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Overcast Wantagh schools adopts tentative $89.4M budget for 2023-24
The Wantagh education board has adopted an $89.4 million spending plan for 2023-24, and residents will go to the polls on May 16 to determine if they want to approve it.
The school board officially adopted the budget, a roughly $4.5 million increase over the current spending plan, at its April 4 business meeting.
The estimated increase in the tax levy is roughly $1.6 million, school officials said.
According to John McNamara, superintendent of Wantagh schools, the adopted budget includes a continuation of some of the things that worked well for Wantagh schools this year, and some new items as well.
“First and foremost, we always want to maintain all of our outstanding programs,” McNamara said at the meeting. “And I’m happy to report that we were able to do that. We also really focused on reducing elementary class size — that was something that, going back a couple years, (we) had an uptick in. We wanted to bring that back down to previous levels.”
In addition, McNamara praised Wantagh’s universal pre-K program, which has also been included in the 2023-24 budget, with hopes of seeing it expanded should voters approve the spending plan. This program began with a grant two years ago, starting with four pre-K classes in all three of Wantagh’s elementary schools. For the 2022-23 school year, the number of classes expanded to six, and the board said it hopes to expand that to eight for 2023-24.
Also included in the budget are technology, security and infrastructure upgrades. On the technology end, the district is looking to update a Mac lab at Wantagh High School. This is a common trend among Long Island schools after a cyber attack struck Suffolk County in September.
“We are looking to enhance security with some increase (in) security guards and increased hours of coverage across our buildings,” McNamara said. “We are also expanding some of our technology in terms of security, updating some of our cameras as well as exterior doors across the buildings.”
During the April 4 meeting, one parent asked school officials if armed guards would be part of the security upgrades.
McNamara said that there were no plans in the budget for armed guards, with the focus being more on increased personnel, monitoring and mental health initiatives.
“One of the things that we talked about in terms of security is really a multi-pronged approach,” McNamara said. “Yes, we talked about the physical structure of a building. We talked about the hardening of our security. We talk about the personnel to protect us. But we also talk about really creating a community where we know our students and staff well.”
The superintendent pointed out that in many school shootings, the gunman is someone from within the community who existed on the fringe, and the district hopes to ensure that does not happen in Wantagh.
In terms of infrastructure, district officials said window, ceiling, flooring and roof upgrades are included in the 2023-24 spending plan, in addition to security-related door replacements.
According to McNamara, improvements to the infrastructure account for slightly more than $3 million in the budget.
For more information on the budget, visit tinyurl.com/wantaghbudget.
