Coalition for Glen Cove

 

NY State Aid and the Glen Cove School District

The Glen Cove School District is one of four districts in Nassau County which is scheduled for less state aid this year.  (Newsday January 18, 2001).  The district has a number of unique attributes, which are not considered in the state aid formulas, and consequently the calculation of aid results in a detriment to the district and its taxpayers.  Among these attributes are:

  1. The current state aid formulas do not account for the dichotomy that exists in the City of Glen Cove, i.e. there is a small population of high wealth individuals and high wealth residences which skew the Combined Wealth Ratio and inaccurately reflect the needs and resources of the district.
  2. This comparison shows evidence of the needs of the district, with a significant low-income student population and a significant English language learners population.  The comparison further demonstrates that the Glen Cove School District is within the average range of spending per pupil, and within the average range for teacher salaries.  The state aid allocation for Glen Cove as shown by NYS Revenue Share is clearly deficient, as compared with districts like Long Beach and Malverne, who have similar but less need than Glen Cove.
  3. The state aid formula does not take into account that tax-exempt property, owned by the Glen Cove Housing Authority, contributes to enrollment in the schools without contribution to the taxpayer base.
  4. The Glen Cove School District has an extraordinary cost in school tax certiorari refunds.  During 1999-2000, the school district paid out $2.793 million for refunds, which is 6.3% on the total budget of $44.3 million, and 7.9% on the total tax levy of  $35.5 million.  (As you know, Nassau and Suffolk Counties pay all other school districts’ refunds.)  The graph within the attached article by the NY State School Boards Association “Assessment challenges cripple school funding” shows that Glen Cove’s tax refunds as a percentage of the tax levy far exceed even the high impact districts of New York State.
  5. The inadequacy of aid is also demonstrated by the Glen Cove School District’s operating on an austerity budget in 2 out of the previous 4 years.  Last year the budget failed with a proposed tax rate increase of 6.2%.
  6. NY State law requires that districts operating on an austerity budget must charge for all use of school facilities by outside agencies and groups.  This requirement would have eliminated La Fuerza Unida de Glen Cove’s before and after school programs and child care at Deasy Elementary School, had the School Board not honored the contract that was in place.  These types of services and programs need to be expanded in our schools, but cannot be expanded on austerity budgets.

It would seem that the state aid formula needs to provide for the special needs of school districts like Glen Cove, which for various reasons, do not fit the standard mold of NYS school districts.  In order for the district to educate its diverse student population in a safe and secure environment, Glen Cove needs support from the State of New York, at least to bring it up to a par with similar schools with similar needs in Long Island.