By JOSEPH KELLARD
The self-described shepherd boy, Dr. Seymour Strauss, was discouraged to learn that the Oceanside School District¹s $116 million budget was approved by a vote of 1,651 to 1,208 last week, particularly since he made a concerted effort to defeat the 2007-08 spending plan.
Strauss, a retired dentist who has long opposed Oceanside¹s annual school budgets because, he says, the accompanying tax increases make homeownership increasingly more ³unaffordable,² joined forces with 12 other like-minded Oceansiders in an effort to counter ³Goliath,² the teachers¹ unions and legions of PTA moms pushing for the budget to be passed, he said.
Ultimately, Strauss and his dozen were up against a record passage rate, in which more than 95 percent of budgets statewide were approved. On Long Island, budget spending and tax increases were the lowest in nearly a decade, and in Oceanside, the tax levy increase ‹ the total amount to be paid through property taxes ‹ was 3.9 percent ‹ almost 1 percent smaller than the increase from the current budget.
³At 89 years old, I¹ve had it,² Strauss said about his defeat-the-budget campaigns. ³I can see it is hopeless.²
Calling the budget¹s financial impact a ³train wreck² and his efforts to defeat it his ³obligation following the doctrine of sin of omission,² Strauss recruited his 12 supporters from various prominent community organizations to assist him in circulating petitions and distributing fliers.
The margin between yes and no votes for the budget was 443, up from about 150 last year, and the spending plan passed in all four polling places, at Schools 5, 6 and 8 and Oceanside High School. ³This is the first time I can remember it passed in all four areas, which means it covers all sections of Oceanside,² said Superintendent Dr. Herb Brown.
Michele Hochhauser was among the more than 1,600 voters who supported the budget. ³It¹s good for your property taxes and it¹s good for a strong school,² she said at OHS.
Lisa Carlisi, who has four children enrolled in Oceanside schools, also approved the budget. ³I want our children to have the new technology and opportunity to succeed,² she said.
Technology was an area in which the Board of Education invested extra money in the budget ‹ about $70,000 for video conferencing, which allows students to communicate with their peers in other cities and countries ‹ up from the $10,000 to $12,000 the district has invested in recent years.
The board also budgeted about $50,000 to pay for more teachers to expand the district¹s mentoring programs for ³at risk² students in various grades and for high school freshmen.
³I want my child to have all the benefits the budget has, all of the clubs and activities,² said another mother who voted for the spending plan.
Asked what she would say to people who voted against the budget, another parent, Lori, said, ³Anyone who is voting against the budget is doing them an injustice. Older people without kids sometimes vote against the budget.²
One woman, an ex-New York City schoolteacher who voted against the budget, along with her husband, said, ³I can¹t afford the school taxes anymore; it¹s really gotten out of control. They are driving away the middle class.²
This year¹s turnout in Oceanside was down from 2006, as both school board trustees, Maryanne Lehrer and Robert Transom, ran unopposed and were re-elected. When board members are unchallenged, turnout for both the board and budget votes typically decreases. But last year¹s elections also saw two incumbents run unopposed.
One of them, board President Al Lyson, commenting on the lower turnout, said, ³You wonder whether or not that means that they think everything is wonderful and they don¹t worry about it. It¹s hard to read that.²
In 2006, just under 1,900 voters approved the $111.4 million budget, while 1,750 voted no. Lyson said he is always concerned about an uncontested election and how it may affect the budget vote. ³When there¹s no opposition, the voting is always in doubt,² he said. ³You can generally count on at least 1,200 no votes. So that when you¹re losing 900 voters, as we did this year, you wonder. Obviously we¹re losing a lot of people who voted no in previous years and didn¹t bother voting this year.²
Asked what accounted for this year¹s overwhelming support for budgets ‹ most with lower tax levies and spending increases ‹ Lyson said, ³That the freewheeling, you-can-do-whatever-you-want-to-and-get-your-budget-passed days are gone.²
Brown attributed the widespread support for Long Island¹s budgets to local lawmakers. ³I think a lot of the credit has to go to the state senators who brought aid to Long Island at a very high level, because that kept the tax levies down,² the superintendent said. ³And the boards deserve credit because they created budgets that were lower than last year¹s, also.²
Less than two months before last week¹s vote, Gov. Eliot Spitzer signed a state budget that increased public school aid by 10 percent, delivering an additional $1.7 billion to schools. Oceanside received about a 15 percent increase in state aid after Senate Republicans sought to bring more education dollars to Long Island, arguing that districts with higher taxes deserve more state aid. Like most districts, Oceanside used the extra revenue to lower the tax levy increase.
Still, Strauss was on a mission to inform others that Oceanside¹s spending plans are still too burdensome. His fliers included a statement from Nassau County Assessor Harvey Levinson, who has been saying that property taxes will double in 10 years. When Strauss¹s supporters put these fliers on the windshields of cars in local shopping centers, Brown called 4th Precinct police officials and asked about the legality of what they were doing.
³They weren¹t handing them out, they were pasting them on cars,² said Brown, who faxed a copy of the flier to police.
Strauss said he learned from people who signed his petitions that PTA moms and teachers were sending out letters and calling residents in an effort to get them to support the budget, warning of the educational ramifications if they voted it down.
While school districts can only mail letters to residents to encourage them to vote, PTAs are permitted to use their own phones to call people to persuade them to vote in favor of the budget, a common practice in other districts. State teachers¹ unions reportedly spend more than $1 million annually, including on ads and leaflets, promoting local budgets.
³Nothing is going to change until you break these teachers¹ unions,² Strauss concluded.
Lehrer, Transom coast to victories
Maryanne Lehrer, a board member since 1977, ran for re-election unopposed and received 2,106 votes. Also running without a challenger, Robert Transom attracted 1,813 votes. Transom has been re-elected to the board without opposition since he was first elected in 1997. Their seats hold three-year terms.
³I think the community has two volunteers in Maryanne and Bob that they can be very proud of,² Brown said. ³They work tirelessly for no pay to help the community, and they¹ve been doing it for a long time. I think the community understands that, and that¹s why no one opposed them.²
Marc Beja contributed to this story. Comments about it? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 287.
