Why do we need 126 school districts on Long Island? (Albany: lawyers, layoffs)

[totallyfrazzled]

Originally Posted by AlexisT

The problem is that while in some areas, you can separate race and class, on Long Island it's difficult to do so. The poor districts are minority, and the two are closely linked.

Exactly right! That's the point I was trying to make in my response to nbres, above, but you said it more clearly than I did.

That's why when people compare large consolidated school districts in other areas, especially the Carolinas and points south, to LI and say "There's no reason why you can't do the same"... they're missing the point that you're not starting with the same socio-economic structures in both places.

I'd venture to say that there aren't too many places in the USA where house-hunters regularly and seriously shop via school-district criteria as a primary consideration, often trumping house price, taxes (although as we know, our taxes are closely linked to the school district!), and factors such as the commute to work.

It could very well be that the ONLY solution that will work on Long Island is to keep the existing school district structure but impose caps on increases, serious oversight on spending, etc etc. We are not the Carolinas or Florida or Texas or Arizona or Michigan or California, etc etc, and despite the changing demographics in some communities (which I do not deny) LI is not going to resemble any other region in any of our lifetimes; perhaps not even our childrens' lifetimes.

[nbres]

Originally Posted by totallyfrazzled

Exactly right! That's the point I was trying to make in my response to nbres, above, but you said it more clearly than I did.

That's why when people compare large consolidated school districts in other areas, especially the Carolinas and points south, to LI and say "There's no reason why you can't do the same"... they're missing the point that you're not starting with the same socio-economic structures in both places.

I'd venture to say that there aren't too many places in the USA where house-hunters regularly and seriously shop via school-district criteria as a primary consideration, often trumping house price, taxes (although as we know, our taxes are closely linked to the school district!), and factors such as the commute to work.

It could very well be that the ONLY solution that will work on Long Island is to keep the existing school district structure but impose caps on increases, serious oversight on spending, etc etc. We are not the Carolinas or Florida or Texas or Arizona or Michigan or California, etc etc, and despite the changing demographics in some communities (which I do not deny) LI is not going to resemble any other region in any of our lifetimes; perhaps not even our childrens' lifetimes.

We can remake our system of education and taxes or suffer the long term economic consequences.

At some point paying irrationally high property taxes is going to kill us all.

[nbres]

What this all comes down to is the have mores don't want to share with the haves and the have mores and haves certainly don't want to share with the have nots.

We are presently locked into a system that still discriminates based on race and class. In this system many of you are killing yourselves economically. Many Long Islanders are simply serfs to the banks and tax man - tied into paying irrationally high mortgages and irrationally high taxes in order to live in the so-called "right" school district. You have been led to fear the other and this fear keeps many people from making the logical conclusion that a consolidated school system makes economic sense.

How can so many Long Islanders go on complaining about the high cost of living here and high taxes without realizing the fact that to keep our little Island racially and socially segregated costs a lot of money.

[tigmet]

The vast majority of children in this country are schooled on a county basis, and they are not all "disasters." The New York City system is a disaster not because it is so big, but because of the general problem of education in the big cities.

The place to compare is with Fairfax and Loudoun counties in Virginia. Those systems are county run, Fairfax in particular is about as big as a Nassau system would be, and their students are doing just fine, thank you. They perform well on standardized tests and they go to outstanding colleges.

[AlexisT]

"Vast majority" is a large overstatement. The Northeast has smaller districts, for historical reasons--NYS is unusual in having such tiny ones that are independent of their municipalities, but township/city/borough districts are common in other Northeast states. CA also has city based school districts.

Also, AIUI, the county school system in Fairfax predates the huge growth in the area (which has been much more recent than Nassau as well--Nassau's population has been stable since 1960). It's much easier to grow an existing system than to smoosh together 40 or 50 districts.

[MyDiamond]

I'd like to see a start with towns send their children to the school in their own town. Start with Riverhead: everyone who lives in Brookhaven town goes to school in Brookhaven, everyone who lives in Southampton town goes to school in Southampton.

[OhBeeHave]

That's all well and good, but what about districts which straddle the line? 3V has children from both the Town of Smithtown and the Town of Brookhaven.

[totallyfrazzled]

Originally Posted by nbres

How can so many Long Islanders go on complaining about the high cost of living here and high taxes without realizing the fact that to keep our little Island racially and socially segregated costs a lot of money.

Believe me there are many people who do indeed realize that LI's insularity pattern comes at a price, and that price is very high compared to many other areas. Are they happy about the size of that price tag? Of course most are not, but IMHO it is absolutely no crime to say "I really wish it wasn't as expensive".

I know a lot of people who live in areas both on and off (mostly off) Long Island who pay a lot less in taxes than I did in the last couple of houses I owned. In all cases, at least 50% or more less. Did I often complain about how high my taxes are? Sure I did. But that doesn't mean I would ever consider for one minute relocating to where any of them live. The reduction in cost just wouldn't come close to compensating for the loss of other things that are important to me. If the day ever comes when I'm no longer willing or able to pay the price involved in living on LI, then I will either choose to or have to move. But I can't see the first ever happening and I've lived here for six decades. If the second ever happens, I would do what I have to do but I would be absolutely miserable about it 24/7.

[Crookhaven]

Originally Posted by OhBeeHave

That's all well and good, but what about districts which straddle the line? 3V has children from both the Town of Smithtown and the Town of Brookhaven.

Very very very few from Smithtown.

crooks

[OhBeeHave]

There are enough -- HOH on the west side of the pond, the loop on the N side of 25A west of SB Rd.

There was a major uproar within the district when they were redistricting the school boundaries. Can you imagine the uproar if they had to reestablish cross township district boundaries?

In terms of shifting students, it's not a big issue. My thought is that there would also be other implications mired in layers or bureaucracy (sp?) that would impact funding and other state aid issues.