Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed two ways to address the state’s $6.1 billion budget gap that could have a significant impact on Nassau County school districts – particularly in North Hempstead.
The first is to boost aid to local school districts by $826 million, less than officials were expecting based on last year’s increase of $1.1 billion and well below the $2 billion sought by school boards, unions and others.
The second is a change in the distribution of state aid.
Under the governor’s plan, 80 percent of the increase in school aid would go to high-needs districts and the state would end the traditional division of money among regions. This division guaranteed that Nassau and Suffolk would receive between 12 percent and 13 percent of any increase.
State Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan (R-East Northport) told Newsday, “This is going to decimate Long Island schools.” Cuomo called the division of money among regions “an anachronism.”
Cuomo is also calling for an overhaul of the state’s main formula for distributing money known as foundation aid to address the disparity in school spending between school districts that can range from as much as $36,000 per student to as little as $13,000 per student.
“That is an outrage, my friends,” the governor was quoted by Newsday as saying about the disparity.
This may not be welcome news to many school districts in North Hempstead where spending is at least close to that $36,000 figure.
The problem for Long Island is that if you believe in fairness and an equal playing field – virtues often taught to schoolchildren if not necessarily practiced by their parents – the governor has a point.
Students attending schools such as Brentwood, where spending per student is $14,019 per student, or Hempstead, where spending per student is $18,761, are just not getting an education anywhere near what students in North Hempstead are getting.
Worse, since most school funding is based on property taxes, “districts with expensive homes or commercial real estate can generate greater amounts of tax revenue than poorer districts, even though tax rates in the wealthier communities generally are lower,” according to a Newsday report.
Roger Tilles, a resident of Manhasset who represents Long Island on the state’s Board of Regents, said this results in the poorest people paying the highest share of their salaries to property taxes for their schools because they have little or no commercial property in their school districts.
And, as a Newsday series recently revealed, real estate agents have often steered black prospective home buyers on Long Island to school districts with low spending per student because of the color of their skin.
The fact that Nassau County is one of the most segregated areas in the state, it turns out, is not by accident.
Then add to this inequity a dysfunctional county assessment system.
According to a Newsday study, about $2.2 billion in taxes was shifted over seven years from generally more affluent property owners in wealthier districts who successfully appealed their property taxes to generally less affluent owners in poorer districts who did not.
Now add in a tax cap, which since 2012-13 has limited local governments to tax increases of about 2 percent per year.
This treats taxpayers like a modern-day Odysseus, lashed to the mast, so they cannot be seduced by the siren call of more spending. But it is very popular.
The downside is that the tax cap makes it harder for poor school districts to narrow the spending gap with rich school districts.
Still, change will not be easy.
The quality of the schools in North Hempstead is what drew many of its residents.
And no parent would want to see a reduction in the quality of their child’s education – or in the decline in property values that could accompany it.
In an ideal world, all school districts on Long Island would spend $36,000 per student, giving all our children the best chance to compete in the global economy of the 21st century.
But we know that is not happening.
Nassau residents often complain about high taxes yet when given the chance to do something about two-thirds of where their property taxes go – the schools their kids attend – they seldom do anything at the ballot.
But talk about schools that other kids attend, even when those kids live in a neighboring community, well that seems to be a different matter.
The usual response from those living in more affluent districts is that they pay a lot in state taxes and should get their “fair share” back. And by this, they don’t mean just Nassau County, but the part of Nassau County in which they live.
That goes a long way to explaining why Nassau County has 56 school districts.
This approach to schools stands in contrast to health programs where benefits are based on need with older residents often receiving a higher share of the spending.
Which raises the question of why not spend the same way with children? We often talk about children being the future but in many cases, but we don’t spend that way. At least, on all our children.
There is now a push to change this system to close the gap in spending between school districts.
We would like to see that happen. We also wouldn’t want to see a decline in the quality of education in our schools.
Perhaps we don’t need 56 school districts after all. Perhaps you don’t need to spend $36,000 per student to offer a first-class education. And perhaps poorer school districts should get more foundation aid and richer school districts should get less.
These are tough questions that we are being asked to answer.
