The property tax rise proposed by Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi will seem trivial compared to the annual increase in school taxes that will hit homeowners. Public school budgets are skyrocketing driven by teacher salaries which have been rising at more than twice the inflation rate - the pay of some teachers is now exceeding $100,000 a year.

In my community, the starting pay for a teacher with a master's degree is $49,898 and five percent of the teachers earn an average of $90,000 a year plus generous benefits. A teacher who coaches sports is paid $99,674 for a ten-month school year. When adjusted to the business sector work year, this teacher's pay is equivalent to an annual salary of $130,343.

Catholic schools pay their teachers about half the salary of public school teachers and yet provide high quality education.

County Executive Thomas Suozzi's cost cutting measures should also be applied to the public schools. New York State, with a projected budget deficit of $9 billion, cannot continue to subsidize our high spending school system.

Richard Andujar