2%  Cap, or Not?

By Mike Schlank

Since the Great Recession began more than 5 years ago we have grown accustomed to hearing about how bad “this” budget cycle is going to be. A common refrain has been this being the “worst year ever”. We have called upon the community to support a slate of candidates because “THIS election is the most important one yet.”  The employees of Three Village have even agreed to painful concessions two years running because of the dire straits that the district found itself. Each year we sound the alarm and magically a deal is cut a budget is passed and we move on with our lives. But this year we have exhausted the workarounds. There are no more bailouts from the federal government or New York State, there is nothing more to giveback, and there is no deal to be had here. And the stakes could not be any higher.

An interesting thing happened last year. In a game changing vote that was in many ways overshadowed by the historic decision to legalize same sex marriage, a 2% tax cap became law. That 2% tax cap prohibits any school district or local government from passing a budget that is greater than 2% of the previous year. The only way to override that 2% limit is to have 6 in 10 of the voters approve a budget increase that is greater than 2%.  For some context---a quick back of the envelope calculation would indicate that in order for the Three Village Central School District to maintain the current programming and staffing levels we would need something like a 10+% increase.  The difference between 10% and 2% is (and again back of the envelope) leaves us with about a 10 million dollar shortfall. 

As it stands now the teachers, parents, and most certainly our children will begin the next school year in a district that looks radically different than what it looks like today. There will be less of everything except the number of students in our children’s classrooms. It would be presumptuous to lay out what that exactly might look like but lets just for a moment understand that there is no magic bullet this year. How many entire academic programs will be lost? What exactly does this do to class size? How many extracurricular activities will remain? And how different the district looks is anyone’s guess at that moment.  But know for certain that this will be a district that you will not recognize.  A 2% tax cap is specifically designed to remove local control from our Board of Education and our community and place those decisions in the hands of politicians and education bureaucrats in Albany. This will alter the nature and quality of public education inexorably.

While this is a bleak picture for sure-- there is a glimmer of hope. We can take back that control but it will require a Herculean effort and each of us has to be committed to the task.  We will have to help educate the public about why a 2% budget is not the answer. How that will devastate our schools and destroy our property values. How it will forever change the very nature of the Three Village community.  How an override by 60% of the public is the most important vote this district has ever faced to date---and that this call is not just another budget cycle scare tactic.

Without massive public pushback those changes will begin this year and become the new normal.  Now no one will suggest a 10% increase is a reasonable or doable budget increase but it is our hope that the Board of Education sees clear to put forth a budget that is greater than 2% of an increase. If the Board does that —then the question becomes how badly we want to fight to educate the public and maintain the excellence of what we have worked so hard to build and what are you prepared to do about that?   We can take back local control and prevent this law from completely gutting our district.   It will require each of us to join the fight and take back control of our district from the bureaucrats and politicians who have made their bones by demeaning you and demonizing public education.  

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