Candidates answer important questions

Matthew Paccione is facing Tara Byrne for the seat being vacated by Steve Foster on the Island Park Board of Education, and Henry Luft is challenging Kim Grim Garrity for her seat in Oceanside.

The Herald took the opportunity to ask each of the candidates a series of questions to give voters an opportunity to better understand their positions on key issues in this election. School districts are facing challenging times, and its important that the members of the Board of Education are the best people for the job.

It is important for residents to get out and vote on May 15, not only for the Board of Education trustees, but also for the school and library budgets, which will pave the way for both institutions in the upcoming year.

Island Park

Q: What are your feelings on Island Park students choosing their high school?

Byrne: I support choice, and will always support choice. The fact that our high school students are equally sharing in the positive experiences of both schools, speaks volumes, and shows that choice is working in our community. Having this opportunity to choose between two quality high schools is empowering to the parents and students of Island Park, who are able to tailor their high school experience by selecting the high school that is the best fit for them. In addition, we as a district are in a better negotiating position with both high schools. We have recently been the recipient of cost saving opportunities due to choice and will continue to work with both districts (West Hempstead and Long Beach) to look for other cost saving measures that can further benefit our taxpayers. The negotiating power is a huge benefit of choice.

Paccione: I think choice is great. I fully support it and I was happy to learn at the last Board of Education meeting, when the trustees were asked individually, that they all are also in full support of it. Choice is a wonderful opportunity for students to see which school meets their individual needs and character. Each high school offers a solid academic, extracurricular and cultural program. Both schools are situated in very caring communities and I think that this is important for students coming from Island Park.

Q: What do you think the Board of Education should be doing to prepare in case the Barrett Power Plant has its tax grievance approved?

Byrne: With the Barrett Plant providing a substantial amount of our tax base, any loss of that tax revenue would have a grave effect on our district. I feel the district should undertake an impact study to understand the effects of this loss. Also have contingency options in place for reductions in service that would yield the least impact on our school district with respect to instruction for our children. The potential revenue loss to the district would be too great to just leave to chance. Of course, the district should continue its efforts with all the stake holders in our community to continue putting pressure on all our elected officials, the tax assessor’s office and LIPA to make them aware of the negative impact to our community should this happen.

Paccione: The board should work to no end to persuade our representatives to restore the County Guarantee. I applaud the Board of Education’s efforts thus far in having the superintendent and district counsel sit at the table with LIPA and Nassau County attorneys and advocate on behalf of the taxpayers. I plan to attend all future meetings and ensure that this continues to happen. The dialogue between the Board of Education and the community must be kept open and transparent and there must be constant communication with our legislators to voice our needs and concerns. Short of all this, any loss of our tax base from the plant would be devastating to the community now and in the future.

Q: What do you think is the biggest issue facing the school district and what will you do to combat it?

Byrne: The biggest issues facing our schools today are fiscal issues. As a school district we have three situations that are of greatest concern: unfunded state mandates, the newly imposed 2 percent tax levy cap and the potential loss of revenue from the Barrett Plant. As a taxpayer, I expect the district to scrutinize every expense and stretch our tax dollars efficiently. As a board trustee, I will combat these revenue losses by looking at our facilities and finding revenue generating opportunities for the district.

Paccione: The Barrett Power Plant is the proverbial elephant in the room. The loss of this support would be unbearable to the vast majority of Island Park residents. Also of immediate concern is the 2 Percent Tax Cap. The public is conditioned to anticipate a 2 percent or less increase on this year’s proposed budget and is unaware that the 2 percent only covers the “core” aspects of any district’s budget and not all the so-called ancillary costs necessary for a well-rounded program for the children. Despite the fact that the district has set the levy increase over last year at 1.97 percent, the tax rate, however, is set by the Nassau County Assessor’s Office, and at this point, we don’t know what they will decide and what our taxpayers will pay.

Oceanside

Q: Oceanside managed to stay within the boundaries of the tax cap this year. What will you do to ensure that trend continues in the future?

Garrity: As I have during my 15 years on the Oceanside Board of Education, I will continue to work with the administration in developing budgets that meet the needs of the children and are responsible to the taxpayers. Oceanside is the third-lowest school district in the county in spending per pupil, yet maintains high quality, comprehensive instructional programs and extracurricular programs that our students deserve. Each year I go line-by-line through the budget. The main concern of our excellent teachers’ union, the administration and the school board is excellence in education, and working together we were able to renegotiate the union’s contract. The new contract is a fair one and will save the taxpayers a good deal of money while allowing us to minimize service cuts. This applies to the teachers’ union and to the administrators’ union.

Luft: To ensure that this trend continues is to condemn the Oceanside schools and students to a state of dormancy. Despite the appearance that the taxes and the budget are remaining the same, they are in fact higher than in the past two years. In order to maintain and improve upon the high caliber of education in Oceanside, we need to either raise spending per student and/or downsize certain non-educational services. Perhaps the board can consider transportation costs and rezoning schools to equalize services for all students. In order to continue the already inflated fiscal turned, there must be more transparency in the budget to account for unnecessary or abundant spending in certain areas that could otherwise be used to fill gaps in educational programs.

Q: What are your feelings on the school district’s 2012-13 budget?

Garrity: This budget is a good, responsible one and I urge everyone to support it. We offer students a well-rounded, high-quality education that prepares them for the global economy they will face. We offer a fantastic science research program that has produced multiple national winners and semifinalists in the Siemens, Intel and other prestigious competitions. We have responsible class size guidelines and begin teaching Spanish in kindergarten. We have a fantastic district-wide committee, the Buildings and Grounds Committee, that has worked tirelessly over the years to find and repair problems before they become costly problems. This has saved our district millions of dollars over the years. While we spend $4,237 less per student than the county average, we continue to provide tremendous sports, music and extracurricular programs that keep our students engaged in their schools.

Luft: I feel that the school budget provides resources for students base on the tax cap rather than their needs, in the same way that teachers are being encouraged to teach for the test. To this end, an expensive ELA program has been budgeted for grades K to 6. The program has already demonstrated flaws, has not ye been completely written and teachers have not had the opportunity to examine the entire program nor have they been trained in its implementation. After all the, tests are not supposed to be the “medium.” Sometimes, “a pineapple is just a pineapple.”

Q: What do you think is the biggest issue facing the school district and what will you do to combat it?

Garrity: The continuing financial pressures of a weak economy. We are trying to prepare students for the toughest world competition this country has ever seen, while recognizing that real estate taxes are painfully high. Both my husband and I are in jobs with wage freezes; we understand what our neighbors are going through. Balancing these two important goals remains the greatest challenge any school board faces. I will continue, as I have for 15 years, to use my experience, my knowledge of this community and my own background as someone who went to Oceanside High School and who had parents and children who went through the Oceanside school system to ensure that our schools continue to be the best they can be for the most effective cost.

Luft: In my opinion, the biggest issue is the board’s emphasis on maintaining a budget whose main components keeping spending on student to a minimum. No one wants to see tax increase, but cutting student programs (i.e., sports, full-day kindergarten, etc.) and using teachers’ salaries as a way of reducing costs should not be viable solutions. Our children and grandchildren are our biggest investment. Minimum deposits accrue minimum interest.