Superintendents Will Meet to Address Cuomo Tax Cap

As the potential realities of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's proposed property tax cap begin to set in with school districts in the state, about 200 school leaders from 36 districts across Suffolk County will meet with elected officials Saturday to develop advocacy strategies for funding issues.

State Sen. John Flanagan, R-Smithtown, and Assemblyman Steve Englebright, D-East Setauket, are slated to attend the Suffolk County School Superintendents Association meeting Saturday morning at the Sherwood Instructional Support Center in Holbrook.

In a statement outlining the goals of the advocacy workshop, the SCSSA stressed "the importance of Long Island speaking with one voice to the rest of the state."

"Before the law is enacted, you want to lobby the representatives to put in certain things to make the law less arduous," said Three Village interim superintendent Neil Lederer, a past SCSSA president.

Superintendent J. Richard Boyes, Ed.D., told Southampton Patch recently that he has been closely monitoring the potential tax cap and sharing what he learns with the school board to keep them apprised of the situation as well. , and the cap may come with exemptions or relief from state mandates to make adjusting to it easier on school districts.

"I learned a long time ago not to anticipate anything from Albany — or try to predict it," Bridgehampton Superintendent Lois Favre, Ed.D., . "We will just have to wait and see."

"As with most districts in this time of economic uncertainty, we are most certainly considering the impact of a possible tax cap, a further decline in state aid and all that must be considered to provide the community with as accurate a projection as possible for next year's budget," Favre wrote in an e-mail.