School budgets pass overwhelmingly
Despite widespread tax revolts elsewhere, Long Island voters approved school budgets overwhelmingly in early returns last night - a relief for many local school officials who had cut staffing and other costs in bids for public support.
With results reported for 73 districts, 69 had passed - a success rate nearly as high as last year's record level. Only four budgets were defeated: in Port Jefferson, West Babylon, Wyandanch and East Rockaway.
Despite their ballot victories, school officials said they were braced for further fiscal cuts next year, due to the potential end of federal "stimulus" money that has largely compensated up to now for losses of state financial aid.
"We have a lot more work to do - we're not done yet," said Kim Phillips, president of East Islip's school board. The district's $100.8-million budget passed handily, and a board candidate backed by a local taxpayer group, Philip Montuori Sr., lost his bid for election by a narrower margin. Stakes in this year's vote were high: Hundreds of dollars in extra taxes for average homeowners in districts where budgets passed, versus increased teacher layoffs, larger classes and losses of programs ranging from music to sports when budgets failed.
Divisions affected families as well as school districts.
Michael Leo of Shirley voted against a proposed $200-million budget in the William Floyd district, while his wife, Helen, voted in favor. The budget passed. Spending will rise 2.75 percent under the plan, and taxes 8.53 percent, even though the district plans to save money by eliminating 150 staff positions and reducing full-day kindergarten to half-day.
Helen Leo said that, while it is tough paying taxes with her husband out of work, it is important to educate children properly. The couple's own children are grown.
"I don't like to see the kids get hurt," Helen Leo said.
By 2 p.m., 700 more voters had shown up in the district than last year despite a steady drizzle, school officials said.
Like William Floyd, most of the Island's other 123 districts are trimming staffs and holding next year's proposed spending relatively low - to an average increase of 2.36 percent. But projected tax hikes are significantly higher - an average 3.41 percent, or more than a percentage point above the regional inflation rate. This left many cash-strapped homeowners edgy.
"It's getting ridiculous, with the economy the way it is," said one "no" voter, James Warnetski, a retired aircraft mechanic, as he emerged from the polls at Lindenhurst Middle School. Voter turnout there was also above average, the district said.
Lindenhurst, whose budget also was approved, plans to cut about 40 teaching positions in June, to hold down next year's cost increase to less than 1 percent on a $137-million budget. Even so, the district projects a 3.87 percent tax hike.
School administrators in Lindenhurst and other districts point out that Gov. David A. Paterson has called for cutting the Island's school aid by $172.6 million - or 1.6 percent of the region's total school revenue. Meanwhile, state lawmakers are more than a month past their deadline for either accepting Paterson's plan or adopting an aid package of their own.
As a result, school leaders explained that they have been forced to project higher property tax increases than they would like, to compensate for anticipated state aid cuts.
Some Lindenhurst residents remained supportive. Ed Meinhold, a Lindenhurst resident and retired BOCES instructor, contends that negative votes simply increase school costs in the long run, by forcing districts to postpone building maintenance and other needs that produce bigger problems in the future.
"Basically, the budget supports the kids, and I'm all for the kids," Meinhold said.
Galvanized by public discontent over government spending in general, local taxpayer groups and "tea party" organizers campaigned on behalf of favored school board candidates in more than a half-dozen districts Islandwide. Teacher unions and parent groups rallied behind their own candidates as well, in efforts to save jobs and student services ranging from Advanced Placement courses to varsity sports.
In crafting their budgets, many Island school officials sought to avoid the experience of New Jersey, where voters rejected 58 percent of budgets last month. While New Jersey's population is largely suburban like Long Island's, the average proposed tax hike there was 4.4 percent - significantly higher than this region's increase. Island school officials have noted that the failure rate of budgets in the northern New Jersey suburbs closest to New York City was about 25 percent - far lower than for the state as a whole.
