It’s that time of year again – the prospective budget for next year has been announced, and the general public has two months or so to mull it over before making a decision on it. However, thanks to a two percent tax cap set by New York State, next year is shaping up to be the beginning of a period of time involving numerous program cuts. This is uncharted territory for the Massapequa school district and its students.
Unfortunately for Massapequa, there is not much that can be done to prevent this misfire regarding the budget. NYS mandated a two percent tax cap that prevents taxes from being raised any more than two percent, regardless of how much a school district would need to raise them in order to keep all of its programs running smoothly.
In other words, should the cost to keep programs running increase by more than two percent year-to-year, the district will not be able to raise taxes a sufficient amount to pay for those programs – they will be left with no choice than to cut spending. Deputy Superintendent Alan Adcock described it, saying that the situation is all about, “balancing with the mandates that they have… and the increases in those mandates.”
However, the district is determined to make this tax cap impact the students as little as possible. “If a student is in need of certain services, the student must be provided with those services,” Adcock said.
Superintendent Charles Sulc echoed these sentiments at the Board of Education meeting on Thursday, March 15. “There are no recommendations coming from yours truly to eliminate any program,” Sulc said.
Regardless of what Sulc and Adcock want, this cap is going to have devastating effects on the district, and it is more than likely that various programs within the school will suffer. Adcock stated that he does not yet know how sports or extracurricular activities will be affected, but the cap is “likely to have impacts on many areas in the school system.”
Adcock remained reluctant to cut programs, stating that he is a supporter of the music and arts programs in our schools and has no interest in cutting them. When asked about the Magnet program in the elementary schools and other enrichment programs, he said “those are programs that we would not want to impact.”
He also conveyed that class sizes may be marginally affected in the coming year, but there will probably be no substantially detrimental consolidations.
Despite these attempts at reassurance, it does not change the fact that the tax cap exists, our budget will be impacted, and therefore no matter what they say, the programs in our schools will also be affected. The student body realizes this as well.
Many students still fear cuts in the music program – which is known for being extremely successful, sending multiple people to the All-State Music Festival annually.
“Life for me at MHS would be nowhere near as enjoyable without all the spectacular ensembles I’ve participated in as well as the teachers I’ve grown to know and love,” junior Adam Davi said. “Our music program is ranked in the top 50 in the country for a reason, so I would hate to see it shrink and wither away.”
Programs like these are what inspire students to delve into their creative abilities and discover their talents. They foster intellectual growth, and the student body recognizes that should our school lose these programs, it would be a tremendous detriment.
Students are not the only ones worrying about the potential cuts. Visions advisor Mrs. Curiale is very concerned about what the state of the budget will mean for the future of her club, and the impacts that this would have on the club’s members.
“Since our club is product based, should we lose funding, we wouldn’t have a magazine,” Curiale said. “Visions provides an opportunity for writers, artists and photographers to have their work published and viewed by the entire school. There really aren’t any other venues for this.”
Only time will tell what the actual impact the budget will have on extracurricular activities will be, but it is clear that cutting any activity will not be seen positively by anyone involved.
In fact, The Chief has already been informed that due to district budget restraints, our budget will be cut drastically next year — there will be fewer print issues being distributed and the paper will begin shifting onto online. The tax cap is already beginning to take its toll on extracurriculars, and no one knows where it will stop.
Lastly, students must remember that it isn’t just these elective and extracurricular activities that are at risk – regular courses are at risk. Over the course of the next four years, according to Adcock, there will be a “possible reduction of course offerings or consolidation of course offerings.”
Overall, it remains unclear as to what effects the new budget will have on the school. What is clear, however, is that students and teachers are not looking forward to finding out how this budget will negatively impact them. As of now, layoffs are being made to recover the largest portion of the deficit. It’s imminent that the students will be directly negatively impacted; it’s just a matter of how much.