Mount St. Mary College in Newburgh might be a little less bright if not for Brendan Coyne, who has been the an enthusiastic member of its public relations team for more than 25 years. Perhaps his background in the media has prepared him to have a calm-but-calculated disposition when it comes to dealing with the public.
When he steps out of his office at the college when day is done, don”™t be surprised to find him busy with another kind of school work: Coyne has served on the Cornwall School District”™s board for nine years, the last three as its president. Which begs the question: Why?
To many, sitting on a school board means an unpaid job with a plethora of paperwork, dealing with angry parents, and few, if any, pats on the back for a job well done. To others, it”™s a sense of power. For Coyne, it is neither.
“I have three children of my own, so I can”™t remember a time when I haven”™t been involved in their school lives in one way, shape or form, either as a coach or as a parent sitting at a school board meeting myself to ask a question,” said Coyne. “Although mine are adults now, I like to stay involved with what”™s happening in our schools. When there was talk about our high school being moved out of the heart of the community, I really started to get involved because I thought it was better suited to the village. That”™s what led me to run for the board to begin with, and I”™ve been chosen to serve as its president for the past three years.”
It will also be Coyne”™s last year as school board president, and his last on the board. “I do believe in term limits,” said Coyne, “so next year, as of June 30, 2010, I”™ll become a member of the audience again.”
Thanks to one of the changes Coyne has been able to make, he won”™t have to wait until the end of the meeting to ask a question. “There was a time when no public comment was allowed until the meeting ended, and then, it had to be a question pertinent to the agenda. Now, someone can ask a question about anything before the meeting begins and again when it ends,” meetings which Coyne tries to keep to two hours, “although we have had a few that have gone past midnight.”
School tax funding is one of Coyne”™s biggest pet peeves, and he says this year”™s school budget, which the administration brought in at under a 3 percent increase, is in line with what Tom Suozzi”™s Tax Commission recommended ”“ even though no actual tax cap has been implemented by Albany. “I don”™t know how New York ended up funding our school system the way it has, but I really do believe it needs to be changed.”
Coyne would like to see the tax formula broken down differently: “Fifty percent funded by the federal government; 25 percent from the state; and the remaining 25 percent from property taxes. The way it stands right now, the burden is on the home owner. We have many seniors in our district living on fixed incomes ”“ they can”™t keep up with the rising tax bills. People shouldn”™t be forced out of their communities because they can”™t make ends meet anymore.”
In an era where some school districts”™ spending is off the charts, Coyne said Cornwall has been as “responsible and sensitive as humanly possible as to how much people can bear. Salaries and benefits make up a big part of every school”™s budget. We don”™t like to see programming cut for children, and we try to make the most of what we have.” Still, coming in at under 3 percent for the 2009-2010 school years with a $55 million budget, Coyne feels enough is enough for real property tax owners when it comes to school funding.
“I have a favorite quote by Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw hanging in my living room: ”˜I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It”™s a splendid torch which I”™ve got hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.”™”
Based on Coyne”™s track record for community service, from the Lion”™s club to helping organize Cornwall”™s annual Fourth of July celebration, there seems little doubt he”™ll be out there advocating for better schools and for a better way to fund them once he steps down as school board president next June 30.
