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D'Amaro Commission of School Efficiency issues its report In some ways the long anticipated report by the Suffolk Commission to Evaluate School District Expenses and Efficiency contained information that well, we didn't need a study to figure out, namely that trends in state aid to schools and school district spending are the prime causes of the problem of soaring school taxes on Long Island. What was new, however, was that the report pointed to several areas in which every district could save money, primarily through consolidation of services. "What makes this a unique report was that not only that all recommendations were adopted unanimously but that the commission itself was made up of people representing all sides of the school tax debate," said S.C. Leg. Lou D'Amaro who chaired the commission. "It was an attempt to stop the finger pointing, stop the blaming and build consensus." Off the table from the start was the issue of consolidating school districts to save money, which allowed the commission to open other avenues of discussion, said the lawmaker. "We looked to offer recommendations that would increase school efficiency and reduce school spending without combining school districts, which is not a popular idea on Long Island," said D'Amaro. The report made several major recommendations, which are now being circulated to school districts across the county. They include: •the expansion of the website administered by the County that would give school districts or other municipalities opportunities to "shop around" for the lowest price on goods and services; •the expansion of an existing study being conducted by Eastern Suffolk BOCES to Western Suffolk with an analysis by Western Suffolk BOCES or the LI Regional Planning Board. Such a study would analyze the feasibility of functional consolidation measures for administrative functions; •studying the concept of a regional transit system and the adoption of legislation to allow school districts the opportunity to enter into multi-district transportation contracts; •enacting a pilot program to demonstrate the feasibility and impact of creating an investment pool. In addition, the study recommended a review of analysis to determine if any school districts or municipalities in the county would benefit from the county's Employee Medical Health Plan, which is self insured. It also recommended that school districts adopt a Leadership In Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), program, which sets a certifiable building standard that could save districts hundreds of thousands of dollars in energy costs. The County and the Town of Babylon have adopted this program and implemented the standards into all of its building codes.
But the study went beyond what schools can do to help reduce the local cost of education to taxpayers. It also recommended that the state and federal government discontinue the practice of passing along mandates, the cost of which must be borne at the local level. "Any new state and federal mandates must be accompanied with full funding and a cost-benefit analysis should be required of all new mandates, with the fiscal impact statement specifically calculating the affect on all municipalities," the study said.
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