Elizabeth Herkenham

    “BH-BL is a high performing school district. It has been no easy task maintaining our strong academic standing especially knowing how education has been challenged over the last three years with significant cuts in state funding. During these difficult times, the Board and Central Administration have been mindful that the community could not absorb the total reductions in state funding. We began responding to the decreased funding before most regional school districts by taking deliberate sustainable cuts across our district, working hard not to jeopardize our high educational standards.

    This approach has not been without its pain. Students have had higher class sizes and reduced course offerings, our staff are doing much more with less, and we have lost good people along the way. Despite these significant changes, we are not out of the woods. The tax levy threshold (cap) mandated by the state legislature has placed a line in the sand that the Board of Education has agreed not to step over. We have applied reserve funds to help maintain the quality of our education while continuing to explore cost reductions. This approach is helping to get us through these difficult times, but as we all recognize, is not sustainable. The Board of Education continues to work to identify ways to develop a break-even budget with all the fiscal constraints in place while using an extremely transparent budgetary process with open forums and discussions.

    As we look to the future of the district, I would be proud to continue to serve our community as a BH-BL Board of Education member.”

James Maughan

James Maughan is seeking his second term on the board. He is currently board president and previously served as Finance Committee chair. An area native, he is general manager of Customer Service with GE Wind Energy. James holds a BS, MS, and PhD in mechanical engineering. He has been an active volunteer in various school committees, local Scout troops, his church, and the GE Volunteers program. James and his wife live on Longcreek Drive Extension in Burnt Hills. Their youngest of four children graduates this year from the high school.

     “One theme that has developed for me on the Board is to support the administration and staff as they challenge the district to accelerate change. We’re a high-achieving district and are fortunate to have so many dedicated teachers, talented students, and supportive parents. And as the world around us changes, we need to be sure we’re ready to adapt quickly. Our children are too important for us to ever be satisfied with the status quo.

    A second is to support long term planning, something we’ve done well in the past, and will now be even more critical. During my children’s time at BH-BL, the district has had a strong program and the tax levy has grown at an average rate of 6.3%. With the tax cap, that rate could be more like 2 or 3%. Unless we’re willing to gamble we can consistently override the cap or that state aid will always increase substantially, the only options after our reserves run out will be to reduce programs (as our neighbors are doing) or to control the rate at which our costs grow. I don’t support program cuts because they hurt the staff and the students and erode our reputation as a district. I support shared services, removing unproductive mandates, and yes, even controlling the rate at which salary and benefits increase if that’s what it takes to protect the future of the school.

    It’s been a privilege for me to have served with the administration, staff, and other Board members. I like to think I’ve helped in some small way, and would welcome the opportunity to continue to serve.”