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School budget vote 'reforms' would be killers
March 16, 2006 With personal visits and faxed messages, union activists are urging lawmakers to reject two dangerous 'reforms' proposed for statewide school budget voting. They're killers. One provision would limit school districts to a single budget vote; a second would reward home owners with a $400 rebate check if they live in a school district that voluntarily adheres to the contingency budget cap. "The 'one strike and you're out' policy will lead school districts to adopt unreasonably austere budget proposals with damaging cuts and layoffs," said New York State United Teachers President Dick Iannuzzi. "They'll desperately try to keep budget increases as low as possible to make it more likely voters will approve it in a single vote." Already, reports from the field indicate districts now drawing up their proposed budgets for the May 16 vote are talking about staff layoffs, program cuts and even school closings. School districts depend on their ability to resubmit budgets, often trimming spending or getting more people out for a second vote. Of 679 total budgets submitted to voters last year, 112 were defeated on the first vote. Of the 98 districts that chose to have a second vote, 72 of those budgets passed the second time. Had these districts not been allowed a second vote, all would have been limited to contingency budgets that this year were capped at 3.24 percent growth. The $400 rebate plan is even more disturbing, Iannuzzi said. "This is like offering residents a $400 bonus for voting 'no' on their school budget," Iannuzzi said. Worse yet, if a community supports the district's budget proposal for an increase above 4 percent, the governor's plan penalizes the district by freezing the school's state aid the following year. "We're meeting with legislators to let them know just how damaging these reforms would be," Iannuzzi said. Letters urging legislators to reject the school budget vote changes are posted on the union's political action site at www.nysut.org. — Sylvia Saunders |
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