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The point was that any savings that might accrue would be from eliminating all of the 127 LI school district central offices and staffs .
You are getting that 31 million savings (derived from a 250K salary estimation) from simply eliminating the one chief superintendent from each district central office.
What about the elimination of the assistant superintendent (s) (200K per?) from each district central office, the assistant superintendent for business from each central office (200K?), associate superintendents, deputy superintendents, directors, curricular associates, other various and sundry hangers-on, etc and their staff? Syosset, for example, has six superintendents alone - the old days of one superintendent, a business guy, and a secretary as the sole occupants of the central office bureaucracy are long gone. I'd quadruple or quintuple that 31M figure (salary, not benefits BTW) for starters.
Of course discussions of this sort hinge on simplifications and of course a new island-wide superintendent office and staff would be a new expense.
I do agree the whole enterprise would be unlikely to reduce our property tax burden unless more costs are shifted to the state (via an increased state income tax).
I was just using the $31 million figure quoted in a previous post.
I see where you are coming from. I'm just not sure that combining 127 districts into two (Nassau + Suffolk) will come anywhere close to reducing 127 administrations into 2. There will likely be two enormous administrations, along with several "sub-districts." The many deputies and their support staffs will likely rival the current setup in terms of people and cost.
Just like corporate consolidations that never live up to the promised savings, I am very skeptical it can be done. Again, studies show that school district consolidation doesn't pay off until you get to districts smaller than 1500.
I really don't know the answer. I would strongly argue against county-wide consolation on Long Island. I just can't see how any real savings could be achieved. My gut tells me costs would increase and the "better" districts would end up suffering. I have yet to see any real analysis that contradicts my beliefs.
At the same time, there are several smaller districts that could benefit from merging. That should be looked at.
This is all conjecture. It has as much likelihood as NY splitting into two states. You can call it NIMBYism, but there is much to be said for local control. I simply believe that consolidation isn't necessarily the answer (although I am more than happy to consider it based on actual facts). Our school taxes are out of control for other reasons that, IMO, consolidation is unlikely to help. The political power of the unions involved is far too great to affect real change.
I have some property in rural upstate. In that area, the "too many districts" argument doesn't hold. Yet, the school taxes are actually higher than Long Island. If my property up there had the same value (assessed or full market) as my property on Long Island, my upstate school tax bill would be more than 2x what it is on Long Island.
What that administrator and his staff make is definitely way too much. It's not a 6-figure job for a district that size, but that's what they pay in NYS. Either way, complete elimination of all administration wouldn't make a dent in the budget or the tax bill.
Nothing will derail the gravy train.
You could come up with a thousand different solutions and these dirtbags will still find a way to bleed the taxpayers . Greed is a very powerful thing. So is entitlement.
Good luck.
So he was talking about all superintendents across LI, equaling approx $31mil in salary. Now consider there are approx 35,000 teachers, if 80k being the minimum salary (and that's obviously conservative), that's $2.8bil in salary. With a B. Our reasons for high taxes are not in the superintendents. It is clear it's in the teachers who EACH demand stupid-high, costly, benefits with their inflated salaries (well above $80k).
What's the benefit and salary package like in VA?
Not 80K min that's for sure. To be honest I think they're under-paid here and when our kids were in school didn't get enough money to supply their classrooms. My wife and I would donate supplies and money along with a match from her company so the teachers could have a chance.
Nothing will derail the gravy train.
You could come up with a thousand different solutions and these dirtbags will still find a way to bleed the taxpayers . Greed is a very powerful thing. So is entitlement.
Good luck.
instead of consolidation of the school districts, why not eliminate the tons of layers of administrators ?
I attended a very large LI high school in the early seventies. Graduating class over 1000.
One principal. A few assistant principals. Most of the deans were also full time teachers. One school psychologist for a 3400 student school, who was only there a few days a week (also covered the jr. high).
Heads of departments were full time teachers as well.
Today we have "assistant directors of fine arts" . Director of physical education. Assistant director of dance.
Don't give me any grief about increasing technology, 95% of these positions seem bogus.
Not 80K min that's for sure. To be honest I think they're under-paid here and when our kids were in school didn't get enough money to supply their classrooms. My wife and I would donate supplies and money along with a match from her company so the teachers could have a chance.
The teachers on LI still ask for supplies and money.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ovi8
So he was talking about all superintendents across LI, equaling approx $31mil in salary. Now consider there are approx 35,000 teachers, if 80k being the minimum salary (and that's obviously conservative), that's $2.8bil in salary. With a B. Our reasons for high taxes are not in the superintendents. It is clear it's in the teachers who EACH demand stupid-high, costly, benefits with their inflated salaries (well above $80k).
Yeah, I would like to consolidate my school district (GC) with Hempstead Village.
Although if GC could take over Hempstead, I would actually be okay with it but the HV residents would scream 'discrimination' and install their cronies in GC destroying our SD. Seriously, this is the mess you're looking at.
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