With one week to go before a trustee vote to adopt the school budget, and just over a month before residents have their say, officials are calling for unity in purpose in the best interests of the students and community.
“I have never seen it this bad,” said Karen Brohm, president of the West Hempstead Union Free School District board. “We don’t have to agree, but we have to live together.”
Brohm’s plea came at the conclusion of a sometimes tense meeting last night (April 9) as board members who oppose raising the tax levy to fund the budget asked questions and exchanged ideas with the superintendent, assistant superintendent and other trustees.
Currently, with state funding up in the air, the draft $77,834,290 budget would raise the school tax assessment on property by 2.3%, down from an earlier discussed 3.09%, according to assistant superintendent Brian Phillips. That amounts to a cash total of $1.2 million, he said. The share per household is impossible to break down because homes are assessed individually based on value and applicable exemptions. Phillips said the increase is the 50th lowest among Nassau County districts.
All the trustees agreed on the need to control soaring costs such as transportation, employee benefits and special education. They also agreed that dipping into reserve funds to cover increasing expenses is not a viable option.
Superintendent Dan Rehman said that as a result of cost-cutting already in place he has had to inform eight teachers they won’t have a position next year, a task he found difficult.
As he did at an earlier meeting, Rehman called on critics of the budget to come to the table with proposed solutions and participate in the process rather than voting down the budget.
One cost-saving idea briefly explored is centralized bus pickup, or purchasing school buses rather than contracting with a transportation provider. “We must get a handle on transportation,” said Trustee Byers Cole. “It is the largest single line item on the budget.”
In each of the last two years voters initially rejected the budget only to have it passed on a revote.
The board will vote on the budget April 16, with a public hearing before the general vote on May 14th. Residents will cast their votes on May 21st. More information go to: https://www.whufsd.com/
