Editorial

Approve the Oceanside school budget

Posted

The Oceanside School District has assembled a $144.4 million spending plan for 2015-16, $2.16 million, or 1.52 percent, larger than the current budget. In the age of the state tax cap, budget planners have done a fine job of maintaining programs while keeping the levy increase within the district’s limit of 1.56 percent, or $1.8 million. The iPad program, environmental field trips, and school clubs will all remain intact next year.

Administrators saved on spending by putting the principal of Oceanside High School Castleton in charge of summer school programs and cutting four assistant coaches. We particularly applaud the spending plan’s retirement initiative, which would save $2 million. We also encourage the district to use any unexpected money it receives from the state to build up reserve funds and get itself off the state comptroller’s office’s susceptible-to-fiscal-stress list. With the memories of the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy still fresh, it’s important to have emergency funds.

Oceanside voters have not rejected a budget in well over a decade, and as the community continues to rebuild from the storm, it is more important than ever to keep that winning streak going. We encourage voters to give the plan their “yes” votes on Tuesday.

Re-elect Kim Grim-Garrity to school board

Oceanside also has a contested race for a seat on the Board of Education. Austin Graff is running against incumbent Kim Grim-Garrity, while Seth Blau is running unopposed.

Graff is a lawyer for the Hempstead school district and has two children enrolled in Oceanside schools. He has good ideas for the district — like streaming board meetings online, or posting them on the district’s website afterward. Either of these options — or both — would certainly help keep the public informed.

Grim-Garrity has been on the school board for 18 years and is a lifetime Oceanside resident and community volunteer. She has a long history with the Buildings and Grounds Committee, played a role in bringing a playground to the kindergarten center at School No. 6, and this year she and her fellow trustees have worked to update the security system districtwide.

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