By Matthew McGevna
The spending plan is a culmination of work sessions that were made public in March.
The budget calls for a 4.57 percent increase in spending, $2.2 million more the current budget. District officials maintain that the increases are mostly the result of circumstances beyond their control: state-mandated accounting regulations and inflation-linked contractual obligations with employees.
Despite the overall increase, the budget calls for a tax levy increase of just under 1 percent, one of the lowest in recent years. The tax levy is the amount of money taxpayers will have to pitch in to meet the budget number. Rich Cunningham, assistant superintendent of business operations, and some members of the Board of Education say the reason for the low increase was the creative ways the district found sources of revenue other than state aid and taxes. The district routinely rents its facilities to community organizations, and shares its expenses for utilities and transportation with other schools.
Cunningham said that by the time the tax levy is officially set in August, the increase could be even lower than the current .9 percent. If it should increase, he said, it would be due to factors other than the budget, such as increases in an individual¹s property market value.
When voters go to the polls, they will be voting on a number of new items for the upcoming year. The budget would allow for additional staffing in elementary and special education, a ninth-grade program that promotes learning by teaming classmates with the same block of teachers, new calculators, new science textbooks and expanded use of professional development to help teachers interpret and execute student data.
Also calculated into the budget are improvements in the district¹s buildings and grounds. The George Washington Elementary School would replace floors in two classrooms and a stairway. A new security camera would be installed along New York Avenue in the hope of curbing graffiti, and the west wing of the school would get new carpeting.
The Cornwell Avenue School would repair its gym floor, and one of its classrooms would get new flooring as well. The West Hempstead Middle School would install new lockers in the boys¹ locker room and replace light fixtures along the front walk. The West Hempstead High School track would be resurfaced and refinished, and its gym floor would be relined. Table tops in the science labs would be replaced, as would the roll-up garage door near the athletic fields.
The budget benefits residents without children in the public school system as well. Public school budgets apportion some of their funds for textbooks, computer software, health services, special education and library services for private-school students. Additionally, the passage of West Hempstead¹s transportation referendum would benefit some fourth- and fifth-graders attending St. Thomas School and the Hebrew Academy of Nassau County. The school district also shares some of the costs of providing space for Town of Hempstead senior citizens programs with the town. And the district rents space and allows its athletic fields to be used by community leagues and organizations throughout West Hempstead.
Voting will take place at the West Hempstead Middle School from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. On the ballot will be Proposition 1 (the budget), Proposition 2 (the transportation referendum), the public library budget and four candidates for the Board of Education. Janice Caufield¹s bid for re-election is being challenged by Tony Brita, and Davis Whelpley and Martin Kaye are running for re-election uncontested.
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