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2011-2012: The Beginning of the Long Island Brain-Drain By: Dr. Michael Grimaldi
2011-2012: The Beginning of the Long Island Brain-Drain
By: Dr. Michael Grimaldi
Many young Long Islanders feel the squeeze on their pocketbooks and wallets due to an inflated housing market and ridiculous property taxes for postage–stamp size properties. One can not speak of Long Island property taxes without mention of public school spending. It seems as if Long Island school superintendents have been taking the most criticism of late. Governor Cuomo has recently set his sights on the numerous Long Island superintendents making more than his annual salary. While that may be the case, many would argue that school superintendents work harder and deal with more criticism than the governor of New York State. Furthermore, school superintendents do not have their daily living expenses covered by the tax payers. Mr. Cuomo must realize, while living in the Governor’s Mansion and having his every wish and desire taken care of at the expense of New York State residents, that his $179,000 a year salary goes much farther than any Long Island superintendents’ salary.
The attack on Long Island school superintendents is a red herring. One large salary is not the reason why Long Island property taxes are out of control. For argument sake, if every superintendent on Long Island decided to graciously work for free, community property taxes remain roughly the same. Attacking superintendent salaries is like taking a BB gun to an elephant.
So who or what is the true culprit? Well, it is a combination of factors resulting in the mass exodus of Long Island’s brightest and youngest. There is a false perception of wealth on Long Island from our dear friends up in Albany. Since our housing market value is high, one would come to the conclusion that Long Islanders are doing well from a financial standpoint. The housing market, even in our current economic environment, is still very inflated. In fact, many baby boomers would not be able to afford their own home in today’s market on their current salaries. This perception of wealth has caused Albany to ignore the State School Aid Formula, a formula that currently gives a disproportionate amount of our hard earned dollars to school districts upstate and to the NYCDOE. Albany needs to realize that Long Island is the economic engine that drives the entire State, especially since the collapse of Wall Street. Unless the formula is recalculated to reflect the number of students Long Island schools are educating, relief will not come and Suffolk and Nassau taxpayers will continue to suffocate at the expense of other regions throughout the State.
Superintendent salaries within each school district are not the problem; however, public employee and municipality contracts may be. The collective bargaining power of all unions has, unintentionally, created a system in New York that cannot be sustained. Increasing salaries coupled with hefty benefit packages are bankrupting local communities, as well as New York State. Unless true reform arrives quickly and union concessions begin across the board for all municipalities, public employee layoffs will occur. In public education, this will translate to thousands of Long Island teachers losing their jobs within the next three years. These layoffs will affect the least senior teacher, the teacher just starting out, the teacher with young school-age children. There will be a surplus of qualified young teachers on Long Island with no job openings. This will cause thousands of young families to leave Long Island and seek employment elsewhere. As a result, this will cause school district enrolments to drop across all Long Island schools, consequently resulting in more teacher layoffs the following year. This vicious cycle will continue year in and year out.
This possible and likely outcome is also affecting Long Island’s colleges and universities. Post secondary education enrollments are down across Suffolk and Nassau institutions of higher education. Young adults are not willing to spend the money on a degree that will enter them into a job market with no opportunities for employment. Furthermore, the students who are currently attending Long Island colleges and universities are jumping ship immediately following graduation and securing jobs down south and out west.
The brain-drain has just begun for Long Island. Expect our young adults to leave Long Island in droves over the next 2-3 years unless local communities and our elected officials take action. If not, this situation will have a tremendous impact on our public education system and the entire economic state of Long Island.
So what's the fix? Correct the State aid education formula immediately so that Long Islanders get their fair share of State aid. The flawed aid formula should be the headlines we read about in our local newspapers, not the attacks on our hard working school superintendents. Couple that with reasonable restrictions on all public employee and municipality spending and Long Island's economic future will appear more optimistic. Why is it that no one is talking about these solutions or the possible consequences of the status quo? Hopefully the conversation starts now.
By: Dr. Michael Grimaldi
Many young Long Islanders feel the squeeze on their pocketbooks and wallets due to an inflated housing market and ridiculous property taxes for postage–stamp size properties. One can not speak of Long Island property taxes without mention of public school spending. It seems as if Long Island school superintendents have been taking the most criticism of late. Governor Cuomo has recently set his sights on the numerous Long Island superintendents making more than his annual salary. While that may be the case, many would argue that school superintendents work harder and deal with more criticism than the governor of New York State. Furthermore, school superintendents do not have their daily living expenses covered by the tax payers. Mr. Cuomo must realize, while living in the Governor’s Mansion and having his every wish and desire taken care of at the expense of New York State residents, that his $179,000 a year salary goes much farther than any Long Island superintendents’ salary.
The attack on Long Island school superintendents is a red herring. One large salary is not the reason why Long Island property taxes are out of control. For argument sake, if every superintendent on Long Island decided to graciously work for free, community property taxes remain roughly the same. Attacking superintendent salaries is like taking a BB gun to an elephant.
So who or what is the true culprit? Well, it is a combination of factors resulting in the mass exodus of Long Island’s brightest and youngest. There is a false perception of wealth on Long Island from our dear friends up in Albany. Since our housing market value is high, one would come to the conclusion that Long Islanders are doing well from a financial standpoint. The housing market, even in our current economic environment, is still very inflated. In fact, many baby boomers would not be able to afford their own home in today’s market on their current salaries. This perception of wealth has caused Albany to ignore the State School Aid Formula, a formula that currently gives a disproportionate amount of our hard earned dollars to school districts upstate and to the NYCDOE. Albany needs to realize that Long Island is the economic engine that drives the entire State, especially since the collapse of Wall Street. Unless the formula is recalculated to reflect the number of students Long Island schools are educating, relief will not come and Suffolk and Nassau taxpayers will continue to suffocate at the expense of other regions throughout the State.
Superintendent salaries within each school district are not the problem; however, public employee and municipality contracts may be. The collective bargaining power of all unions has, unintentionally, created a system in New York that cannot be sustained. Increasing salaries coupled with hefty benefit packages are bankrupting local communities, as well as New York State. Unless true reform arrives quickly and union concessions begin across the board for all municipalities, public employee layoffs will occur. In public education, this will translate to thousands of Long Island teachers losing their jobs within the next three years. These layoffs will affect the least senior teacher, the teacher just starting out, the teacher with young school-age children. There will be a surplus of qualified young teachers on Long Island with no job openings. This will cause thousands of young families to leave Long Island and seek employment elsewhere. As a result, this will cause school district enrolments to drop across all Long Island schools, consequently resulting in more teacher layoffs the following year. This vicious cycle will continue year in and year out.
This possible and likely outcome is also affecting Long Island’s colleges and universities. Post secondary education enrollments are down across Suffolk and Nassau institutions of higher education. Young adults are not willing to spend the money on a degree that will enter them into a job market with no opportunities for employment. Furthermore, the students who are currently attending Long Island colleges and universities are jumping ship immediately following graduation and securing jobs down south and out west.
The brain-drain has just begun for Long Island. Expect our young adults to leave Long Island in droves over the next 2-3 years unless local communities and our elected officials take action. If not, this situation will have a tremendous impact on our public education system and the entire economic state of Long Island.
So what's the fix? Correct the State aid education formula immediately so that Long Islanders get their fair share of State aid. The flawed aid formula should be the headlines we read about in our local newspapers, not the attacks on our hard working school superintendents. Couple that with reasonable restrictions on all public employee and municipality spending and Long Island's economic future will appear more optimistic. Why is it that no one is talking about these solutions or the possible consequences of the status quo? Hopefully the conversation starts now.
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