The community of the Ithaca City School District has generously supported its students and teachers for decades because we know and value the importance of engaging, educating, and empowering our children.  

We have been willing to pay what the district has asked of us. As a result, our district has one of the highest per student expenditures in the country, one of the highest teacher- student ratios, smaller than average size schools and classes, multiple teachers and aides in classrooms, a large team of social workers and psychologists, excellent sports, music, and theater facilities, and a large selection of extracurriculars and advanced placement classes to name just some of what we proudly provide.  

Submitted by residents in the Ithaca City School District: Lee Rogers, Deborah Justice, Jason Houghton, Margaret Fabrizio, Ike Nestopoulos, Barb Herrman, Frédéric Bouché,Fred Schoeps, Ashley Miller, Charlie O’Connor, David Yearsley, Matty Termotto, Kay Minnix, and Joanna Luks. 

All this comes with a large price tag and ever-increasing fiscal stress for the community. In the last ten years, the Ithaca School budget has grown nearly 50% - from $114 million to a proposed $168 million. This growth comes after a decade of stagnant and declining enrollment, and substantially outpaces the 33% growth in inflation. If adopted, per pupil expenditure will be nearly $30,000.00 per year (our budget serves about 5700 students). According to US Census data, New York State spends the most per pupil in the US, averaging $26,571.  

With property tax bills amounting to as much as 5x the national average and more, this affects everyone from single working moms to seniors, to landlords and their renters, to young families, and especially to children living in financially stressed households.  

An ICSD home valued at $375,000 last year paid $6083 in school taxes alone; this year that same home may be re-valued at $475,000 and owe $7448 because of the district’s large budget, and this is only one piece of a property owner’s total tax bill. We are at the point where local tax bills amount to a second mortgage and rents are correspondingly high. 

In response to a public outcry last week, the Board pared down the budget by only 1%. This will not significantly decrease the tax rate nor provide the tax relief that is essential. We have reached the breaking point. We are voting NO and urge you to do the same. Our community cannot continue to absorb the large increases we are being asked to pay.  

ICSD needs to reduce our bill this year, not ask us to pay more. ICSD also needs to begin work on long-term efforts to secure funds from sources besides taxpayers. Our suggestions include:  

•Get an equitable contribution from Cornell University who relies so heavily on a top-level district. 
Funding education with property taxes is inherently problematic, and it is especially so here, where the largest single property owner, Cornell University, is tax exempt.  

As long as we finance education through property taxes, we need all landowners to pay their fair share.  

While Cornell will contribute $650,000 this year to ICSD, the community cannot make up the $44M deficit their tax-exempt status creates for the district. If taxed at the same rate as all of us, Cornell would be contributing nearly 1⁄4 of the total proposed budget, not less than will be spent on Slope Day in a few weeks.  

•Work closely with our state representatives to obtain anew state aid formula that factors in the huge loss of income from tax exempt institutions. School funding in NYS has been inequitably apportioned for decades. Work to get us our fair share.  

•Lobby with other districts to end abatements on school taxes. NYS schools lost $1.8B to corporate tax abatements in 2021, far more than any other state.  

These are all worthwhile efforts and ICSD should start these and engage the community’s lobbying help with them, but these are long-term efforts. We need ICSD leaders to cut their spending to an amount that is affordable for Ithaca taxpayers now, not some day in the theoretical future.  

We urge community members to vote NO to the ICSD budget on May 21.  

Only those registered with the Board of Elections can vote in this election. The final day to register for the ICSD vote is May 7 at the Board of Elections, 128 E. Buffalo Street, Ithaca. Absentee ballots are available at https://www.ithacacityschools.org/o/icsd/page/budget-vote-election.