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What "event" is your district sponsoring to get the voters in? My former district sponsored a free Ice Cream social "for the kids" of course on budget vote night.
In Garden City the PTA would call in the days leading up to the vote, that stopped at some point after - I suppose - complaints. It's a violation of PTA bylaws. And they were worse than any robocalled.
I do remember HS kids coming to vote who were age 18. I think they were offered extra credit.
Most will pass.
Those that don't will hold re-votes until they pass. If they fail, the children will suffer. Either way, the faculty will not suffer. Taxes go up regardless of outcome. Heads they win, tails we lose.
I voted 'NO' for 15 of 20 years. Only once did the budget get voted down. And you know what? It was put up for a revote a month later. It was to fail at that point, the tax levy increase on the contingency budget was actually higher than the original budget. Who does that? The all-powerful NYS teachers union, that's who.
School budget increases have become such a big business in NY did you know if the teacher's union suspects a proposed budget is in danger of failing to pass, they employ consultants to go into a district to turn that around?
The LI school budget scam has been so successful, fire districts and library districts have become tax authorities too. And the LI property tax debacle is so famous (infamous), it's used by other states to defeat any ideas of using real estate taxes to fund primary education, the best example being Colorado. That's why most states have nominal real estate tax increases and most states out of the Northeast have far lower property taxes on homes.
Now there's an argument that in order to have that high standard of education, it costs money. Long Island school budgets are H-U-G-E. Year after year, NYS comes up as the best state for teachers. As has been pointed out on CD numerous times, the bulk of the school budget goes to salaries, lush benefits and golden pensions, not to student programs. THe days of saying if the budget doesn't pass the district will go on austerity have passed. It's all about the teachers. And don't believe any of the budget money in any district on LI goes to maintaining the districts' plant (school buildings). No, in my district the buildings were so neglected, leaks, mold, crumbling walls and ceilings, rodents and more were the rule. Instead, they wait until conditions are really bad, then propose a bond issue to fund the maintenance and upkeep. Did I mention this was in an affluent north shore school district?
If your budget fails, they will cut services and programs for the kids. In fact, the re-worked budget, for the re-vote in June, will have those cuts. The employees will get theirs no what happens with the budget. The vote is a joke. They should just abolish it.
It is kind of fun to see them sweat though. The last year we lived in NY, the budget failed. Oh, the crying and teeth gnashing from teachers and their families, as if the vote would affect them one bit! But they knew that if services were cut, they'd be the bad guys. And I'm not exaggerating, the day after the vote my neighbor was crying at the bus stop, her sister was a teacher in town.
QFT. The budget vote exists to give taxpayers the illusion of control. Failure cuts out extra curricular activities for the kids, but the staff sacrifices nada pretty much.
As far as I know, extras taxpayers really count on depend on the budget passing. An example would be full day kindergarten. Some parents can't get to work without it.
Seems like another drama-free budget day. Newsday's coverage focused on some personnel expansion in social workers and security: "Twenty districts responding to Newsday's survey reported plans to hire more psychologists, guidance counselors or social workers. A dozen districts cited plans for extra security precautions, such as contracting for armed guards or reinforcing school entrances to bar potential intruders."
Even Newsday's highlighting of veteran teachers' salaries won't raise any eyebrows this century: "Full annual salaries for senior teachers ranged from about $119,000 to $136,000 in 2017-18, according to the latest compilations by the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association.". Newsday didn't even try their usual averaging of superintendent salaries to stir things up.
And it is old news (even by Newsday standards) that the ESL population continues to increase: "Other districts plan to give additional support to newly arrived students who speak limited English. Jericho, for example, has hired two new instructors certified to teach both academic English and English as a New Language, otherwise known as ENL."
QFT. The budget vote exists to give taxpayers the illusion of control. Failure cuts out extra curricular activities for the kids, but the staff sacrifices nada pretty much.
As far as I know, extras taxpayers really count on depend on the budget passing. An example would be full day kindergarten. Some parents can't get to work without it.
The triple threat is the same as always - if the budget doesn’t pass...
- no full day kindergarten hits the young or about to be parents
- no art/music/drama for middle school hits the elementary school parents
- no football or other popular sports hits the middle school and high school parents
The triple threat is the same as always - if the budget doesn’t pass...
- no full day kindergarten hits the young or about to be parents
- no art/music/drama for middle school hits the elementary school parents
- no football or other popular sports hits the middle school and high school parents
Bingo And you forgot one major thing, that hits all three groups. Bussing within the district. It becomes necessary to increase the distance you live away from the school, to qualify.
Ok..now that the yearly May school budget vote whine comes to a close one must wonder what's the next LI CD Moanfest going to be. Police? LIRR? Optimum? Maybe landscapers and their noisy blowers on Sunday.
After reading all the opinions here, I still have no problem calling teachers SELFISH CROOKS. None.
The #1 problem on LI is high taxes, and they keep doing it to us.
Who is they?! People just like to ***** and moan. Then ignore all the real issues and the root causes of them. School taxes are high because we're efffectively the "property" richest people in NYS and education equity laws dictate how aid is granted. Change that and maybe something happens. Good luck. We get 10-40% of our funding from state aid and the rest is taxes. Poor areas get up to 100% state aid. They will still complain their taxes are too high (because they're property poor). We complain our taxes are too high (because we're property rich). The difference is our schools are great, their's suck. We keep out charters and magnets, they can't get them fast enough. Our unions OWN the community, their's are trying to keep teachers from getting laid off. Our unions are the biggest voting block, biggest supporters, biggest street team of campaign workers and contributors. Ironically, it's Wyandanch and Hempstead who get screwed the worst. Pockets of poverty in the middle of what the State sees as an abject wealth cash cow. They don't get enough aid AND cant raise taxes. Thus the academic failures.
Forget voting NO on contracts and vote incumbent Repubs and Dems OUT and replace with 3rd party or independent candidates. Ones outside the ponzi schemes and machinations that are bankrupting us. Vote for board members who have BUSINESS acumen, not retired teachers and sheet metal workers. Nice folks, but they rubber stamp what the lawyers tell them to with little oversight. Vote for ones who will look at a shizz contract and say NO to the powerful forces across the table. The powers that be make sure "they" don't get on the ballot in the first place.
Or just do the same old ***** and moan about the (lack of) results.
Last edited by monstermagnet; 05-22-2019 at 10:35 AM..
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