The East Meadow Board of Education has opted out of the planning process for the State Education Department’s regionalization plan, which seeks to standardize educational services in schools across New York. The board previously expressed opposition to the plan and its rollout at meetings in late-2024.
Last year, the regionalization plan was pushed through in an emergency ruling by the education department, which many Long Island school districts felt bypassed input from stakeholders, like school boards and superintendents. According to the department, the plan aims to enhance educational opportunities and operational efficiencies through increased collaboration among school districts.
As initially described on the education department’s website, the initiative does not intend to enforce mergers or consolidations, but rather to foster “cross-district conversations” and encourage shared programs and resources among component districts in each of the state’s 37 Board of Cooperative Educational Services, or BOCES, regions.
Nassau BOCES, Western Suffolk BOCES and Eastern Suffolk BOCES are the three regions on Long Island.
School districts, including East Meadow, were required to begin developing the regionalization plan in five steps, by slated deadlines. A “Strengths and Needs Tool” was due on Dec. 6, asking the district to report on items such as test scores, finances, transportation and special education services.
At a meeting in October, Kenneth Rosner, superintendent of East Meadow schools, said he had a “serious concern” about the emergency rule and how the plan was implemented, adding that “no conversations” were held. Some of the plan’s language suggests that local control could be taken away from school districts, and impact district autonomy, particularly when it comes to budgeting, staffing and educational programming decisions.
During a meeting on Jan. 8, the East Meadow school board decided to opt out of the regionalization planning process. The state education department granted districts permission to opt out in mid-December, and districts were required to decide by Jan. 15.
Even though the district is choosing not to take part in the planning process, it may still be required to take part in regionalization.
During the Jan. 8 meeting, board president Jessica Ricco-Simeone allowed trustees to voice their concerns. One trustee, Jodi Luce — who does not support the regionalization initiative — said she was worried that East Meadow could be penalized if it opts out of the planning process.
“We’ve been very clear that all of us are extraordinarily concerned about the possibility of the regionalization plan and that we all have, to say the least, reservations,” she said. “Nobody seems to be able to provide an answer as to whether or not there will be penalties of any kind for opting out. Primarily, my concern is fiscal penalties and the withholding of aid.”
East Meadow receives around $70 million in state aid annually.
The board has participated in meetings and forums with the state and other educational services, and it remains unclear whether East Meadow — and other districts — will face penalties for opting out of the planning process.
“In addition to the risk of fiscal penalties, nobody seems to be able to give us an answer as to whether or not we will be forced to participate in the long-term (regionalization) plan,” Luce said. “If participating in the long-term plan at some point becomes non-negotiable, how do we opt out of planning for something that we might be obligated to participate in? I just have significant reservations voting on this when we don’t have enough information to make an informed decision.”
Ricco-Simeone agreed with Luce’s comments, adding that the state is withholding information from districts.
“There are some districts on Long Island that can afford to not get state aid, but state aid is extremely important to the East Meadow School District, and I am in agreement with her that that is not something we can risk losing,” Ricco-Simeone said. “They have not said that’s what’s going to happen, but they also have not said that’s not going to happen. They could down the line say, ‘Well, if you weren’t part of the planning process and now it’s mandated that we do this, you’re penalized.’”
David Carl, school board vice president, said not opting out of the planning process was not a risk that East Meadow could take.
“I’m not willing to risk losing our community’s control over our schools, over our children, over our taxpayer dollars,” he said. “I think most of the board would agree with this — that we’re just not willing to give Albany control over a community like East Meadow.”
Five board members, including Ricco-Simeone and Carl, were in favor of opting out, while trustees Luce and Matthew Melnick chose to abstain from the vote. The vote required Rosner to provide written notification of the board’s decision to the state by the Jan. 15 deadline.
That written notification, according to the board’s tab on the district’s website, included “an express reservation of the school district’s rights and remedies respecting its decision not to participate in the regionalization plan and/or any other action that negatively impacts local control of the district’s operations.”
The next board meeting is slated for Feb. 5 at 7 p.m., at the Salisbury School in Westbury.