The word expensive is typically the first thing that comes to mind whenever an individual thinks of Long Island and now education is paying the price for it.
As the 2012-2013 budget has unfolded, District Superintendent Charles Sulc has continually promised that there will be no program elimination for the following year, but the same promise could not be made going forward.
“We haven’t been a school district that’s closed a school, eliminated programs, or cut middle school sports,” Sulc said, “Or any of the other dastardly things you see in the news every day and will continue to see as this budget season unfolds.”
Whether it’s taxes, costs of operation, or any other facet of life, it costs a lot to live in Nassau County. Recently, however, residents have lobbied for tax relief and received it under Governor Andrew Cuomo’s tax cap plan.
According to Forbes, Nassau County has the highest property taxes in the state and the fourth highest property tax rates in the entire nation.
Making a property tax cap may seem like a good idea to lessen the burden that is currently put on homeowners in the county; however, there has been some internal debate as to whether or not this tax cap will work.
School districts and local municipalities are now only able to raise taxes by two percent plus certain additions or the rate of inflation, whichever is less; based on a comprehensive five-step formula.
The proposed tax levy increase for Massapequa Public Schools for this year, based on this formula, is 2.22 percent—the maximum allowed without achieving a supermajority on the budget vote.
“There is a lot of misinformation associated with the tax cap. The reality is that it is progressive, and each and every year the impact will continue to be felt, creating a major nightmare,” Sulc said.
The two spent a large portion of time explaining how this isn’t an individual property tax cap; explaining that the increase in year to year tax value is based on a proportional assessment of the community.
“Your taxes may actually go up eight or nine percent and yours may go down,” Sulc said.
The New York version of the tax cap plan was sold to taxpayers as a replica of the Massachusetts plan that had proved successful for the state.
Deputy Superintendent, Alan Adcock disagrees with the state’s statement saying this however.
“It’s absolutely not similar to the Massachusetts plan, if it was, we would not be having the problems we are with these restrictions.” Adcock said.
Sulc spent a great deal of time explaining the direct implications that the tax cap will have on the district this year and in the years to follow.
“This is a bill that penalizes school districts,” Sulc said.
This new tax cap legislation is posing problems for districts around the state—especially on Long Island—where districts are facing major cuts to staff and in some cases, programs.
Due to the tax cap limitations, the district is facing a budget deficit of approximately 4.7 million dollars.
“This is just year one of the tax cap,” Sulc said. “We need some relief.”
The largest portion of cuts was made in the areas of personnel, with 62 known positions eliminated come the 2012-2013 school year.
“Change is difficult; we have some of the finest staff members anywhere and this is difficult,” Sulc said. “It’s hard to lose staff because of something such as this.”
MFT Union President, Tonia Smith, echoed Sulcs’s statement about the change this tax cap will bring to Massapequa.
“This is going to drastically affect the quality of education, not only are those 29 [teaching] positions going to be lost, as you point out there’s going to be a lot of movement,” Smith said.
Other districts have been forced to face similar cuts in this new fiscal austerity as well. The Bellmore/Merrick school district has excessed 24 members of its staff, while Commack has excessed approximately 100 district employees.
“We are doing our darnedest to keep the people we are losing in at least some capacity,” Sulc said.
These position eliminations that have been referred to as “excesses” reduced the deficit by 3,977,549 dollars, accounting for the majority of the cuts the district had to make.
“Some of you may want to blame the unions and the salaries. Even if we agree to freeze salaries for a number of years, that’s not going to help this tax cap,” Smith said. “We are going to be losing more and more, you will not be able to recognize Long Island schools and that’s why so many people live here.”
However, Central Administration also explained the fact that there is a real inequity between the treatment of downstate schools compared to upstate schools.
Based on an independent report by Rockefeller Institute of Government, the downstate portion of New York—including Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Putnam and Rockland counties—sends eight billion dollars more up to Albany in taxes than it receives back in aid, creating a tremendous shortfall in the fiscal equality of schools.
The 2011-2012 State Education: Regional Cost Index suggests that the consumer price index for Nassau County is 68 percent higher than it is in Albany.
Meaning that the cost of living in this county is 68 percent higher than the cost of living in Albany.
“They don’t tell you this in the tax bill; this isn’t on the cover of Newsday. It’s complicated stuff,” Adcock said.
This inequity also extends to the state aid portion of the budget. In Massapequa, New York State provides aid totaling 13.9 percent of the budget, while taxpayers account for 81 percent.
“We’ve taken an incredible hit in the area of state aid in the past two years,” Sulc said.
This cut comes despite the fact that the average district in New York State receives approximately 35 percent of its funding from state aid.
“If we got what the average district got, it would bring in an additional 38.6 million dollars,” Adcock said. “On the average home it would be a 1,700 dollar tax reduction.”
The public openly opposed the vast cuts that the district made in teaching reductions, calling it a dismantling of education in the district.
“Why wouldn’t we err on the side of the children and these educators—to me this is a very basic question with a very simple answer,” Denise Anderson said.
Some residents stated that they would have rather seen a supermajority budget proposed and the district taking initiative to avoid the vast reductions and garner a 60.1 percent vote.
“I’m sitting here, listening to this, trying not to cry,” former President of the Board of Education, Christine Perrino said. “My kids benefited so much from this school system.”
Many individuals, both professionals and residents believe that this tax cap has the potential to ruin the reputation that education carries in New York State, proving to be a repeat of California’s Proposition 13.
“Everybody in this room is going to lose—especially our children, especially our teachers; if I were a young individual I would never want to go into teaching the way these young teachers are set up to fail day in and day out,” one resident said. “We need to invite our elected officials; they need to hear our voices.”
For further information as the budget season unfolds visit The Chief Online for continuing coverage on the impact this budget will have on the face of education in Massapequa in the years to come.