Archive: Opinions

To the Editor:

The Ithaca City School District (ICSD) proposed budget is a 2.36% increase in spending.   Yet, the tax rate will rise by 5.67%.  Why the difference?

State aid to ICSD continues to be reduced by the Gap Elimination Adjustment by $2.8 million for the coming year.   This $2.8 million represents 4% of the rate increase in property taxes.  The Governor continues to tout a $2 billion surplus while retaining nearly $1 billion in aid allocated to school districts.  The Governor’s “gap” has become the surplus to campaign for reelection on.

The State aid gap leads ICSD to seek a large increase in a single year, but in the context of the past three years, the total increase is understandable.  Increases in the tax rate for the past three years have been 1.45%, .32% and .69%.  Adding the proposed increase for 2014-2015 of 5.67% brings a four year total of 8.13%.  This is an average increase of 2.03% per year for the four years.  This is a modest increase given the substantial increases in state-required pension payments and health care costs over these four years.

The ICSD tax rate will continue to be the lowest school tax rate in Tompkins County.

ICSD has achieved a graduation rate of 90.2% for Ithaca High School and Lehman Alternative Community School.   The faculty, staff and students continue to earn awards for their achievements and bring positive recognition to Ithaca.

The voters have the choice to continue the quality of ICSD by voting on May 20th, Noon-9:00 p.m.

Brad Grainger
Ithaca, New York
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