PROPERTY TAXES – A TAXPAYER'S PERSPECTIVE

We all know that property taxes in Nassau are going up and are out of control.  Many of our friends are finding it impossible to live here anymore. What can we do about it?  

As all good businessmen know, the first thing to do is to cut costs by cutting out as much overhead, fat, and waste as possible.  And the first place to start is on the big-ticket items.

We all get two different property tax bills each year for two main items: General and School taxes. Both contain a list of different fees.  As a result, the taxing officials get to change the subject anytime we try to address one of the items.  Let's find the big-ticket item.

For example, using data from one homeowner's taxes, school taxes were 66% of the total property tax bill.  This has been fairly consistent for several years.  In the Manhasset School District, of the school budget, 75% is for employee compensation.  Of that amount, 80% goes for instructional compensation.  Education is manpower intensive.

So, 66 times 75 times 80 equals 40% of the property taxes goes to school instructional compensation.  That's the big-ticket item.  It is also the one item that goes up every year without much resistance.  

Why?  And, What can we do about it?

The budget form itself is stacked against you.  It is extremely difficult to find out what the real numbers are.  The State law is stacked against you.  And the Commissioner of Education's Rules are stacked against you.  How did we get into this mess?  Years of happy complacency.  Nobody watched the store.  It will take years of effort to get the playing field back to level.   

We all want an excellent educational opportunity for the children of our district.  On Long Island many school districts do deliver this education, and we certainly want ours to be near the top of the comparison list, if not at the top.  How to get better?  Pour more money into it is the standard answer.  That is not necessarily so.  There is one fallacy that is preached as gospel:  More money for teacher's compensation results in higher achieving students.

This is not negative.  It is simply objective information.  Secrecy is the biggest obstacle.  If we knew what was going on, we probably would do something about it.  Not knowing, we do not try to find out and therefore unknowingly approve things that are detrimental to us.  We should not tolerate a refusal to answer or a mind-numbing lecture telling us we don't understand.  

All Boards meet in public session, but no one goes to them because they are so boring.  Most of the Board's real business is conducted in executive session where the meaningful discussions take place.  One has to look for the hints and then ask questions.  You will always get the answer to the question, but then you will find that 1) you didn't phrase the question carefully enough to get the answer you sought, or 2) you don't understand the answer because of the jargon or hidden caveats.     

The first step is to get a copy of the contracts your school board has with its two or three unions.  You will find such non-businesslike items as:
A ten-month working year with paid vacations during that time.     
A working week defined as a maximum of a little over 30 hours, yet when compared with the teachers' class schedule, turns out to be 20 or so hours.    

 A pay schedule that pays for the working week and also pays for work assigned above and beyond the classroom time, such as monitoring exams, correcting            exams, monitoring study halls, lunchroom, and detention rooms, coaching, chaperoning, and tutoring.
 A pay schedule that has built in annual pay raises for one and all that exceed the cost of living increases.
   Payments for travel and attendance at seminars increasing one's educational levels, so that the participant can then qualify for a higher pay scale.  
    Unlimited sick leave for tenured teachers.
    Full pay for half a year or half pay for a year for sabbatical leaves after 6 years' service and full pay for a year after 12 year's service.  

From this you will find that the school board has to hire teachers, and then has to hire permanent substitute teachers to cover for the absentees.  It is not negative to talk about this.  It is important for us to face the facts.  

Why is it that the school boards negotiate such a contract?  On Long Island each board negotiates its own contract with its own local unions.  The union organization, however, is massive.  During negotiations the union has a State representative present.  The boards use one of two or three Long Island law firms to do their negotiating.  Conflict of Interest, anyone?  The main state union must approve the contract before the local can accept it.  The union always wants more for its members.  The law firm wants to stay in business, and knowing what has been settled before, uses the same yardstick in several negotiations.  The school boards are helpless.  Their rejoinder is always;  “It's the Taylor Law”, or “We are required to negotiate in good faith,” or “The State negotiation rules require that this be done this way.”

The Taylor Law, and the rules of the “Public Employment Relations Board” are posted on the Internet. They contain no basis for the details of much of the process.  The basis may well lay in interpretations or court decisions, but the situation reeks.  The “Triboro Decision” apparently forces school boards to have their hands tied when negotiating.

The unions are not interested in improving education; they are primarily interested in preserving and improving their income, perks, and restrictive work rules.  Look at their efforts against charter schools.  Another area that restricts the flexibility of school boards is tenure for grade school and high school teachers.  Tenure is a good thing in colleges where controversial courses may be taught in controversial ways or with politically tuned words.  K through 12 education does not have this issue.  Sigma F equals MA, Shakespeare, and the mastery of English and foreign languages are fixed issues.

Tenure only protects the poor teacher from termination for failing to perform.  There are three types of people.  The first are few in number and perform in an outstanding manner all their lives because they are self-motivated.  Pay is interesting, but the challenge of the job is more important.  The bell curve says that the third group, also few in number get by by guile.  During the probation period, they perform well and mislead their supervisors into believing they are good workers.  Once with tenure, they quit on the job and stay there until retirement.  The supervisors shuffle them around to reduce any notice or inconvenience.  The largest group, in the middle, may do an outstanding job during their probationary period, but having tenure and no longer a challenge, fall off sooner or later, to larger or less degree as they anticipate retirement.

Unless you've been or are a teacher, you have never had 35-year job security. You and I knew every day we had to perform well just to keep the job we had, let alone get promoted.  Market forces should dictate teachers' compensation, perks, and work rules.  

Meanwhile, we need to alert our Albany representatives, that their survival depends on their contributing to the Long Island tax revolt effort.  Ask them to join with Mayor Bloomberg in eliminating tenure.  Ask them what they are going to do to reduce union influence in Albany.  Point out to them that while there may be 300 teachers in your school district, there are several thousand voters displeased with rising school taxes.  Whose side do they want to be on?  The ones with the money or the ones who can vote in their replacement?  

 It will take years of effort to get the playing field back to level.  You can help a great deal to improve our educational system by getting involved.