2012-03-08

              The Mayor and the Board of Trustees of the
Incorporated Village of Freeport will host an open forum regarding
Freeport's Nautical Mile Festival on
Thursday, March 8, 2012 at7:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m. at the
Freeport Recreation Center, 130 E. Merrick Road
Freeport, NY 11520
PLEASE DO NOT MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY TO BE HEARD
t-m
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77th Year, No. 10 Freeport, N.Y. 11520 The Community Newspaper Thursday, March 8, 2012 75$
Freeport schools celebrate
Black History Month
Freeport student Isaac Zellner (above) paid homage to Alvin
AUey during.tti® "Celebrating the African American Impact on
Our World" concert. Freeport third-grade dual language stu-dents
from New Visions School (right) sang "What Can One
Little Person Do?" in a concert dedicated to the African-
American impact on our world. See page 7 for more.
photos provided by Steve Kolodny/Syntax
School aid relief at least a year away
by Douglas Finlay
Over 60 residents at the annual Council
of the Baldwin PTAs meeting at Baldwin
High School heard public officials say sub-stantial
school aid relief could still be over
a year away, once the state Legislature
whittles the $2 billion deficit down in cur-rent
session to $170 million for the 2013-
14 budget.
By that time, the projected $1 million
price tag the school district expects to pay
for Nassau County shifting tax certiori
payouts onto school districts is hoped to
have far less impact on taxpayers.
Also heard at the meeting were calls to
reduce unfunded mandates, orders the state
requires schools to follow without provid-ing
funds to pay for them.
Opening remarks by several officials at
the forum stressed that taxpayers cannot
afford any more taxes, and that the 2% tax
cap was the only way to save thousands - if
not tens of thousands - of residents from
being evicted from their homes due to fore-closures.
But cuts to school aid are having a devas-tating
effect on student education, where
class sizes are increasing, elective courses
and busing are being dropped, inter-scholastic
activities are being curtailed and
schools are now closing.
"In my 26 years as a superintendent, this
is the toughest financial situation I've ever
seen," remarked Dr. James D. Mapes,
superintendent of Baldwin schools.
He implored the state to find a way to
redo the funding formula to create a fairer
distribution of state aid.
State Assemblyman Brian Curran (14th
AD) said the funding formula for state aid
was based on the wealth of regions at pres-ent.
"Buffalo, Rochester and other regions
upstate do not have the wealth that is per-ceived
to be on Long Island," he said,
adding that those regions perceived to have
lower income would get more state aid.
Sarah Holly, representing state Senator
Charles IFuschillo Jr. (8th SD) and Senate
Majority Leader Dean Skelos 9th SD) then
spoke of how a regional cost factor could
be a fairer answer to the state aid formula
proving to be costly to Long Island.
The consortium of Long Island senators,
she said, has been "working on a regional
cost factor that takes into account the cost
of living on Long Island," and awards
funds based more on the cost of living for
an area, rather than on its perceived wealth.
She said the senators believe that would
create a more equitable, or fairer, system of
aid distribution.
Mary Jo O'Hagen, president of the
Baldwin district's Board of Education, said
that $3.8 million from reserves was needed
in this year's budget to make up for a $4
million loss in state aid, adding it has
resulted in the closure of two schools due
to decreased enrollments and lack of aid to
pay for building maintenance.
Dr. Mapes said an 8% tax levy increase
would be the only way to possibly salvage
the cutbacks taking place. "But that's
unlikely to happen," he told attendees,
because 60% of the community would
have to vote in favor of the tax increase,
not just a simple majority of 50.1%.
Hempstead Town Councilwoman
Goosby told the audience that even the
town had "mini" mandates placed on it
by the state but, with the help of the
Association of Towns, had a clause
placed in its charter stating that if 60% of
town board members vote yes, the 2%
cap could be overridden.
Hempstead Town Councilman
Anthony Santino said the town has
frozen taxes for the second time in three
years, and told The Leader after the
meeting that even its surplus of over $30
million as a cushion against increasing
taxes was being depleted.
Ms. Holly said that the state government
has actually increased state aid by $805
million, "but with a caveat: $250 million is
for performance grants." She said the con-sortium
of nine Long Island senators was
attempting to "massage" more out of the
grants toward state aid.
(continued on page 5)
NAMES MAKE THE NEWS: Read about your neighbors! 50 local people's names were in your community newspaper this past week Maybe yours is in this week! See inside.
Remember to set your
clocks ahead this weekend!
Village board
tables big agenda
page 2 iCounty OKs
precinct plan
pages I