By Cindy J. Roth
"The more voters in an election year who tell people in power how unhappy we are and how we're being stuck with the brunt of taxes because we live in suburbia, well then maybe they'll listen to us," said District PTA Coordinating Council President Karen Hoffman.
The letter states that the district strongly opposes the proposed budget for state aid to education and calls the proposed budget misguided and unacceptable.
"This proposal does not address increased costs necessary to provide our children with high-level academic programs required to meet the state education standards," the letter states. "Our district would clearly be damaged and our property taxpayers would have to bear the brunt of a reduction in the state's share of funding. We urge you to oppose this proposal."
The letter also calls for an increase in unrestricted operating flex aid to fund the implementation of the standards and an increase in technology aid, as well as the restoration of BOCES (Boards of Cooperative Educational Services) aid as a reimbursable package, special-education funding and the current method of distributing building aid for capital expenses.
"We have to raise our voices at this point in time," said North Bellmore Schools Superintendent James Parla. "We're fighting for our schools, and we're fighting for our kids."
Pataki's executive budget calls for a .04 increase in state education dollars, for a total of $14.2 billion. The governor's largest initiative in the education budget was to combine 13 school-aid categories into one called flex aid.
Flex aid would provide districts with the ability to decide what their local education priorities are and target dollars toward those efforts. But there simply is not enough new money in the category to help much, school officials say. Flex aid must go to pay for a myriad of costs, including BOCES and special education in both private and public schools.
At the same time, Pataki has proposed spreading out building-aid reimbursements for capital projects over their "useful life," which could be 15 to 30 years. The proposal, if it receives legislative approval, would force many school districts to bond projects, as they would no longer receive up-front reimbursements from the state for renovation work.
The letter-signing campaign is not only taking place in North Bellmore. County-wide, different school districts are getting on board, and the Nine County Coalition, which comprises representatives from all of the downstate counties, is also throwing its support to the cause. The coalition is also advocating for a downstate regional cost factor in the budget that would provide more money for Island districts, where costs are higher than upstate.
Hoffman said she hopes to get the signatures of the about 2,500 district parents, as well as those of teachers and the school board. If North Bellmore residents have not received the letter, they can contact the school district for one.
"We have some very good legislators who have worked with us, so it's not an attack directed toward them," said Parla. "They fought for us before; they're going to have to fight for us again. They can't just rubberstamp the governor's proposal. They need to fight for additional funding."
