School budgets pass by large margins

On Board Online • May 29, 2017

By Eric D. Randall
Editor-in-Chief

Voters across the state supported almost all proposed school spending plans when they went to the polls on May 16, but voter turnout was the lowest since the State Education Department began tracking vote totals in 2003.

"I think it's a good sign," Sara Lattin, president of the Elmira school board, said when asked about the turnout trend in her district. Five years ago, 4,099 residents flocked to the polls in Elmira, upset about layoffs and eager to vote in highly contested school board races. But this year, only 751 people showed up, with 82.8 percent voting yes.

Only 287 voters showed up in the Holland school district in Erie County, compared to 1,720 five years ago, when there was a proposal to reduce the size of the board. "I'm hoping it indicates people are satisfied with what's happening in the district," said Superintendent Cathy Fabiatos. Apparently so: 81 percent of Elmira voters said yes on the school budget.

In the average school district, 77.2 percent of voters said yes.

Compared with last year, the number of no votes declined by 4 percent, from 152,734 to 146,660, according to the New York State Council of School Superintendents.

"It's good that no votes continue to decline, which shows people are satisfied with districts fiscal stewardship," said Michael J. Borges, executive director of the New York State Association of School Business Officials (ASBO).

"It seems some people vote by not voting," said Robert Lowry, deputy director for advocacy and communication at the Council of School Superintendents. He wrote in a recent newsletter for superintendents that many people turn out only when "aggrieved by proposed tax increases if the budget were to pass, or by potential program cuts if it might fail."

The state cap on local school district tax levies, created in 2012, has become an important contributor to lower turnout, Lowry said. Citizens opposed to tax increases have less reason to turn out, and "yes voters may be now taking it for granted that budgets will pass," according to Lowry.

Another reason for low turnout this year is that only 13 districts attempted to override their tax cap - the fewest ever. Ten of those districts, or 77 percent, won supermajority approval. DeRuyter, East Ramapo and Pittsford fell short.

Among districts that needed only a simple majority, 99.7 percent passed. Only two - Hinsdale and Putnam - failed to win approval. Overall, 99.3 percent of proposed budgets were approved.

Since 1969, the average budget passage rate has been 85 percent.

The state average proposed levy increase this year was 1.48 percent. Some districts were able to restore positions lost during leaner budget years, noted NYSSBA Executive Director Timothy G. Kremer.

"I think a lot of factors contributed to a really phenomenal budget year," Kremer said. "First, local school boards and districts administrators deserve credit for listening to their communities and getting their priorities right." Also, districts were able to minimize proposed increases in tax levies, thanks to a $1.1 billion increase in state education funding, he said.

Of course, there were exceptions to the low turnout trend. In the Great Neck school district in Nassau County, turnout jumped from 1,157 last year to 8,379 this year. In February, a bond referendum was defeated, and people showed up in droves to vote in favor of a pared-down proposal and vote on candidates for two contested board seats, said Barbara Berkowitz, president of the Great Neck school board.

"It was wonderful to see the support," she said. "I think people had become a little complacent, and the February vote was a wake-up call."

Borges of ASBO noted that New York is one of a handful of states in which school budgets are subject to a public vote. In Massachusetts, a vote takes place only if the local school committee wants to exceed the Massachusetts tax cap of 2.5 percent.

In a 2016 survey conducted as part of NYSSBA's resolutions development process, school board members were asked: "Should NYSSBA support/oppose/be neutral on allowing school boards to enact budgets that are within the property tax cap without voter approval?"

Only 46 percent of respondents said NYSSBA should support such an idea. "I think our members recognize that, politically, it's a hard sell," said Julie Marlette, NYSSBA's director of governmental relations. "Even if people don't show up at the polls, they treasure their right to do so."