Generous pay and benefit increases negotiated between school boards and the politically powerful teachers union are responsible for the sharp increases in school taxes again this year. The boost in school taxes will wipe out the entire annual increase in Social Security benefits for most retirees.

Long Island public school teachers are among the highest paid in the nation. The average teacher on Long Island is paid $76,000 for a 10-month school year, plus $19,000 in benefits. That is 60 percent higher than the average salary of public school teachers in the United States.

The top contract salary for teachers in a typical Long Island school district is $104,920, but many teachers receive stipends and extra pay on top of their base salary. One Nassau County teacher who coaches sports actually earns $122,710.

Teachers get pay increases for additional education credits but not for how well they teach. Long Island taxpayers should not be surprised to find a teacher with a Ph.D. in a second-grade class being paid $105,498.

Catholic schools educate students for half the cost of public schools and often achieve better results. Parochial school teachers earn about half of what public school teachers are paid.

Whether a school's budget is passed or not, the average teacher will still receive an annual raise in pay and benefits of $5,000. For comparison, the average Social Security recipient will get a net increase in benefits of $160 the entire year.

The salaries of many public school administrators are higher than $179,000, which is what Gov. George Pataki earns. Our school superintendents are paid more than the vice president of the United States.

State legislators, who are always very careful not to step on the toes of the teachers union, one of the biggest spending lobbies in Albany, have done little to control rising school taxes. Before increasing aid money to districts, legislators should require school administrators to cut costs and operate more efficiently.

Each month the average homeowner pays more than $350 in school taxes. Some of that is through businesses and in LIPA's bills. LIPA pays millions of dollars in local school taxes, although their transformers don't take up classroom seats.

If school taxes keep going up at the current rate, they will double in less than nine years and many retirees would then need all of their Social Security checks just to pay property taxes.

George Rand