View: School taxes rise as state withholds aid

The Lower Hudson Valley has some of the highest property taxes in the nation, with taxes rising just about every year in most school districts.  But for many districts, these increases should have been avoided entirely in recent years, and residents should instead have had tax decreases.  The culprit for these unnecessary tax hikes: the state's refusal to pay the full amounts of aid due to school districts.

Since 2010, New York has used an accounting maneuver known as the Gap Elimination Allowance or GEA to annually divert a portion of aid due to schools to instead help close the state's budget "gap" caused by the recession.  Only two years earlier, New York had frozen "foundation aid," the main source of aid to schools, despite a commitment to increase the pot as a result of a lawsuit against the state.

With the recession over, there is no reason at all to keep diverting and withholding these funds.  According to Gov. Andrew Cuomo's statements during his re-election campaign, the state now has a $2 billion surplus. And this past spring, as a result of a settlement with financial institutions, the state received over $5 billion.

The state's withholding of funds rightfully due to school districts forces them to find other ways to meet their costs.  Staff and programs have been slashed and services have been consolidated.  The only revenue source left to make up the state's shortfall is higher property taxes.

As an example, for the 2013-2014 school year, Dobbs Ferry's school budget increased by about $1.5 million, resulting in a tax hike of 4.5 percent.  However, the district would have needed no tax hike and could have even reduced taxes if it had been given the full state funds owed for that year, about $2.25 million with full foundation aid and no GEA cut. Likewise, for the same year, the state shortchanged Somers by over $4 million, forcing a tax hike of 3.52 percent to cover the district’s budget increase of almost $2.5 million.  Again, Somers taxpayers could have had a significant tax decrease, or alternatively, could have restored programs and staff.  These are just two of many examples.

For several years now, residents have undertaken campaigns begging for full school funding to be restored, with the aim of both fixing what the Draconian cuts brought — increased class size, and reductions in advanced courses, language offerings, art, sports, extra help, summer school, support staff, and more — and providing badly needed property tax relief.

It is time for Gov.r Cuomo to stop underfunding our schools and hurting our taxpayers.  The governor should announce in his State of the State Address in January that he is ending the use of the GEA as well as providing the full amount of foundation aid due.  And he should not  attach conditions on school funding as he did last year, making aid dependent on unpopular educations reforms.  Taxpayers are tired of being penalized for a state budget deficit that no longer exists, costing residents hundreds and often thousands of dollars, for an obligation that belongs to the state, not the local taxpayer.

The writer is co-president of the Hastings-on-Hudson PTSA and co-chair of the New York Suburban Consortium for Public Education.