On May 15, Port Washington Residents approved the 2018-2019 school budget. The budget is intended to help define the Port Washington School District’s plan for the upcoming year in regards to the amount of money made and the amount willing to be spent.

Over 2,300 Port Washington residents came out to vote on this pressing budget issue.  The $155,938,460 budget ended up passing with 1,807 “yes” votes and 449 “no” votes.  

The overwhelmingly positive reaction to the budget is tremendous news for the Port Washington School District.  This response to the budget means there will be a 3.12% spending increase over this current year, in addition to a 3.15% tax levy increase. 

This budget has been carefully and thoughtfully developed in order to help maintain Port Washington’s high standard for educational excellence.

The passing of the budget is said to benefit all students in the long run.  High school students are especially content because all extracurricular activities, clubs, athletic teams and programs that are run through the school will be able to continue. 

With the passing of this budget, students can ensure that the many sports teams will have better quality uniforms, equipment, and fields or courts to practice on.  In addition, the tireless efforts of the administration and faculty continues to promise an exceptional curriculum for all students.  

The passing of this new budget will allow the school to able to purchase more devices and supplies such as Chromebooks, iPads, textbooks and review books.  This will not only cut down on the amount of paper used, but also enhance students’ learning experience and help them obtain further success. 

“The Chromebooks are much more organized because it gives me easy access to all of my assignments and help me stay on top of my work at all times.  I find this so much better than having loose sheets of paper everywhere and binders that hurt my back,” said freshman Sarah Braunschweiger. 

Another significant gain for the students and residents of Port Washington is that the budget adds on another sixth-grade teacher at Weber, an elementary school special education teacher, an associate administrator of literacy for students in third through fifth grade, a high school math teacher, and a bilingual kindergarten teacher. 

This addition of teachers will not only decrease the student to teacher ratio, but also provide the option for a student to thrive in a smaller learning environment rather than in a class of 20-30 students. 

“Passing of the budget helps to keep the school district competitive with other Nassau County school districts,”  said longtime Port Washington resident Lee Rosenberg.  

With the new implementation of specialized teachers, students can improve their ability to learn and, consequently, increase their performance.

  Furthermore, if the school district is efficient and productive, more families may want to live in Port Washington.  Thus, Port may draw in more younger families who are interested in providing a good education for their children. 

“If the school district is good, people will want to live here. Our children deserve every little opportunity they could get towards a substantial education, and the passing of the budget will certainly act in the students’ favor,” said Port Washington resident Stefanie Hiller.  

The passing of the budget additionally allows the property values to remain competitive in Port Washington. 

“We are pleased that the community overwhelmingly voted to approve this year’s $155,938,460 budget,” said Board of Education member Beth Weisburd.  “This budget represents a $4,715,496 increase from last year which is 3.12%. Schreiber high school will have 1 additional math teacher next year, which will help alleviate some of the larger class sizes. Thank you to everyone who came out to vote in support of our schools!”