Herald Community Newspapers
Central High School District
The Central High School District is proposing a $91.97 million budget for 2007-08, an increase of 5.98 percent over the current spending plan.
As usual, mandated expenses such as employee salaries, rising health insurance premiums and the teacher retirement program are the driving factors behind the budget increase. The good news for homeowners is that they would see a tax increase of just 3.08 percent, lower than cost-of-living adjustments.
Three new faculty positions would be added in the new budget, at a cost of about $210,000. The positions are being added to balance class size - which district policy sets at a maximum of 25 - and to provide needed additional Academic Intervention Services for students who don't meet proficiency requirements on state tests.
A second proposition asks voters to approve the expenditure of $1.4 million from the capital fund created last year. The district plans to spend $946,000 on an upgrade of its technology infrastructure. Improvements would be made to the schools' servers, computer security systems and software. The remainder of the money would fund select capital projects, including replacement of classroom floors and ceilings, cement and masonry work, roof repairs and heating and electrical upgrades.
The second part of the proposition is an expenditure of $1.2 million in state Excel Aid. The district plans to use the money to fund similar capital projects.
A third proposition seeks voter approval for the installation of an air conditioning system in the Keller Auditorium at Central High School. The $1.3 million needed for the project would come from the capital reserve fund.
The average tax increase varies in each of the three elementary districts because they pay different percentages of the taxes for the high school district. Those percentages are determined by the county. In District 13, average homeowners would see an increase of $135.55 on the high school portion of their tax bills. The average increase in District 24 would be $50.54, and in District 30, $52.54.
The proposed budget is a sensible one that funds both educational necessities and needed improvements while keeping increases to a minimum. We support the spending plan, and encourage voters to do the same when they head to the polls on Tuesday.
District 13
The $38.41 million budget District 13 is proposing is $2.14 million larger than the current budget, the district's smallest increase in the past four years.
A tax levy increase of 4.66 percent means that average district homeowners will see an increase of $136.74 on the elementary portion of their tax bills.
The district compiled the budget with the focus on maintaining current educational programs, making only small changes that are deemed necessary.
The district would spend $300,000 to replace the parking field at Howell Road School. The project would cost between $500,000 and $600,000 in total, but would be partially paid for with money set aside from previous budgets.
Voters will also be asked to approve a proposition to allow the district to spend $688,000 in state Excel Aid. It would fund capital projects, including the replacement of auditorium seats at James A. Dever School, the installation of outdoor fitness equipment at each school for student and community use and a technology infrastructure upgrade at all four district schools.
District 13 has always boasted a large number of students who meet or exceed standards on state tests, and district schools have been recognized as "model schools" by the International Reading Association. Administrators and school board members maintain that they have kept budgetary increases to a minimum while striving to provide students with a quality education, a challenge that is complicated by the fact that about 90 percent of district taxes come from homeowners. Districts 24 and 30, in contrast, have much larger commercial bases.
District 13 has put together a sound budget that balances all of its schools' major concerns. We encourage voters to approve it.
District 24
District 24 voters are being asked to approve a $24.34 million budget, an increase of $1.1 million, or 4.77 percent, over the current spending plan. The increase is similar to last year's, the district's lowest in eight years. Typical homeowners will see an increase of $64 on the elementary portion of their tax bills.
Increases in the cost of contracts, retirement funds and transportation were the main factors in the increase. The transportation increase alone amounts to $555,000 of the $1.1 million.
The district plans to maintain its current programs, including outdoor education, instrumental music, Spanish and keyboarding, and will redesign elements of its academic intervention and special education programs. The budget also calls for renovating of the parking lot at Robert W. Carbonaro School: construction of a retaining wall, the repaving of the lot and a redesign of the drainage system. The district also hopes to install new boilers and heating systems at the Carbonaro and William L. Buck schools.
This budget meets the district's stated goal of maximizing delivery of services to students while being as fiscally prudent as possible. The small overall increase shows that the district considered taxpayers wallets' when assembling the fiscal plan. The Herald encourages residents to support it.
District 30
District 30 is proposing a $27.86 million spending plan for 2007-08, an increase of $1.76 million, or 6.76 percent, over the current budget. Average homeowners in the district will see a $99 increase on the elementary portion of their tax bills.
