Agudath Israel commends Assemblymember Aron Wieder on the introduction of Assembly Bill A 6313, calling on the East Ramapo Central School Board to refund the unjust 2024-25 school tax increase imposed on the taxpayers by Commissioner Betty Rosa of the New York State Education Department. Last August, citing deficits of $20 million among other reasons, Commissioner Rosa relied on a century-old largely unrelated precedent to impose a tax increase of 4.38% above and beyond the increase voted on by district residents. Subsequent audits purported to show that the district actually had surpluses of close to $100 million, demonstrating that the true cause of ERCSD’s financial woes was not insufficient tax revenue, but rather sloppy bookkeeping.
And indeed, in light of the initial surplus originally discovered last November, Agudath Israel issued a statement questioning whether the board should rescind the tax increase. Now that additional surpluses have been revealed, the answer should be obvious and Agudath Israel therefore wholeheartedly supports Assemblymember Wieder’s bill.
At the same time, Agudath Israel commends the East Ramapo Board for voting for a full forensic audit of the district’s financial reports. Full transparency will provide the district with the confidence it needs from the community to move forward and properly provide for the educational needs of all the district’s public and nonpublic school students.