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S. C. Commission looking for ways to reduce education costs A Suffolk County Commission to evaluate school district expenses and to come up with cost saving measures and efficiencies, held its second hearing in Hauppauge. The 13-member panel, chaired by S.C. Leg. Lou D'Amaro, listened as the public outlined its concerns, and offered ideas for reducing the cost of education on Long Island. While opinions varied, most agreed that what is needed is major change, which will be a challenge to implement. "No one likes change and some things will be difficult and meet with resistance but there is a lot that can be done," said Dr. Dolores Faber, an educator. "What we need is tax reform for older people and young people who cannot afford to stay here." The goal of the commission is to build consensus around cost saving measures. It was established through legislation that was signed into law by S.C. Exec. Steve Levy. It will be conducting hearings through November and then move to fact finding. The commission is expected to have a final report prepared before it expires in March, 2007. The commission was formed through the efforts of D'Amaro who recognized during his campaign for the legislature that taxpayers were vitally concerned about the high cost of providing educational services on Long Island. He made a commitment to review the problem and come up with some solutions. "This is the first step in keeping with the promise I made," said D'Amaro who added that he focused on making the commission as broad and inclusive as possible. "This is not about finger pointing and placing blame. It is about finding solutions to problems." The committee includes lawmakers as well as representatives from school districts, including Lindenhurst Superintendent of Schools Neil Lederer. Meanwhile the speakers had many ideas to present to the commission. Farber said Long Island should look at ways to set the level of taxes for senior citizens after having lived here for a specific number of years-a Long Island Homesteading act-and offer tax reductions for young families. In addition, she said that the state's method of distributing aid should be revamped to address inequities. She compared two school districts in Suffolk of approximately the same size, saying one received $25 million a year in aid, while the other only received $13 million. The state has to change the way it distributes this funding," she said. Finally, Farber said that Long Island should look to consolidate superintendents position between the 70 school districts in Suffolk, phasing out the posts as superintendents retire. The concept of consolidation of administrative overhead has been the subject of review by former Deer Park School Board member Jack Coughlin whose figures indicate the 70 Long Island districts could save a total of $100 million a year if the plan were enacted. Under Coughlin's proposal, the three BOCES districts on Long Island would assume the role and services of each district's central office, leaving principals in place who would assume the administrative duties in each building at the local level with each district. "We have good school districts, providing good education to students, but now we have to work to control costs," Coughlin told the Committee. In addition to consolidation, he suggested that Long Island look to an income-based taxing proposal to fund education, and establishment of an independent position to monitor school spending and eliminate corruption. Other school officials pointed to the cost of healthcare insurance and pensions as one of the major factors driving up school district budgets and also said increased responsibilities placed on school districts from the state and federal government are a major issue. Many of these added responsibilities come with no additional funding from the state and have a price tag attached that must be paid for by raising the local tax rate, they testified. Speaking as an individual, West Islip School Board Trustee Barbara Heine told the committee that a change in law easing some of the restrictions on bids could also save money. "There have been times when we put out bids for maintenance or construction, a large part of the budget, but we get no one from the local area responding," said Heine. "Many of them are disqualified because they don't pay the mandated state wages, but it would seem to me that we could same tax money and give the job to an individual who pays taxes in our community if some of these restrictions were eased as long as they lived in Suffolk County and hired legal workers." Combining the purchasing power of Long Island schools and tapping into the county bidding process is another way to save money, said two school officials from West Babylon. Superintendent Mel Noble told the committee that all of the above entities could cooperate for things like transportation costs and refuse removal, thus reducing those individual costs. "I see very nice name plates in front of you," Anthony Cacciola, West Babylon's business administrator told the committee as he used them as an example of how the schools and the county could cooperate. "We all use name plates. Some make them in house and others buy them, but they are expensive. Maybe we could establish a purchasing cooperative for things like that". Other more dramatic and controversial suggestions were made. Janet Austrian of Huntington said it is time that all school districts eliminate "frills" such as athletics and music and provide them to students based on user fees. "Taxpayers are supposed to provide a basic education to our young people who are the future citizens in our communities," she said. "But if parents want their kids to be football stars or play the violin, they should pay for it."
The committee will be holding another hearing November 14, 6 to 8 p.m., in the in the William Rogers Legislative Building in Hauppauge.
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