Merrick School Board Feeling State, County Financial Strains

The calendar may say October, but the Merrick School Board is already looking cautiously ahead to next year's budget process, which could end up making this year's budget discussions look like a picnic. 

With state aid to schools in a free fall, combined with the front-runner for governor calling for a two percent property tax cap and the county proposing to shift responsibility for property tax refunds to school districts, watching the bottom line was the theme at Tuesday night's school board meeting.

"I'm thinking of where we can pinch the penny and get as close as possible to a zero budget increase," said board trustee Susan Schwartz, speaking namely of the district cutting back on outside consulting fees. 

The district will pay Dr. Mara Sapon-Shevin, a professor of inclusive education at Syracuse University, $3,000 to speak to parents at Birch School on Nov. 1 about how to teach children to develop an understanding and empathy for an increasingly diverse population.

"I'm thinking this might be an area where we might want to cut back," Schwartz said of such consulting fees. "This is thousands of dollars and it doesn't affect our class sizes or teachers." 

Sapon-Shevin, who will also speak at a superintendent's conference, is a professor of inclusive education at Syracuse University and a nationally recognized author and presenter on diversity education, bullying and social justice education. 

School administrators said the $3,000 fee was reasonable for someone of Sapon-Shevin's stature and that the issue of bullying in schools was something that needed to be confronted head on considering the recent rash of teen suicides in the country. 

School officials: Tax cap would be troublesome

Speaking of the Andrew Cuomo's proposal to cap property tax hikes if elected governor to two percent a year or the rate of inflation–whichever is lower–Merrick Superintendent Ranier Melucci said that, if any enacted, the cap would make things "quite challenging for schools districts" and require the district to look at making across the board spending cuts.

Board trustee Sheri Iskenderian said the community should be made aware of the impacts a property tax cap can have on the quality of education.

"Another state has done this and it has decimated the schools," said Iskenderian, speaking of California, which put a property tax cap in place in 1978. "The outcome was not positive by any means." 

Merrick Little League to renovate Lakeside field

The school board accepted a donation from the Merrick-North Merrick Little League Tuesday, in which the league will spend about $15,000 to renovate the baseball field at Lakeside School. 

The financial crunch could, however, throw a wrench into the district moving forward with revitalizing the rundown and overgrown tennis court area at Birch School. It would cost upwards of $150,000 just to remove the trees in the area, schools officials said. 

"That's valuable land that is just sitting there,"said Schwartz, who suggested that the district reach out to the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District to explore possible fundraising options. 

With a lack of playing fields around town a perpetual issue in the community, board trustee Nancy Kaplan agreed that the district should take an active role in getting the Birch property spruced up.

"We never look at it as a coordinated effort," she said.  "Maybe we can take the leadership of pulling together particular groups."