NYSUT Executive Vice President Alan Lubin is making the case that a property tax cap "doesn't make sense" as the state continues making gains in closing the achievement gap.

In testimony before the state Commission on Property Tax Relief, Lubin urged members to reject proposals to cap school property taxes.

"I will say to you what I've said to the governor, legislative leaders, and others around the state: A tax cap proposal would take us in the wrong direction at a time when New York's progress in education is being recognized," Lubin said at the April hearing.

While reports show the state is leading the nation in education reform, a tax cap could "lead to serious reductions in the level and quality of public education."

• Related Article: Testimony to the Commission on Property Tax Relief
• Worksheet: How would a tax cap impact your school district's funding?

Lubin recounted disastrous results of tax cap proposals in California, Massachusetts and Illinois. The commission needn't look that far. Lubin gave examples of problems a cap would have caused closer to Chairman Tom Suozzi's home in Nassau County.

The Uniondale and Westbury districts, which both serve high-need populations, would have lost more than $43 million over the last four years, he said.

Lubin pointed out that tax caps will not contain the rising costs districts face to cover health care or fuel, for example. Tax caps introduce a one-size-fits-all budget mentality, eroding the local control that New Yorkers exercise every May when they vote on their school budgets.

Students suffer

"It is clear that if New York state imposes a mandatory tax cap on levy increases," Lubin said, "our students will suffer."

With the past unpredictability of state aid, Lubin said, schools have shouldered more costs, passing them on to homeowners. NYSUT supports property tax "circuit breakers," which target aid to low- and moderate-income homeowners, as an alternative to the state's STAR property tax relief program. "A circuit breaker protects taxpayers from a property tax 'overload' just like an electric circuit breaker by essentially 'capping' an individual household's property taxes as a percentage of their income," Lubin said.

Lubin addressed other purported cost-savings proposals including moving to a defined contribution pension plan. He offered cost savings suggestions for schools, including a system of regionalized purchasing, transportation, or administration services.

"The commission has the grave responsibility of recommending ways to appropriately reduce costs while upholding every child's constitutional entitlement to a sound basic education," Lubin noted. "The challenge is to focus resources on services to children and reduce the non-instructional and administrative service costs through appropriate economies of scale and efficiencies."

Check out the online calculator at www.nysut.org to see how a property tax cap would impact your district.

— Clarisse Butler Banks