Board of Education Work Session Highlights

In case you missed last night's Board of Education public work session, here's the highlights of what was discussed:

Elimination of County Guarantee

The Nassau County Legislature late Saturday night, and as proposed, the Legislature approved eliminating the county guarantee. By eliminating it, more than $80 million from the county's ledger was shifted onto the school districts in the form of tax certiorari settlements.

That means that schools, along with villages, towns and other local municipalities would be required to pay tax certiorari refunds for challenged commercial and residential property assessments, when before, the county picked up the tab. School districts would also have to pay the legal fees accompanied with defending itself in court. The proposed law would not go into effect until 2013.

Superintendent of Schools, Dr. William Johnson, said that the school district would have to set aside more than $1.3 million in a reserve fund to pay for the challenges, and that doesn't include money for legal fees. "I just think this is wrong," Johnson said. "This really is a mistake."

Johnson added that not only would the district need an additional $100,000 -$500,000 to pay for legal fees, but the district's budget for 2011-2o12 could be adversely impacted by it. The tax levy could increase by as much as one percent, he said. Since the district only has one source of revenue, the burden of raising the additional funds would most likely fall on the backs of resident taxpayers.

Board member Stephen Kriss agreed that county school districts need to band together to challenge this. "We're going to fight this," he said. "But if we lose, the $1.3 million will fall on the taxpayers, and we're going to have to prepare for that."

Johnson added that in the worst case scenario, the district would have to shell out nearly $2 million in tax certiorari refunds. "We'll have to go to court to defend [the county] system," he said.  

Alternative Funding Committee

Board Secretary Mark Masin said that a subcommittee of the board has been formed to help find the district alternative funding. "We're looking for different revenue streams that the school district can gather support from," Masin said.

He added that the district is not looking to go down the same fundraising road that a booster club or PTA would employ.

Race to the Top Funds

The district will decide on Monday whether it wants to accept the $34,000 in federal monies offered to the district over a four-year span. As , accepting the funds could cost the district more than it will actually receive. Johnson previously stated that the district may walk away from the offer.