The increase is attributable in large part to mandated costs such as salaries and benefits, as well as the maintenance of district educational initiatives. There are no new faculty positions in the budget proposal.
There are two propositions on Tuesday's ballot. The first would allow the district to create a capital reserve fund to address needed projects. The fund could accumulate up to $4 million over five years. Approving the proposition would not cost taxpayers any additional money. Funding would come from money left over at the end of each fiscal year or additional revenue beyond district projections.
When the fund expires after five years, the district would either return the remaining money to voters as a fund balance, or ask voters to renew the reserve fund. Voters must approve the establishment of the fund as well as any expenditures from the fund.
The second proposition would allow the district to bond $984,000 to replace the roof at Forest Road School.
We believe the budget will help maintain current educational initiatives while keeping taxpayers' concerns in mind. The creation of the capital reserve fund is a fiscally responsible way to pay for much-needed district improvements. It would eliminate the need for bonding or borrowing in future budgets to pay for such work.
We urge voters to support District 30's budget.
Hewlett-Woodmere
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.
Lewis for school board trustee in Dist. 13
The Herald believes that Tanya Lewis is the strongest candidate for the Board of Education trustee seat being vacated by Michael Mastrocinque.
Lewis has two children, one who attended school in District 13 and is currently in the high school district, and another who has yet to enter the district. She has been involved in school activities since arriving in Valley Stream eight years ago, as co-president of the Howell Road PTA, and currently as an active member of the PTA at Memorial Junior High School.
Lewis has also sat on the district's shared decision making committee, touring schools to examine infrastructure and classroom activities and supplies. This has given her valuable experience in working with parents and administrators to find problems in the district's schools and come up with solutions.
Lewis understands the financial burdens in a district where 90 percent of the tax base is residential. She hopes to spread the costs of needed capital improvements over several years, to help alleviate the tax burden.
Lewis has ideas, experience and the enthusiasm needed to serve on a school board. These qualities give her an edge over her opponents, Joseph DiSibio, who has a solid financial background, and Deidre Grayson. All have the district's best interests at heart, but Lewis is the best candidate for the job, and the Herald endorses her.
In District 30, elect Egbuchulam
Valley Stream School District 30 is lucky to have two extremely competent candidates running for a seat on the school board. Theodora Egbuchulam is involved not only in district activities but in the community at large, serving on the PTA at Forest Road School and with the Mill Brook Civic Association.
Egbuchulam also has school board experience on her side, having taken over for Walter Nesbeth on the high school and District 30 boards for the last four months of his terms. She is a mother of three young children who attend Valley Stream schools, and has the energy and enthusiasm needed for school board work. She seems to have a grasp of the nuances of balancing children's educational needs and fiscal prudence.
Arthur Registre has vast experience in education. He has been the assistant principal for science at Far Rockaway High School for the past three and a half years, and he has two master's degrees - one in education and one in molecular cell biology.
Registre has one child attending school in the district, and another will start kindergarten in September. His experience as an assistant principal has given him a feel for what is needed to succeed in an educational environment.
We believe, however, that Egbuchulam's experience on the board and her long-term involvement in the community give her an edge. While we encourage Registre to run again for school board, we feel that Egbuchulam is the more complete candidate, and the Herald enthusiastically endorses her.
Running unopposed in District 13
Bonnie Gorham is running unopposed for a third term on the District 13 school board. She served a year as its president, and was previously president of the PTA at James A. Dever School. She has two children who have attended district schools.
Running unopposed in District 24
Anthony Iadevaio, Frank Nuara and Lawrence Trogel are all seeking re-election to the District 24 Board of Education, and all are running unopposed.
Iadevaio, the current president of the high school board, is seeking his 10th three-year term. He is retired, and has four children who attended district school.
Nuara, a Lynbrook resident whose three children attended Valley Stream schools, is running for his sixth term. He has twice served as board president.
Trogel, who is seeking a third term, also serves on the high school board. He has two children who attend high school in the Central High School District.
Running unopposed in District 30
Andrew Walters is unopposed in his bid for re-election to the District 30 Board of Education. Walters has served on the board since 1991, and has two children who attended district schools.
Running unopposed 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.
