On May 3, the Board of Education discussed the proposed budget for the Port Washington School District and urged parents to approve it at the upcoming budget vote on May 17, about which there has been a significant amount of controversy.

There were two propositions explained by Superintendent Dr. Michael Hynes.  The first proposed that the adopted budget would be below the tax levy limit and that the appropriations would increase by about 7,000 dollars.  Thus, there would be a 4.52% budget increase from the 2021-2022 school year and a consequential 2.58% tax levy increase.  

The budget would maintain all of the existing academic, extracurricular, and support programs currently in place at the district schools, while expanding the ICT (Integrated Co-Teaching program) at the elementary level.  The following positions would be added: an additional ENL (English as a New Language) teacher at Weber, a FTE (Full Time Equivalency) speech teacher at Daly, an FTE transportation dispatcher, an ITS technician for the elementary school, and an IT aide district-wide.  

The number of coaching positions would also be expanded to include a junior varsity football assistant coach, a middle school boys winter track coach, and a middle school girls winter track coach.  The BOCES (Boards of Cooperative Educational Services) occupational education program would be supported further, and the BOCES twilight program at the high school level would be funded.  The first proposition includes partial roof repairs at Daly, Weber, and Manorhaven schools, resurfacing of the high school running track, exterior masonry work at Daly, and district-wide facility repairs and health and safety projects.  The project expenditures are as follows: employee benefits at 25%, transfers at 1%, debt service at 5%, transportation at 5%, supplies at 1%, textbooks and equipment at 1%, salaries at 50%, BOCES at 3%, and contractual at 9%.

The second proposition explained by Dr. Hynes proposed the creation of a capital reserve with a maximum amount of 15 million dollars for a term of 10 years, to be funded from surplus money remaining in the general fund and/or existing reserves; no more than five million dollars would be added annually.  This reserve would serve the purpose of funding district-wide replacements, renovations, upgrades, reconstructions, additions, and remediations of electrical service, HVAC units, air handlings, unit ventilators, furnishings, and equipment incidental to the project.

After explaining the two propositions, Dr. Hynes urged parents to approve the budget by exercising their opinion in a vote which took place on Tuesday, May 17.  In case the budget failed, as Dr. Hynes explained, the district would move to what is called an “austerity budget,” with no tax levy increase, meaning that the proposed budget introduced would be reduced by roughly 3.8 million dollars.

“What would need to take place is that there would be staffing cuts that would eventually result in increased class sizes, and we would have to reduce non-mandated programs.  Not to be doom and gloom, but it’s important to know that clubs, athletics, PEP, full-day kindergarten, and so on and so forth, those are all the things that we would have to look at in order to reduce almost 3.8 million dollars,” said Hynes during the BOE meeting.

Hynes recognized that the tax levy increase of 2.58% from the current budget makes voting in favor of this budget an especially contentious decision for all people in the community, but that the budget would still be below the New York State tax levy limit.

Although the proposed budget is $174,834,828, the original was $167,268,942, a 4.52% increase should it be approved.  However, the austerity budget would still be well above the original budget, as cutting $3,786,123 from the proposed budget would leave $171,048,705.  

Of course, with inflation and other economic conditions, the budget necessarily increased; this increase is difficult to justify for some members of the Port Washington community, leaving them skeptical.  Many parents argue that this money is necessary and that protecting the education and well-being of the children of Port Washington schools is far more important than trying to limit an increase on taxes.  Naturally, not all members of the Port Washington community are parents.

“While the budget will increase and I’m sure parents are upset that they have to pay more, I think it’s important that it gets approved.  Large class sizes always make learning more difficult, in my opinion,” said sophomore Vaanya Hanif.

The controversy surrounding the budget is, in part, due to the fact that past proposed budgets have not had as large of an increase from the adopted budget as this year.  In 2021, the proposed budget was 167 million dollars, while the adopted budget was 163 million dollars, meaning that the increase was only 2.48 percent — significantly less than this year’s 4.57% increase.  The budget last school year passed with 2,580 votes in favor and 1,009 votes in opposition.

The budget vote on May 17 coincides with elections for the Board of Education.  This year, three candidates — incumbents Emily Beys (the current Board of Education President) and Deborah Brooks (a current Trustee), along with challenger Michael Tretola — are competing for two available seats on the Board.  The two candidates with the highest vote totals will be elected for three-year terms on the Board of Education.

On May 5, only two days after the Board of Education meeting that focused on the budget vote, AGATE (the Advocacy for Gifted and Talented Education of Port Washington Nonprofit Organization) hosted “Meet the Candidates” night, in which each candidate in the upcoming Board of Education election was allowed three minutes for opening remarks before participating in a forum of questions sent in by members of the community.

“AGATE supports the budget, and urges you to vote yes and spread the word.  A failed budget would be disastrous for our kids,” said AGATE Co-President Kim Keiserman during the event.

On May 17, polls were open from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m. at Weber Middle School.  Residents of Port Washington voted yes or no on the budget and for any two of the three Board of Education candidates.