Dear Honorable Assembly Person,   

      Unless the Legislature forces school districts to restrain spending, nothing you do will ease property taxes. This is why the Senate backed
      the Governor’s proposal.  And why educators don’t want legislation that will slow down their gravy train. 

     The Legislature was wrong to enact STAR and Contingent Budget legislation without a tax cap. That decision turned STAR into a money 
     faucet that provided so much money; millions were stolen and not even missed. When you add Federal & State responsibilities passed 
     along as mandates, soaring benefit costs, budget deception, corruption, loopholes, fraud, employees milking the system, Tri-borough
     and Wicks, it becomes obvious why middle class families can no longer afford to own a home in this state.

    You can not permit districts to send home multiple pro budget letters to parents; use fund balances to nullify tax increases, allow re-votes
    in addition to co-curricular blackmail and expect demoralized voters to vote their way out of this mess. Particularly since this year alone 
    NUSUT gave $2.3 million to its local unions to elect trustees who support NYSUT's goals.  Most voters who chose not to vote believe local 
    school boards and legislative loopholes have made their vote meaningless. At least half will leave the state to preserve their family unity.
   This is why you are meeting on August 19th. 

   The Massachusetts cap has achieved our desire. Livable property taxes and quality education. The National Assessment of
    Educational Progress, known as the gold standard of testing ranked Massachusetts first in all categories. New York ranked 17th and 34th 
    on 4th and 8th test scores and # 1 in school property tax.  The Schott Foundation Report …Public Education and Black Males,
    states Massachusetts has proportionately less black and white students below proficiency and more scoring proficient and advanced than
    New York. The same is true for both black and white high school graduates.  Apparently, the 2.5% tax cap has not negatively impacted
    Massachusetts’ ability to educate urban, rural or suburban students. The Fiscal Policy Institute’s notion that you can’t compare New
    York education to Massachusetts because our urban, rural and suburban students are slightly different is what you should expect from a
   not-for profit quasi lobbyist.

    The Center on Budget & Policies and Fiscal Policy Institute’s papers do not seem to question Massachusetts educational success or 
    property tax standing. They seem to emphasize that a property tax cap will force the state to pick up a larger portion of education cost. 
   They are correct!  If the Legislature wants both a middle class and uncontrolled educational spending, they will have to find the money
    elsewhere.

    The Middle Income Circuit Breaker Bill Galef A.1575-B/Little S.1053-B) funded through the STAR rebate is a great idea. However, the 
    Governor and Senate are right. The first thing you must do is enact legislation to curb spending. Without spending controls all efforts to shift
    taxes will deliver the same result STAR gave us. 

    After the cap and hopefully a redistribution of the STAR refund as an income based tax credit (Circuit Breaker) we can start to discuss real
    cost cutting measures that will make the cap work and lead us to the same educational excellence Massachusetts enjoys.

    Respectfully,

    Frederick J. Gorman