Pulse of the Peninsula: Vote yes on school, library budgets

Karen Rubin

My sons are celebrating their 10th and fifth college reunions this year, and hardly a day goes by when I still don’t thank the Great Neck Public Schools for their success. 

I am what is known as an “empty nester” — no longer with kids in the public schools. 

Still, each year, twice a year, when I pay my school taxes (the biggest share of what I pay to continue to live in my private home in Great Neck), I say, “worth every penny,” just as I did about their college tuitions. 

Both were investments in their future that have produced solid returns. And like a mortgage, instead of paying the full school tuition each year, the expense (I calculate about $600,000 for the two for their K-12 schooling) is divided up in annual payments, and like Social Security, the people who lived here when my kids were in school helped pay the freight for me, and I am doing the same for the families who have kids in school now.

I know my school taxes are worth every penny because I have been able to see where every penny — not just every dollar — is allocated and hear the rationale behind it. 

Each year I attend what should be a model for every school district and special district — a Saturday Budget Review when every line item is reviewed and in some cases argued and even amended. The district practices what is in essence zero-based budgeting, where each year’s allocation has to be justified, rather than just a multiplier from the year before.

This year’s budget review was particularly crowded  — not by anti-tax activists but by Great Neck teachers concerned that for just about the first time, the need to cut $3 million in spending meant cutting the equivalent of 14 full-time teachers from the budget plus 21 other employees including paraprofessionals. Who would be cut? they wondered.

It could have been much, much worse. The district had to cut out $3 million in spending in order to come under the tax cap of 0.17 percent (that’s one-tenth of the so-called 2 percent tax cap, which requires the lesser of 2 percent or the inflation rate). 

In actuality, with that kind of zero-growth budget when the district still has unfunded mandates to fulfill, lost revenue from grants and other non-tax sources, the district was looking at having to cut $5 million. 

But, thanks to judicious fiscal management that goes back decades, the district was able to allocate $2 million from its reserves.

 Next year, the fear is that there will be $7.5 million or more that has to be cut away, while mandated allocations for health and pension benefits will likely rise significantly.

 “This is untenable,” Trustee and Finance Committee Member Lawrence Gross said.

Since the Saturday budget review, when every line is examined, New York State restored $591,000 in Gap Elimination Adjustment funds— cuts made after the 2010 financial meltdown. 

But the school district still does not intend to restore the 14 equivalent positions. The rationale is that the $360,000 of the restored funds is a one-time payment, which will not be available next year, but the salaries will be an ongoing cost. Another is because enrollment is projected to be down somewhat this year, with the “breaks” allowing for some efficiencies and still stay within the district’s self-imposed small-class guidelines. 

They also will be cutting back on electives — offering a class once every other year, perhaps, or fewer sections.

Instead, Superintendent Teresa Prendergast is proposing to use $360,000 (the one-time payment) to reduce the amount from the district’s reserve fund it is using to balance the budget and the rest to restore the early morning drop-off program for elementary school students, hours for elementary English Language Arts and Math support programs, a percentage of the Student Index Allocation, essentially an allowance for principals to spend on supplies, material and equipment “in ways they see fit,” and to continue the district’s technology initiatives, as Joe Nikic reported (April 7).  

Now our school district — and especially our school board — operates as a model of responsiveness and transparency. The board implemented a voluntary “cap” on spending (at 2 percent) even before the 2 percent cap was officially mandated, and a couple of years ago, did not raise taxes as much as the cap would have allowed, precisely because its policy has been never to raise more money than is absolutely necessary. 

At the time, some parents (and me) criticized the board because by not taking the full amount allowed.

Indeed, the property tax cap penalizes a district for operating so responsibly, because essentially, it builds in that much less revenue the district can raise every year following. 

So this year, the school district may be seeing a decline in enrollment, but next year there could be an increase, or in any case, an increase that doesn’t “break” favorably in terms of being able to do without forming extra classes to preserve low class size. (On the other hand, the cap incentivizes delaying normal maintenance and repair in favor of a bond, because debt service is not counted toward the tax cap.)

