Skelos Wants "FAIR SHARE" of School Aid Unless of Course You are a Democratic District

I knew that the whole "fair share" rally held by Skelos and the Dysfunctional Long Island 8 was a crock and now it's been proven. First of all, Skelos, Marcellino, Hannon and Fuschillo have been celebrating mediocrity for years as the accept a lower average for school aid as a victory. It wasn't until school budgets started failing and parents and educators applied pressure that the Skelos 8 started to make education funding a priority.

Now we are seeing that the process for getting more funding for Long Island schools largely depends on what party your state senator belongs to. Skelos is playing politics with our childrens education and that simply cannot stand.

According to the New York Times, "If you look at the amount of property taxes that Long Island homeowners pay, or their wealth as compared to their property tax burden, the aid is relatively low,” said Tom Dunham, a spokesman for Senator Dean G. Skelos, a Nassau County Republican. Mr. Dunham pointed out that while overall aid for Long Island increased, some wealthy districts, like Great Neck, faced decreases in state operating aid.
(Great Neck, as it happens, lies in the district of Long Island’s only Democratic state senator, Craig M. Johnson. Thanks to a separate pot of money controlled and disbursed by Assembly Democrats, even Great Neck and other districts like it had a net increase in state funds.)"

Interesting isn't it.

I have always advocated fully funding schools and codifying an aid formula that works. The system is broken and needs to be fixed before next years budget deadline. That takes political courage which is sorely lacking from the Skelos 8. All districts deserve to be funded, not just some. That is what "fair share" means.
Let's look at the numbers Dunham talks about when it comes to "wealthy districts."

According to Money magazine, the Median Family Income in Great Neck is $108,934 and the average property tax bill is $12,153. Great Neck took a cut of -2.08% from last year.

In Skelos' hometown of Rockville Centre has a Median Family Income of $118,796 and a property tax bill of $7,093. State Aid increased 11.31%

In Hannons hometown of Garden City the median family income is $140,584 and a average property tax bill of $6,938. State Aid increased 1.73%

In Marcellino's hometown of Syosset the median family income is $115,034 and average property tax of $9,618. State Aid increased 8.26%

In Fuschillo's town of Merrick the median family income is $114,484 and average property tax of $7,613. State Aid increased 6.55%

In Democratic Senator Craig Johnson's hometown of Port Washington, average family income is $122,136 and average property tax is $13,515. State Aid was CUT by .72%

See any funny numbers there?

So what does Senator Johnson need to do to stop the cuts since Skelos is playing politics with school funding? He turns to his colleages Assemblyman Chuck Lavine and Assemblywoman Schimel to fill the gap. The Democrats in the Assembly came up with more money so that Great Neck actually received a 0.42 percent increase in overall state funding thanks to $200,000 in Assembly bullet aid and the restoration of $452,843 in high tax aid (Sen. Johnson fought very hard for that, because, as you know there was no way that the republicans were looking out for the 7th)
Port Washington was restored too . With an overall .6 percent thanks to a $50,000 infusion. proposed budget.

From a Johnson press release "This education budget repaired what would have been a disastrous plan for our schools, our children and ultimately all taxpayers," Senator Johnson said. "With this current economic climate, there was a fight for every last dollar. Despite these hardships, we were able to come up with a budget that places an emphasis on education and spares our children from bearing the brunt of this looming financial crisis. I thank Assemblywoman Schimel and Assemblyman Levine for being my partners in this process."

The republicans did the same thing last year after Westchester republican Senator Nick Spano was defeated by Democrat Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Skelos and the republicans went out of their way to screw Westchester on school aid. "This would never have happened if Senator Nick Spano was still there,” said Senator Dean G. Skelos, the deputy majority leader from Long Island, during a radio interview in New York City last week.

In a later interview, he insisted that Republicans had not sought retribution but that Westchester’s new senator, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, and her Democratic colleagues “fell asleep at the switch.”

Ms. Stewart-Cousins replied that the deal was made behind closed doors. “When you have Dean Skelos even pretending that somehow I sat in the chamber and said nothing — as if this were some discussion that was open and aboveboard — it is absolutely ridiculous,” she said.

Simply put, Dean Skelos does NOT CARE about your children.

Skelos Should Be Embarassed

Newsday reports on the hearing about the double-dipping that is draining our school budgets "Two state senators who fight for Long Island school funding, Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) and Kenneth LaValle (R-Port Jefferson), indicated at the hearing that double-dipping stories had embarrassed them. They've been answering pointed questions from constituents and upstate colleagues, too, who wonder why Long Island needs so much state aid."

Where were you while this was happening for YEARS, Dean?
Skelos has been on the State Senate since 1984 - that's 24 YEARS.
If Skelos showed half the concern over the years about education on Long Island as he has since budgets started failing a few short years ago maybe something could have been done sooner.
Why does it take a Newsday article to inform Skelos on what is going on in his own backyard?
Heck, his own former aide and now Nassau County Legislator Richard Nicolello was caught with his hand in the Pension cookie jar.

Not So Fast With that Victory Lap

Undoubtedly Skelos and the 'Long Island 8' will be shouting from the rooftops that Long Island is getting alot more money for the schools.
And that is true.
BUT once again there is no formula for school aid that will codify the amount Long Island will get. Year after year it will be a "fight" to make sure that schools are funded properly. And truth be told, the schools are still not being funded "fairly" or "fully." It's time to stop celebrating mediocrity and actually get real education funding reform done.
The problem we are facing with the George "Herbert Hoover" Bush economy is that the revenue the state is counting on to fund the spending bills might not be there. And next year could even be worse. Comptroller DiNapoli warns "The economy is in rough shape, and the worst may still be around the corner... The Division of the Budget is going to have to track spending and revenues very carefully. And Albany should keep an eraser handy.”

This is an eyes wide open comment that needs to be heard. There is no guarantee the money allocated will be available. And school districts and taxpayers should be prepared for that.