New Jerseyans voted down a record number of public-school-district budgets last month. New Yorkers will have a chance to do the same on May 18 — and should.
According to state Education Department data, New York’s biggest statewide rejection of school budgets in the last four decades was just 34 percent in 1978. On the other hand, the 58 percent rejection rate that Jersey logged last month was its largest in 35 years.
The Empire State’s public-school establishment is hoping it will be business as usual. The New York State School Boards Association, for example, is trying to claim that school districts are proposing spending hikes averaging “just 1.4 percent for 2010-11,” with the statewide average property-tax levy rising 3.2 percent, which is “lower than the five-year average of 4.8 percent.”
In fact, the Empire Center for New York State Policy reports, statewide spending would rise 2.1 percent on a per-pupil basis — with the average per-student tax levy jumping 4 percent.
On the same per-pupil basis, proposed spending increases average 3.2 percent in Nassau County, for an average tax hike of 4.1 percent. In Suffolk, spending would jump 2.6 percent and taxes 3.8 percent; Westchester districts want 1 percent more per pupil, for a levy increase of 2.3 percent.
But the district-to-district variation is far wider — some would actually cut the per-pupil tax levy, while four Suffolk and two Westchester districts want hikes above 10 percent. A total of 191 districts across the state want to increase spending faster than inflation.
The districts reducing taxes deserve kudos. And, since New York property-tax burdens are already too stiff, and countless taxpayers are suffering along with the economy, those districts seeking tax hikes should be ashamed.
But will West Islip voters actually turn down the request for a 10.2 percent jump in the per-pupil tax levy? Will Mt. Vernon City reject a 12.8 percent rise, or North Bellmore a 9.8 percent jump?
Both New York and New Jersey desperately need a tax rollback. For example, on the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council’s “Business Tax Index 2010: Best to Worst State Tax Systems for Entrepreneurship and Small Business” (which I author), New Jersey ranked 50th among the states and New York 47th.
But New Jersey benefits from the strong leadership of Gov. Chris Christie, who implored voters to reject excessive school budgets. New York so far has no prominent statewide leader urging the same, let alone echoing Christie’s warning that teachers unions need to renegotiate unsustainable contracts.
Indeed, Christie is now pushing for reforms of the system that, in New Jersey as in New York, is rigged to ensure that government employees keep getting lavish compensation packages, burdening taxpayers with runaway public-pension costs.
On the other hand, if a tax revolt does materialize on May 18, it truly will be a bottom-up, grass-roots revolution — and you can bet that some leader, or would-be one, will aim to take up the cause.
Raymond J. Keating is a Long Island-based econo mist and writer.