By Andrew Coen
Local state senators are irate over a recent court ruling on a Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit, which awarded billions of dollars to New York City schools, fearing that the decision will hurt the future state aid allocated to Long Island school districts.
Nassau County's state Senate delegation spoke out at a Feb. 17 press conference, held in the State Supreme Court building in Mineola, calling on Gov. George Pataki to appeal the court decision, which, they said, will penalize Long Island taxpayers and shortchange their schools.
Senators Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre), Charles Fuschillo (R-Merrick), Kemp Hannon (R-Garden City), Michael Balboni (R-East Williston) and Carl Marcellino (R-Syosset) joined forces at the press conference, urging Pataki to appeal a Feb. 14 decision by State Supreme Court Judge Leland DeGrasse, who agreed with a court-appointed panel's recommendation that the state provide New York City schools with a total of $14.8 billion over the next five years. If the ruling stands, the state will be forced to direct billions of state tax dollars to city schools, leaving districts on Long Island and other areas of the state with less money from Albany, according to the senators.
Last week's ruling upholds a June 2003 state Court of Appeals decision stating that students in New York City schools were deprived of the "sound, basic education" guaranteed by the state constitution. DeGrasse's ruling requires the implementation of a plan for a five-year, $14.8 billion funding increase for the city sometime in the next three months. The judge's order requires that after a four-year phase-in period, city schools receive a total of $5.63 billion in additional state aid and another $9.178 billion in capital spending. City schools have received a 56 percent increase in state education aid over the last decade, according to the Senate delegation.
"The taxpayers of the state of New York and the taxpayers of Long Island cannot afford a decision like this," said Skelos. "This is judicial activism at its worst."
"Legislation from the bench is not a fair solution, and we must protect the education of the children of Long Island," said Fuschillo.
B. A. Schoen, a member of the Baldwin school board, said the Campaign for Fiscal equity is a result of long-standing mismanagement by New York State.
"The bottom line is that there is definitely something wrong in the way schools are financed in New York State," he said.
Now, he says, officials are looking for some magical way to sweep the mismanagement away.
"The governor and the legislature know they're going to have to pay," he said. "But nobody knows [where the money is going to come from] and they're circling the field here before they put this big airplane down."
Schoen said that throwing money at the problem was not the solution to the problems in New York City schools.
"[The problems are] multifaceted," he said. "Things need to be well run. It takes a good staff that's well supported and well led. It takes parents that are engaged. It certainly requires the appropriate infrastructure. Students have to be in a warm building in the winter and a passably cool building in the summer."
If the decision stands, Long Island will receive about half the future state aid it would receive under traditional state aid funding formulas, according to the senators. In response to the 2003 Campaign for Fiscal Equity decision, the state Senate passed the Learn Act last year, which preserves the usual 13 percent of state aid given to Long Island and also provides hundreds of dollars in tax rebates to all homeowners in the region. Despite the legislation, the senators say the ruling by DeGrasse will mean less state aid available for distribution to areas outside New York City.
According to the senators, inadequate contributions from New York City taxpayers are responsible for funding deficiencies in the city schools, and they should be the ones to absorb the burden rather than Long Island residents and other New Yorkers. The Senate delegation pointed out that in an eight-year stretch from the 1994-95 school year to 2001-02, the percentage of money from New York City taxes used to fund schools fell from 50 to 41 percent, while the city's state aid rose from 42 to 51 percent. Nassau County schools saw 25 percent of their funding come from the state in the 2001-02 school year, according to the local Republican senators.
"Long Island taxpayers have demonstrated their commitment to sound education with their wallets, and those same taxpayers, particularly the ones from my district, have had to bear the brunt of reassessment and increases in real property taxes," said Balboni. "Children in New York City deserve a sound, basic education, but not at the expense of children who receive a sound education on Long Island. It's time we did something for the Long Island real property taxpayer."
"We see a real inequity that is going to continue to grow if this decision remains," said Skelos. "This would drive people out of Nassau County."
According to the senators, during the most recent school year for which tax information is available, 2001-02, New York City levied education taxes equal to $12.80 per $1,000 in actual value, while the statewide median was 43 percent higher, at $18.26 per $1,000.
"All we're saying to New York City, which I do not see as necessarily poor - especially the Manhattan part of it - is that they should pay their fair share of the burden," said Skelos.
"Long Islanders pay more than their fair share of taxes, and should not be asked to shoulder more of the burden while residents of the city get a tax refund," said Fuschillo. "Our children deserve the education they receive, and the Robin Hood approach the courts would like the state to take is not acceptable."
The senators also pointed to a study conducted by the Long Island Association, whose goal is to unify the region in order to strengthen it as a place to live, work and do business. The study showed how far ahead of New York City the region is when it comes to paying school taxes. The group's analysis showed that New York City taxpayers could absorb the entire $5.63 billion in additional education costs through direct local city taxes and still bear a tax burden in 2009 equal to what Long Islanders paid in taxes in 2000.
The state has the option of appealing the decision within 30 days.
Comments about this story? ACoen@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 210.
