alexist

Although there's plenty to dislike about Long Island, should you wish to, there are things to like about it. And I thought I'd tell you about one, in order to counter, in some small way, the impression of Americans and the USA being given by penny-pinching Republicans like Dubya.

On Long Island, public services are king. Not only would we not elect Dubya, we probably wouldn't elect Tony Blair. We like our services lavish and locally controlled, and we're just fine with the government running them. In fact, we got so fed up with our local electric company that we demanded a state takeover. (They turned it into a nonprofit company and we got a rate reduction.)

The best example of this is schools. On Long Island (as in most suburban parts of New York) schools are run by local districts. Each district has an elected school board, which appoints a superintendent, and runs local K-12 schools and the local library. Every year, they prepare a budget which is submitted for a vote--an open, public vote. Anyone who lives in the district can turn up and say yea or nay (or push a lever to that effect). The budget has two parts: the state-required minimum, and the "extras"--sports, activities, etc. Similarly, there are 2 parts to funding, state aid and the local property tax. If you vote "yes" on the budget, it's approved, along with any necessary tax increase. if you vote "no", the district is forced to operate on the state minimum budget (known as austerity), and property tax goes up if necessary to fund that. In addition, you can be asked to vote on bond issues for major projects, like The voting information tells you what the tax increases would be--say 5.5% for the full budget, and 2% for the minimum. Libraries get their money from the district, but also do a separate budget which is voted on (usually by about a thousand people).

Year after year, people turn up and vote--and almost all budgets are passed. Most that don't get passed on a re-vote. Very rarely does a district open for the year on an austerity budget, and when it does, they tend to put it up for a re-vote in October and it gets passed.

What does this get me? A public library open 7 days a week during the school year (closed Sundays in summer) and till 9pm on weekdays. Schools where all the teachers have masters degrees and are well-paid. Full-day kindergarten. Programs to prepare students for the Intel Search. AP courses. Lots of sports. Specialist music teachers. No more than 25 kids to a class (when I was in elementary school it was usually more like 20). Optional vocational programs. There are districts here where 98% of the kids continue their education after high school. I'm proud of this, and proud that we're willing to pay for it.