Board of Education Urges Public: Get Informed About Tax Cap

The Sayville continued its preliminary 2011-2012 budget discussions at its meeting Thursday. However, board members said the talks remain subjective since they don't know proposed state aid figures for the district nor if they will be facing a property tax cap. For now, the course of action is informing the community and keep speaking to local legislators.

“It’s too early to tell where we are at,” said Superintendent . “We won’t have all the information we need to start the budget process until after February 4 when the governor proposes his budget to the state.” Dr. Schartner compiled a list of all the non-mandated elementary, middle and high school programs that would need to be cut.

According to Schartner and the board, the proposed two percent tax cap would have a devastating effect on Sayville School District, as well as many other districts on Long Island, especially those that rely heavily on state aid. Assistant Superintendent J.J. Belmonte presented a chart of what Sayville schools would look like if the tax cap becomes a reality. He said there would be no more sports, clubs, after-school activities, AP classes, electives and more. Full-day kindergarten could be eliminated as well and approximately 60 teachers would lose their jobs.

“This list wouldn’t even cover all the cuts that need to be made,” Belmonte said.

“We need to start discussing these possibilities down the road; our biggest fear is being forced into a tax cap,” Schartner said. “We left out flyers for people to take to see how tax caps have been unsuccessful in other states.” For example, Schartner pointed to Massachusetts and how tax caps created further divisions between the affluent areas and the poor ones. But that example included more state aid, whereas New York is cutting its aid even further.

Deputy Superintendent Dr. Geraldine Sullivan-Keck added, “Sayville has some of the most well-rounded students and it’s the arts programs, the sports and the extra programs we offer that makes them that way. These kinds of cuts affect core learning.”

Board vice president Maureen Dolan urged the community to get involved and to get informed. “We are talking about larger class sizes and emotionally you are going to lose these kids,” she said. “We need the community’s help; the more people who get involved, the more they will pay attention.”

To heighten the concern, Sayville School District could lose $3.4 million in state aid alone from 2009-2010. The Suffolk County School Superintendents Association said that New York State’s tradition of community control of the public schools is better aligned with the contingency budget cap than a property tax cap. The association also said that any cap should be sensitive to local control and community input. “We need to maintain local control and we need to let our community decide what to do with the schools,” Schartner said.

“This is not just a school issue,” said Deborah VanEssendelft, board of education President. “This is a quality of life issue. These candidates ran on this tax cap because it sounds like a good political soundbyte. It got them elected but it’s not going to keep them in office once the public realizes what it really means.”