Endorsements

Vote 'yes' on V.S. school budgets

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With all the focus on Common Core, state testing, teacher evaluations and the pros and cons of opting out, it’s too easy to forget about the massive effort that goes on each day in classrooms to help young minds learn and grow into intellectually capable young adults ready for college or careers.

Administrators, staff and educators work hard to cope with new standards while making sure their students develop good study habits, helping them learn the fundamentals in English and math, encouraging deeper, broader curiosity, and spurring them on to higher levels of accomplishment.

All this takes cooperation, participation and support from parents and all parts of the community.

A major portion of that support comes from taxpayers. Property taxes fund the bulk of the salaries, pensions, benefits and equipment and supplies that make our schools work, supplemented by our state income taxes, which fund what Albany sends to each district in the form of financial aid.

We expect our school boards and district administrators to mind those dollars carefully and to plan for their most effective use.

Each year, school budgets are put up for a vote. Residents whose money is being spent are asked to say yes or no to the budget developed and presented by their school districts.

We urge all registered voters to come out on Tuesday and support the proposed budgets in District 13, District 24, District 30 and the Valley Stream Central High School District.

District 13’s proposed 2015-16 spending plan is fiscally sound and responsible, and provides a nearly $1.1 million increase to fund necessary staff increases and several capital projects. It is free of cuts and stands to expand services for the district’s students.

The budget would add several full-time classroom and special-education teachers to keep up with increasing class sizes, as well as several part-time positions, including a social worker, a speech therapist and a maintenance worker. The additions would strengthen the district and make it better able to address the students’ needs.

The budget also allocates funds for capital improvements at three schools. The James A. Dever School would receive a roof repair and new blacktop, and the Wheeler Avenue School would get new auditorium seating, two new bathrooms and two new exit doors. New doors would also be installed at the Willow Road School. The proposed improvements are practical and responsible maintenance of each building.

Board of Education Trustees Jeanne Greco Jacobs and William Stris are running for re-election, and each deserves another term. They are engaged board members who have served the community well and shown their commitment to education through the years. They understand the issues facing the district as education reform continues to be hashed out, and they are trustworthy stewards.

Greco Jacobs has supported progress in technology, embraces new ideas and understands that the district needs to keep its edge as systemic changes take place. Stris’s reputation for careful consideration and independent-minded positions is well deserved, and he has displayed his passion for education over three decades in public service. Their challengers — Vincent Toma for Stris’s seat and Denise Diodato for Greco Jacobs’s — appear to be level-headed candidates who wouldn’t be bad choices, but the incumbents know the players and personnel in the district, and they bring a valuable institutional knowledge to roles in which they have proven themselves.

District 24’s proposed budget contains several difficult staff and program cuts, but cuts appeared unavoidable this year once projected state aid figures were released.

District 24 will receive less than administrators had hoped, and that will be felt, but the lack of cuts through the recession that hurt so many other districts was a rare safe zone for teachers and programs. The district weathered tough times well due to its surplus, and the difficult decisions made this year are unfortunate, but decisions are shaped by circumstances.

The district also has the lowest allowable tax levy increase among Valley Stream’s elementary school districts, which it is adhering to with a 1.5 percent increase.

Board of Education President Donna LaRocco is running unopposed. She is caring and committed in her role, and we encourage voters to support her.

District 30’s proposed budget manages to add multiple teaching positions in a district whose class sizes continue to grow, and without raising the tax levy at all.

Board of Education Trustee James Lavery is running unopposed. He has proven himself to be a dedicated public servant, and we encourage voters to support him.

The Valley Stream Central High School District’s proposed spending plan is reasonable and contains some positive elements, helped by a decrease in pension payments and the improving economy. It would restore a variety of teaching positions and programs that were cut in recent years — a nice change from the difficult cuts this district and so many others have had to weather.

The budget’s addition of guidance counselors, psychologists and social workers is an important element that shouldn’t be underestimated, as we continue to learn how vital proper mental health services are to fostering a healthy educational environment. The district’s current staff members are overworked, with the highest caseloads in the county, so the additions are necessary and would make a marked difference.

Each of the district’s four schools would restore three after-school clubs or activities that were cut in recent years, and the district-wide air rifle team would be brought back. These programs are valuable assets for students and enrich their school experience and their lives, and restoring them would be a great change from the norm we’ve become accustomed to.