Interim Decision and Order by NYS Commission of Education Imposing 4.38% Tax Levy on ERCSD

by M.C. Millman

New York State Education Department Commissioner Betty Rosa has decided that voter rights are not a thing when it comes to East Ramapo Central School district voters, as reported by Rockland Daily here.

In her newly published Interim Decision and Order, dated July 31, 2024, the commissioner declares that the ERCSD's legal revote of the district budget on June 18 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." 

Rosa's decision to direct the school district to adopt a budget with an additional 4.38% increase is the result of an appeal by complainant Ana Maeda on behalf of her public school children following the June 18 budget vote. which did not go the way Maeda would have liked. 

Although the commissioner admits  in her order that she recognizes the "unique demographic mix between public and private school students," she claims that her decision is based on the fact that there is "favoritism toward nonpublic schools" and that the board is "comprised primarily of the people from the private school community" who she claims, based on her own preconceived notions, have "limited understanding of public school students and their families."

She then goes on to lament that public schools have, as a result, been "given short shrift."  She also references "the board's blatant neglect of minority needs; the lack of minority-preferred success in elections" (as in, legal and fair elections failed to elect minorities to take over the board) resulting in an "exclusive, white-dominated slating organization" ignoring the fact that those who were elected were justly voted in by the district. 

The commissioner then rewards full credit for any improvements the district might have experienced to the state monitors, claiming it happened "despite the machinations of some board members."

She continues by listing the budget woes of the district and the failure of the board of trustees to provide her with the magical solutions she demanded that they provide to solve those budget woes. 

Gender-segregated transportation is blamed for having a negative impact on the district's operations, showing a lack of knowledge of the ERCSD's private schools, which include not only gender-segregated transportation by buses that are fully packed but gender-segregated school buildings for those very same bus routes. 

The commissioner concludes by ordering the ERCSD to raise taxes by 4.38% despite a vote to the contrary by ERCSD voters.