Hudson Valley tax overrides: Programs, jobs at stake in May 21 school vote

School Board President Bob Santo choked back tears, apologized, and took a deep breath when asked what would happen if Valley Central School District voters refuse to override the tax cap, and reject the district's proposed budget for next school year.

"What are the kids gonna do when they fill out their college applications? What honors society were you in? None, we couldn't afford them. OK. What extracurricular activities did you have? None. What sports did you get involved in? None," Santo said.

In Irvington, a group of parents who feel the same way, got together to make a YouTube video describing May 21 as a historic day for the school district's future.

"What is Irvington's future without strong schools that turn out high-caliber graduates?" one parent says in the video.

Valley Central and Irvington are two of eight districts in the region seeking to override the state limit on school tax hikes. In all, there are four such districts in Westchester: Ardsley, Briarcliff Manor, Irvington and Scarsdale, and four in Orange: Cornwall, Valley Central, Tuxedo and Kiryas Joel. No districts in Rockland County will attempt an override.

The 2013 budget vote is only the second in which schools across the state will test voter support for tax cap overrides. Essentially, the tax cap limits increases in school taxes to about 2 percent a year, though there is flexibility relating to costs beyond the district's control, such as health care and pension costs. To increase taxes more, districts need to win support from 60 percent of voters.

In 2012, 53 school districts across the state sought approval for overrides. Nineteen of those failed on the first try. Well aware of that precedent, education officials are now wary of the override process. Officials in the districts now seeking overrides say they have no choice.

"There's nothing left for us to cut. We've done that," said Ardsley Superintednent Lauren Allan.

CLOSING THE VILLAGE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

In the Valley Central district, emotions have run deep the past few months. The district's proposed budget for the next school year closes Maybrook Elementary School, which is at the heart of a small village. Rejection of the cap override at the polls would spell more pain, Santo said. He spoke of eliminating the Junior ROTC program and perhaps eliminating sports, elementary art and music, or kindergarten.

"There are a lot of kids who would have dropped out, but they stayed in school because of that program," Santo said of JROTC.

In Irvington, school board president Bob Grados said a failed budget could mean cuts to sports, foreign language programs, and increases in class sizes at the elementary schools. The district has cut 30 positions since 2009.

"We have been very aggressive in looking at our budget and in cutting out what we felt was not absolutely necessary for our children in the last three years," Grados said.

He said all the options available to the district were laid out before residents at budget meetings and that the residents asked the board to try for an override of the cap.

"What we heard fairly clearly is that the community did not want us to cut anymore," Grados said.

DISTRICTS EMBOLDENED BY SUPPORT LAST YEAR

Grados and other school leaders said that the proposed budgets put the school districts in a position to avoid tax cap overrides in the future.

School leaders took community support for school budgets into account in deciding whether to attempt a cap override.

The Westchester school districts seeking overrides all showed strong support for school spending in 2012. The percentage of voters approving budgets was: Scarsdale -- 79 percent, Irvington -- 68 percent, Ardsley -- 75 percent, and Briarcliff -- 81 percent. Things looked only slightly less rosy in Orange County vote results: Tuxedo -- 75 percent, Valley -- 64 percent, and Cornwall -- 70 percent. In the Kiryas Joel school district, 92 percent voted in favor of the budget.

Still, Ardsley Superintendent Lauren Allan said nothing is certain when it comes to raising taxes.

"We're very hopeful, but we need a supermajority," Allan said.