A group of Massapequa residents are gathering names on a petition asking the Massapequa School Board to press for a wage-freeze for teachers over the next two years. The hope, they said, is to make it abundantly clear that the residents of the district need some financial relief from escalating taxes.

"We are concerned about the upcoming negotiations (between the district and teachers' union,) and want to get the message out now that we can't take much more," said James Stubenrauch, who is heading up the petition drive.

The petition calls the current state of the economy "fragile" and states that in view of the points raised in the petition, the signers favor a moratorium on writing a new, higher salary schedule for Massapequa's teachers. Accordingly, it concludes, "we recommend that the School Board and the union agree to a freeze and that the present salary schedule be continued for a period of at least two years. We believe also that all administrative salaries should be similarly frozen."

The petition lists eight reasons why the district should take a pay-freeze approach in the negotiations. They include:

•Massapequa school taxes are now among the highest in the country, resulting in a financial burden on the community;

•State aid has increased, while school spending has outpaced those increases. The district spends a little more than $20,000 a year to educate each student, which, the petition states, is in "no way justified by the fact that other Long Island districts spend more."

•While the cost of books, equipment, heating oil and other commodities have increased over recent years, they account for only a minor part of the increase in school taxes. The major cause has been the continuous increase in salaries and benefits, which account for more than 80 percent of the school budget.

•Contracts with the teachers' union provide strong financial incentives for teachers to earn additional college credits. A first-year Massapequa teacher with a master's degree, plus 60 credits, is paid $69,216. Higher amounts are paid for each additional year of service up to $119,394;

•Teachers' salaries have increased, while class sizes have decreased. These two factors combined, have massively increased the cost of public education.

•Teachers' contracts contain salary schedules covering a single year; all figures in the following year's schedule are higher. Since the current contract expires at the end of this school year, we are concerned about the next contract and the salary commitments it will contain.

•If the standard practice of ever-higher salary schedules continues in the next contract, further sizable tax increases will be inevitable;

•The school year is the equivalent of 9 months, and tenure confers almost total job security. It is our opinion that in view of these factors and the generous salaries teachers now enjoy, they are more than adequately compensated.

The petition is being circulated now. Organizers have gone to various organizations, seeking their assistance, and plan to continue for several weeks. After that, they intend to make a formal presentation to the school board at a regularly scheduled meeting.

The Massapequa Post contacted School Board President Maryann Fisher and sent her a copy of the petition, but she did not respond with a comment on the community effort by deadline.