East Ramapo School Board Presents Revised Budget that Is Up for a June 21 Vote

By Sarah Morgenstern

Two weeks after the residents of East Ramapo voted down their school board’s budget, the board released a revised budget that will be up for another vote on June 21.

On May 18, New Square residents successfully defeated the school board’s first $262,544,765 budget, which they said would cause their property taxes to skyrocket, however, at a May 31 meeting, members of the East Ramapo School Board objected to the “absurd” number of 800 absentee ballots that were mailed in from one polling place: Ward 8, which includes New Square.

After New Square’s local polling place was not provided in the May 18 election, the village’s residents, many of whom do not drive, were forced to vote by absentee ballot, one askan explained.

School board members also complained about a group of 40 New Square residents who arrived to vote just before 10pm, as polls were closing, an askan reported.

In response, East Ramapo board members announced that they will close the polls at 9pm, rather than 10pm on June 21 “to address the latecomers.”

On Tuesday, the East Ramapo School Board revealed that it had revised its budget to bring down its tax increase from 3.96% to a 1.63% spike that will cover the renovations for Ramapo High School's auditorium.

Mark Berkowitz, one of the board members, wondered why the school board initially argued that it needed extra funds for “the education of children,” when now extra tax money only seemed to be need for auditorium renovations.

"This year the state has [supposedly] fully funded all school districts except for East Ramapo, because they consider us wealthy [because we send our children to private schools,]” said East Ramapo school board member Harry Grossman, who has been raising concern on school board’s proposed budget increases. “The state is stealing money from us.”

New York state, Grossman explained, should determine districts’ wealth “simply by looking at areas’ median household incomes and not by whether their residents send their children to private schools.”

Despite earning lower average incomes than the rest of the country, taxpayers in East Ramapo are asked to fund more than 66% of their budget, explained a resident, who said that he would like East Ramapo residents, just as New York City residents do, pay for only 30% of the school’s budget.

“Somewhere along the way Albany has to step forward and properly fund this district as per the state constitution,” said Grossman who asked the community to file a lawsuit against the state of New York in which the plaintiffs demand more state funds be allocated the district.

In New York City, where 80% of children attend public school, a larger number of children are thought to benefit from public funding, therefore the NYSED provides the city with more money from the state.

In East Ramapo, however, residents are left struggling to pay for educational programs for which their children barely benefit and that cause their property taxes to spike.

Photo: Flickr