New York State Education Department Commissioner Betty Rosa took an unusual step on Wednesday when she directed the East Ramapo school board to raise property taxes by an additional 4.38% for the coming school year, the Journal News reported. 

Rosa’s decision marks the most recent development in an issue that has long divided public school advocates and Haredi leaders, whose communities attend private schools. And as 2024 general elections loom, candidates for public office are arguing over which one of them will help fix the problem.

Rosa’s drastic step comes after residents of the school district, which includes the heavily Haredi communities of Monsey and New Square, voted twice to reject the public school budget proposal. After rejecting budgets that would’ve increased taxes by 5.38% and 1.99%, respectively, voters finally accepted a 1% tax bump in June. Now, Rosa is asking for a total tax increase of 5.38%.

Public school advocates say that larger tax increase is needed to address the school’s serious challenges: water fountains have been turned off for 8 years because of high lead levels, parents report a shortage of teachers and space, and the district has some of the lowest standardized test scores in the state, according to the Journal News.

However, Rivkie Feiner, a Haredi activist in Monsey, criticized Rosa’s decision in a tweet. “This is stripping us of our democratic rights,” Feiner said, arguing that the tax hike would add to existing economic burdens. “And yes, lawsuits will follow.”

Feiner and other Haredi leaders have urged the state to fill in the funding gap through something called “foundation aid,” which is the main way that the state funds public school districts.

The Haredi organization Agudath Israel of America says the state’s formula should give more funding to districts with more private school students.

“The current formula which bases the aid on the number of public school students, can never suffice when more than three quarters of the district’s students attend yeshivas and other private schools which the district is required to serve,” Agudah said in a press release in May.

The Rockefeller Institute of Government, a public policy think tank, is due to submit a report on the state’s financial aid formula by Dec. 1, giving Gov. Kathy Hochul time to incorporate it into her budget proposal for next year.

Rosa’s decision quickly became an issue in the upcoming race for state senate in District 38, which includes the town of Ramapo. On Nov. 5, the incumbent, Republican Bill Weber, will face Democrat Elijah Reichlin-Melnick, who held the seat before Weber.

Weber and Reichlin-Melnick submitted competing statements to Rockland’s Haredi media in which they both criticized Rosa’s decision as undemocratic and expressed support for changing the foundation aid formula. They both used strong language to criticize each other’s parties.

“Albany democrats are the arsonists who started the fire,” Weber wrote to the Rockland Daily. He pointed to legislation sponsored by Reichlin-Melnick in 2021 that strengthened the powers of monitors appointed to oversee the district’s finances, calling that law undemocratic. Weber’s statement did not mention the challenges facing public school students.

For his part, Reichlin-Melnick told the Rockland Daily that “Republicans on the seat should be ashamed that this blow against taxpayers occurred under their watch.” Reichlin-Melnick’s campaign did not immediately respond to a question from Shtetl asking what he believes Republicans, who constitute a minority in the state legislature, should have done.