Most Long Island school districts pass budgets

Voters in more than 95 percent of Long Island school districts passed proposed budgets Tuesday night, continuing a series of election-night successes that have weathered three years of economic turmoil.

The only rejected budgets as of late Tuesday night were Locust Valley, Oyster Bay, Seaford and Westbury in Nassau County, and tiny Fishers Island in Suffolk County. Budgets passed in 119 districts.

"The overwhelming majority of districts worked very hard to keep tax rates under control," said Joseph Laria, superintendent of Glen Cove schools and one of the Island's most experienced administrators. "I think Long Islanders appreciated that." Glen Cove's $72-million budget, which raises spending 2.37 percent and the tax levy 3.3 percent, passed 1,023 to 578.

Wendell Chu, the East Islip schools chief, agreed.

"You know, it was a particularly difficult year," he said. "But people don't want children's programs cut." East Islip's $103.9-million budget, which raises spending 3.1 percent and taxes 6.98 percent, passed 2,924 to 1,952.

Islandwide, the proposed $10.8 billion in school spending would boost tax levies nearly 4 percent next year -- the biggest increase since the economy tanked in 2008. Spending would rise 2.17 percent, or slightly less than the current inflation rate.

At William Floyd High School in Mastic Beach, reporters interviewed voters Tuesday as they emerged from polls. The district's $208.1-million budget, which squeaked through 2,500 to 2,485, will raise the tax levy 12.47 percent -- the Island's highest increase, percentagewise. Spending would rise 4.05 percent.

Many residents there who voted "yes" noted that a budget defeat would mean potential loss of varsity sports, music and other programs.

"I understand times are difficult for everybody, but children need programs so they know what the world has to offer," said Peggy Willard, 39, of Shirley, who has two children.

Still, some residents -- especially, the elderly -- were preoccupied with taxes, saying they were having a hard time making ends meet.

"I would never, ever vote for that kind of tax increase -- I don't have the money," said Ernest Jochen, 78, of Mastic, a retired machine-shop inspector.

Across the Island, many voters said they understood that districts faced tough financial decisions. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and lawmakers have cut the region's school aid by a record $206 million as part of efforts to balance the state budget. That reduction included $89 million in federal jobs money that is not being renewed next year.

For Pless Dickerson, president of Westbury's school board, Tuesday night's results meant decidedly mixed emotions.

While Westbury's proposed $109.7-million budget was narrowly defeated, a $53.2-million budget in Wyandanch, where Dickerson is interim superintendent, passed by a small margin.

Tuesday night, Dickerson said he was pleased with results in Wyandanch, but sad with the rejection in his home district where, he said, teachers recently agreed to $3 million in contract concessions. "It is disappointing after everybody pitched in, that voters didn't support us," Dickerson said.

On the Island, school taxes account for more than 60 percent of property taxes. Those bills rank among the nation's highest.

But district voters have only limited control over those bills and the school-board members who determine them. Of 395 board candidates, 103 -- or more than a quarter -- were unopposed. On the spending side, at least 15 districts informed residents that, if budgets were rejected, tax hikes under austerity budgets would be as high, or higher, than if proposed spending plans were approved.

Still, voters made their decisions count in some key board elections. In Huntington, school board president William Dwyer was defeated in his re-election bid. Challengers Jennifer Hebert and Adam Spector defeated Dwyer and two other challengers for three-year terms. Dwyer cast the deciding vote in the school board's controversial decision to close Jack Abrams Intermediate School.

In response to the funding crunch, districts' proposed budgets call for slashing more than 2,000 jobs in the coming school year, including more than 1,200 teachers, Newsday found. That would be the biggest wave of staff reductions since the early 1990s.

Few voters at the West Babylon school district's administration building claimed to be happy with a proposed $93.9-million budget that hikes taxes 6.46 percent and eliminates 54 staff positions. Spending would rise less than 1 percent. That budget passed 1,546 to 962.

Voters expressed unhappiness for different reasons. Some, like Kim McLasky, a classroom aide whose job is one of those being cut, supported the budget in part because she is a parent.

"I feel the pinch," McLasky said. "We're struggling, but I'm not going to take it out on my child. I'll cut back another way."