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And the yearly dance continues. According to newsday some schools are looking to break the tax cap. Others have been floating bonds to get around them. All this and they are getting significantly more state aid this year (which comes out of our income taxes, too). No mention from these districts on actually cutting real cost drivers, just threatening to cut programs for the kids and trying to scare parents into caving in. Sickening.
According to newsday some schools are looking to break the tax cap.
As I understand it, the tax "cap" is broken simply by having the annual budget passed by at least a 60% majority.
Does anyone here live in a school district whose budget increase last year was only 2%?? I don't know anyone who's been that lucky. Everyone I know has had their district's increase of anywhere between 4% and 6% passed by the voters.
ETA: It makes me a little crazy when people talk about the "2% cap" as if it's a guaranteed thing. It says right there in the fine print (LOL) that districts do NOT have to abide by the cap if at least 60% of the voters pass a budget increase of more than 2%! So no... districts are not "going to go broke because of the cap" as long as at least 60% of the people in the district say via their vote that they are fine with paying more than 2% over last year. Which, sadly, the majority of voters do. And it will likely stay that way as long as the majority of residents in a given district have kids in the system. ("We have met the enemy, and he is us.")
Can someone explain why we have 2 systems in general?
Why do we vote on school budgets when we elect BOE members?
Why do we not vote directly on village, town, county, other govt budgets but leave it to the ones we elect to do make a budget and then vote amongst themselves to break a cap or not?
Not saying either way is right, but its inconsistent. We should either just vote BOE members and let them do the budget or we should be voting on village, town, fire, garbage, sewer, county, state budgets directly like we do a BOE budget.
We should either just vote BOE members and let them do the budget or we should be voting on village, town, fire, garbage, sewer, county, state budgets directly like we do a BOE budget.
Letting BOE members "do the budget" would be like giving the fox the key to the henhouse, IMHO.
At least with a budget vote there is some semblance of democracy, albeit with the "soccer-parent voting bloc" acting the part that the superpacs essentially play in a national election...
The way the tax cap works is that it is a cap on specific items that are within the control of the BOE. There are other items, like how much the state is going to ask for a district to put in retirement funds or what not that are not part of the tax cap calculation. So, a district might stay within the 2% cap, but still have an effective tax rise over the 2% cap. School budgets are a very convoluted calculation. Not to mention that they have to develop the budget in March, vote on it in May or June, but they don't find out the tax revenues or actual state aid numbers till October. The issue really is that in a school the largest cost is the teachers (reasonable as it is a service based) and teachers are in long term contracts that can not be dialed back. In other words, teachers still get step raises and yearly raises based on contracts that were written in the "good economic days". Even when the economy tanked, those steps and annual raises kept going. Because of the Taylor/Triborough laws, the contracts couldn't really be brought back in line with economic reality. Those laws are really good laws to protect the middle class, but in the case of the teacher's union, it has unfortunately worked against the tax payer.
Large portions of ny property taxes are due to Medicaid. It's the only state that makes the counties pay large portions of the program. Add that to the fact that ny Medicaid costs more than twice as much as any other state and that the Feds only reimburse ny 50/50, and you have a big, big problem.
They need to do 3 things:
1. Have the state cover 100% what the Feds don't. This will make ny property taxes more in line with other states.
2. Stop overpaying hospitals and providers. Change what services Medicaid provides. I mean, how does ny pay twice the amount as any other state?
3. Get the Feds to bump up their contribution. Right now a bunch of states get way better reimbursement than ny. Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) for Medicaid and Multiplier | The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
The 2% Cap unfortunately isn't a *fix* when aside from contract years 90% of the budget is out of the SD's control.
If slashes are necessary, do it across the board.
Lower requirements for regents diplomas- drop all schools down to 6 periods a day.
Decimate sports, and cut unnecessary programs.
Limit teacher raises to just steps when the contracts are negotiated.
Cut 10% of administration.
Dunno though if that is worth the negatives it might bring.
I'm up for statehood. Why are we giving up millions to the meth-heads update, along with the Obamabot leeches in NYC? Can you imagine how nice our roads, infrastructure, and schools would be if we became a state and reformed the system? Where are the visionary politicians? They would be enshrined in Long Island history forever if they ever emancipated us.
Status:
"Let this year be over..."
(set 21 days ago)
Location: Where my bills arrive
19,219 posts, read 17,091,524 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chetstash
I'm up for statehood. Why are we giving up millions to the meth-heads update, along with the Obamabot leeches in NYC? Can you imagine how nice our roads, infrastructure, and schools would be if we became a state and reformed the system? Where are the visionary politicians? They would be enshrined in Long Island history forever if they ever emancipated us.
And what industry would be financing your vision of nirvana?
And what industry would be financing your vision of nirvana?
LOL, I wondered the same thing. NYS will slap a commuter tax on everyone "Long Island Stater" who commutes to the city the likes of which no one has ever seen and that'll be that. And where are the politicians who want to get off the NYS gravy train and fend for themselves in "the state of Long Island" or would it be ON the state of LI?
Long Island in no way, shape or form can sustain itself.
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