Herald Community Newspapers
We heartily endorse the Hewlett-Woodmere school budget. With the last-minute addition of extra state aid, the district was able to reduce the tax levy increase slightly and bring the budget in at $89.3 million. That represents a 6.24 percent increase, and a 5.82 percent increase in the tax levy.
Responding to parents' concerns about the proposed elimination of a teaching position at the Franklin Early Childhood Center, District 14 officials were sympathetic, and added a teaching position at Franklin to allay parental worries about a higher student-teacher ratio.
The school board also plans to add a chairperson for the math department of Hewlett-Woodmere High School. They accomplished both moves not by adding money to the budget, but by compensating with the elimination of a high school teaching position and a support staff position at the Franklin facility.
The Hewlett-Woodmere board is clearly a school board focused on its educational mandate, as it exercises fiscal responsibility in meeting that mandate. The modest increase in the budget seems to be a sensible one, and the way board members got there demonstrates the kind of good sense taxpayers can appreciate.
No contest in Hewlett-Woodmere
It's easy for us to offer an endorsement in the Hewlett-Woodmere school board race, since only two candidates came forward to fill the open at-large seats on the board.
Stephanie Gould had planned to make her current three-year term her last one. She chose to stay on because, she said, the seven-member board works so well together that she was loath to upset the chemistry.
Her stated goals of maintaining all district facilities and lobbying for more state aid for District 14 are laudable, and clearly serve the interests of the students in the district.
Fellow candidate Harold Kislik is on the same page, aiming to increase state aid for the district, which ranks close to the bottom when it comes to receiving educational aid. Kislik is set to encourage District 14 residents to make a concerted effort to lobby their state and federal officials to that end.
The idea of continuity on a unified board that obviously has a well-defined agenda makes eminent good sense to us. It's an example that other local school boards might do well to contemplate.
