East Ramapo: Judge says vote on state-ordered tax hike for public schools must go through

A Rockland County judge will let the East Ramapo school board's planned vote on a 4.38% tax hike go through Wednesday evening, rejecting a last-ditch effort from tax levy opponents to block the vote.

Ruling on an emergency challenge brought by Parents Against Stealth Taxes, which describes itself as a group representing East Ramapo taxpayers, Rockland County Supreme Court Justice Sherri Eisenpress said that the harm in depriving the district's public school students of necessary funds outweighed the harm in levying additional taxes.

"Either the kids wait for (English as a Second Language instruction) for a year and half or the taxes are issued and (later) have to be refunded," Eisenpress said during a virtual hearing, just hours ahead of the East Ramapo school board's vote. "I just really don’t see what the irreparable harm is to allow this to go forward."

In July, State Education Commissioner Betty Rosa ordered the district to increase its tax levy increase for the school year that started July 1, from 1% to 5.38%, to shore up the district's public schools.

In her order, Rosa observed that East Ramapo's school budget was "arbitrary, capricious, and violative of educational policy due to the ways in which it inequitably favors nonpublic school students at the expense of public school students."

What happens next in East Ramapo?

Rosa’s move to further increase the property tax levy — the total amount gathered by all property taxpayers in the district — is expected to go before the school board at its meeting at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 14.

If the board does not approve a tax levy change to comply with Rosa's directive, the district's state-appointed monitors in East Ramapo could potentially veto their decision. Board members who vote no could also be removed from office.

Meanwhile, town clerks have to issue property tax warrants by Sept. 1, according to the state's Education Law.

Challenge filed against East Ramapo school board, not the state

The challenge to Rosa's order, however, was not filed against the state, but against the East Ramapo Board of Education.

The school board, though, actually sided with Parents Against Stealth Taxes, agreeing that Rosa did not have the authority to order an increase in the tax levy.

Eisenpress rejected that reasoning, noting that state Education Law expressly gives Rosa that authority.

The school board's attorney, Douglas Gerhardt, argued that Rosa's decision was only an interim order and could be reversed after the issue is fully adjudicated, which could take more than a year. But Eisenpress said that taxpayers could simply be refunded if the interim order is eventually overturned, whereas public school children could face irreparable damage to their educational attainment.

"If I issue a stay, then we're putting off, for another year and a half, funding for these kids who are never going to be in third grade again," she said.

Three-quarters of the children who live within the school district's boundaries attend private schools, mostly yeshivas that serve the Hasidic and Orthodox Jewish community. A majority of East Ramapo's school board members are seen by the public school community as favoring the private-school community’s needs.

Rosa's unusual move to order a tax levy hike came in response to a local parent's appeal to the commissioner, supported by the New York Civil Liberties Union. The appeal accused the school board of failing to meet its obligations to the public-school children of the district by putting forth a paltry tax increase.

Rosa said the extra local funds must be exclusively used in support of the district's public schools, a state education department official said.

'Under protest': East Ramapo board OKs tax levy hike ordered by state commissioner

How Rosa came up with 5.38% tax levy

Rosa's order directed the East Ramapo school board to hike the tax levy by another 4.38% for the new school year, which, when added to the 1% tax levy voters approved in June, equals the district's 2024-2025 tax levy cap of 5.38%.

During planning of the budget, the school board was advised by then-Superintendent Clarence Ellis and state-appointed monitors to seek the maximum tax levy because the district faces a looming deficit, has gaping staffing shortages and has crumbling infrastructure.

But the board proposed a budget plan that would hike the tax levy by 1.99%. In May, voters rejected that spending plan.

The board put up another budget plan before voters in June that took even more money from reserves and raised the tax levy by just 1%. That plan was passed at the polls by a slim margin. It was the first local tax levy increase in a decade.

A district divided

About 10,000 children who live in the district attend public schools; the majority of students in the district are English language learners and the district has among the highest rate of homeless students and the lowest graduation rates and test scores in the state. Another 30,000 kids who live within the district's boundaries go to private schools, mostly yeshivas.

For over a decade, the public school community has seen the school board as favoring the private-school community’s needs.

In her order, Rosa cited years' worth of cuts to public-school staff, facilities and extracurriculars. The district is only now fixing water fountains that have been turned off since 2016 because of lead in the water, and only a fraction will be brought back online by fall.

Meanwhile, Rosa said, the board has made no move to restrict costly universal busing, including gender segregated transportation, that's provided to all public- and private-school students.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: East Ramapo: Judge says vote on state-ordered tax hike for public schools must go through