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A message from the
President
There is an old adage that “sometimes we are
our own worst enemies”. When it comes to the concept of property tax caps,
teachers need to wake up! It is amazing that nearly 75% of teachers support a
property tax cap. Maine, Massachusetts and California have all proposed or
enacted tax cap legislation. California’s tax cap had grave consequences as its
education results went from top ten in the nation to 48th. With New
Jersey Governor Chris Christie presently promoting a 2% property tax cap, the
issue is again at the forefront of politics. Property tax caps are detrimental
to education. How can an educator support a living wage and quality education
where they teach but oppose the very same concept in the town in which they live
in? Educators need to realize that tax caps are not some sort of panacea.
They might save you a few dollars on your property tax bill but eventually, the
cost to the educational product will cost you thousands on the value of your
house. If we looked at some of the tax cap proposals and instituted them here
in Yorktown, our budget would have been reduced by over 4,000,000. There is
only one way to save that kind of money, layoffs! Significant layoffs would
result in catastrophic class sizes, reduced services, lessen student
achievement, increase behavioral issues and make it much more difficult to
attract and retain quality teachers. Now how can we support that as educators?
Below is a wonderful piece of satire written
by Jeff Zuckerman, former President of the Bronxville Teachers Association. It
was printed in the Journal News October 3, 2010.
Supporting tax
caps is for the selfish
I want to announce
to the world the most selfish decision I’ve ever made. I am for tax caps. I’m
61 years old, no longer have children in the schools and no longer care about
what happens to the education of our young people. As long as I can save money
on my taxes, who cares about education? Yes, I know what happened in California
when they got their tax cap. Their educational results went from top 10 to what
it is today—48th in the nation! But I don’t care. Just save me some
money on my taxes and I’ll put my head in the sand like all of my neighbors are
doing. My sons got a great education and I was happy to support the public
schools in Westchester. That’s all behind me now. My kids are successful
adults thanks to that education, but now I just want lower taxes. It’s so
selfish I can’t even look at myself in the mirror. I know I should want for
other people’s children what I had for my own. But I don’t care. Give me tax
caps and give them to me now.
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