY costs ranged from $3,192 to $4,480 for the community colleges, and from $3,979 to $6,671 for the four-year colleges. The CUNY costs thus ranged from about
one quarter of Bedford's cost to somewhat less than half.
One of the, purposes of the TOC Newsletter is to clarify issues for its readers. This often involves combining various sources for data which might not ordinarily be seen by the average reader, and presenting it in ways that permit comparison and measured analysis. If such data sometimes arouses anger or resentment, that is unfortunate, but it does not in any way justify attempts to sugarcoat it or hush it up. I am not at all perturbed that Dr. Markowitz is angry and resentful about the CUNY figures and the BCSD figures appearing in the same publication.
Shortly after the TOC Newsletter in question was published in April 1994, Dr. Markowitz objected to this cost comparison in a letter to The Reporter Dispatch. I responded to his objections at the time, and this seems to have satisfied Dr. Markowitz for two years. Let me restate his objections and my responses, both old and new.
1. "CUNY has many part-time students who affect the numbers." Not so. The TOC- published figures were based not on body counts, but on "FTE" students. For example, two half-time students are counted as just one FTE or
full-time equivalent student.
2. "CUNY students could have 300 in a class." I don't know of any such classes. All of my classes are smaller than 25 students, and I have had classes as small as four students.
3. "CUNY doesn't have to provide transportation, special education etc." But BCSD transportation only amounts to 6% of its budget - this can hardly explain a factor of two or four in cost. And yes, we do have special education in CUNY - there are many programs for disabled and homebound students, as well as extensive remediation for under-prepared students.
1 4. -"Most of our [Bedford's] teachers are full-time-while at CUNY many are
part time and receive no benefits. It all depends on the meaning of "most" and "many." Most of CUNY's-teachers are full-time, while BCSD has many part-time substitute teachers as well. Moreover, despite their lower total budgets, many CUNY colleges have more full-time teachers than all of BCSD.
Dr. Markowitz complains that the TOC does not present all the facts. Let me therefore present some of the facts that the TOC could have presented, but
didn't.
In 1992-93, my college in CUNY had a $31.21 -million budget, which was 30% less than
Bedford's $44.4 million. But we had 297 full-time faculty, which was almost 20% more than Bedford's 250.
Even with this smaller budget, our college facilities readily compare with Bedford's. Our campus has 10 major buildings (and several smaller ones). It contains a large library with some 120,000 publications and a full-time staff of about 1-0-,two-large
gyms, a swimming pool, track fields and tennis courts, TV studio, recording
studio, parking lots, campus police and security system, large modern
auditorium, numerous modern and expensive laboratories and studios, a large
mainframe administrative computer center plus hundreds of desktop computers,
emergency power generators, two cafeterias, a security system, etc.
So how do we keep
costs down? Well, for one thing, we faculty don't get paid for being faculty
advisors to student clubs- it's considered part of our job. Our department
chairmen get a lower teaching load, but no extra pay. We don't get paid extra
for designing new courses, writing lab experiments or ordering equipment. We
don't get paid extra for keeping up in our fields, for writing proposals for
outside grants, or for taking additional courses or attending conferences. It's
considered part of our job.
Except for prolonged illness, when one of us is absent, the
others in the department are expected to cover his classes at no extra pay. Not
only does this keep costs down, but peer pressure also discourages absences ,
none of us wants to burden our colleagues, It's thus better for our students.
And cheaper.
Although the college 'maintains a counseling center, we are also
expected to provide. counseling to our students. Students often come to the
departmental office and ask for help, and it is expected that we will help them.
Each of us maintains office hours specifically to help students, and there is
almost always someone available, As part of our jobs.
Although we have a tenure system, reappointment, promotion or
tenure is by no means easy. Each requires written evaluations, not just by other
faculty, but also by students. Also required is a record of service to the
college, as well as a commitment to one's subject area by means of research or
publications. All of this, of course, At no extra pay.
To make sure that each faculty member devotes himself fully to
his work, the university enforces a policy that stresses that a professor's work
is his full-time occupation. These "multiple job regulations" prohibit
any substantial outside employment or other paid activity during the school
year. Even the small, limited amount that is allowed must be appropriate to the
professor's subject area.
But most of all, we don't get paid as much. The top pay for our
full professors (most of whom have the Ph.D.
or equivalent degrees) is less than that of some elementary school teachers at Bedford,
and many CUNY full-time faculty members earn substantially less.
In short, it is my
considered opinion that a comparison of per-pupil
costs between CUNY and BCSD is not only
valid, but also very informative. I can see why some people might perhaps be
perturbed by the TOC comparison, but the truth does sometimes hurt,
Peter A. Stark is a resident of Mount Kisco.
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