But as Board President Barbara Berkowitz responded, when asked why the district doesn’t allocate all the restored GAP funds to keeping the positions in place, “While we would like to be able to afford everything that we can, we also don’t want to see a community that turns against a school district or a budget. It’s always a major concern of all of us that we need to, unfortunately or fortunately, represent the entire community’s needs and desires.” 

Great Neck’s public schools are in good shape because of long-time good budgeting policies. 

Other school districts are not in such good shape and because of the tax cap, have had to cannibalize their reserves until there is nothing left, and then cut away anything not specifically mandated — extra-curriculars, sports, music, art, theater — the alternate ways of tapping potential and cultivating learning, in fact, all the things that make going to school a pleasure instead of a prison.

Thank goodness Great Neck has so far been spared, and the results are seen in the extraordinary results of our students. 

Remember there is no intelligence criteria to live here, our schools are public schools which have to accommodate every child, and children with special needs cross every socio-economic demographic. 

Indeed, our special education programs have become so successful — with a graduation rate that exceeds even the rate for general education in the state and nation — that we attract out-of-district students who pay tuition and, in fact, have become an added-revenue center.

Of six North Shore, Long Island high schools ranked in the top 300 in U.S. News & World Report’s annual survey, Great Neck South High School rated the highest, ranking as the 136th best high school in the country and 19th best in the state.

None of this happens by accident. 

Our school board members — and Monique Bloom deserves re-election and our community’s gratitude for her service — have been doing a Solomon-like job in preserving our program against an impossible set of challenges — it’s very much like Pharoah ordering more bricks to be made without providing straw.

The way that our school board and administrators have handled capital projects is also laudable. 

Voters will be asked to approve $19 million in capital projects in addition to voting to approve the budget. 

This money has already been approved and is in a reserve fund, so there is no additional bonding or tax expense. Other districts, nearly bankrupted by the property tax cap formula do not have such a luxury, but their students and communities will pay a dear price for penury.

The state needs to throw out the property tax cap (it has already done its work in ringing out every penny of extra spending and cash reserves). 

Or, if that is not politically possible (because the tax cap is such a salient political slogan), the Legislature should change the formula significantly: change the cap so it is a reasonable increase tied to enrollment; if it is tied to inflation or cost of living, it should be whichever is higher (not lower); remove unfunded mandates including the allocations for Academic Intervention Services and special education from the calculation; remove from the formula a reasonable percent “cushion” (1-2 percent) to enable school districts to deal with the fiscal realities that they don’t get tax money for four months into the school year (otherwise, they have to go out for Tax Anticipation Notes). 

If government wants schools to run more like businesses (the supposed appeal of charter schools paid for with public money but operated by private entities), it has to recognize the significance of cash flow and a budgetary reserve to accommodate emergencies — such as recovery from Superstorm Sandy or the microburst (Great Neck was able to immediately pay for repairs from our reserves while other districts couldn’t).  

If government wants schools to run more like businesses, it has to make its planning and construction process more efficient, streamlined and flexible. Instead of building in more than a year lag time when the district can seek to rebuild its science lab at South High, get approval for the $172,000, then wait a year for the state Education Department to approve the plans before it can even go out to bid. 

It can rescind the Wicks Law which adds significant cost to every project. And unlike business, school districts have to go through their budget process before knowing how much state aid will be allocated, and with no control over the county’s assessment system, the impact of tax certioraris or PILOTs.

The school and library budgets are the only ones that go before voters. 

The four propositions on the ballot on Tuesday, May 17 have been considered with extraordinary care, transparency and public participation to the extent any of us wanted to participate, and deserve our support. We all must stand up for our public schools and libraries.

Voting, from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., is at E.M Baker School, for registered voters who live north of the LIRR, and South High School for registered voters living south of the LIRR. For information, contact the District Clerk at (516) 441-4020.

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