Long Island School Vote Today

John Mitty Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Long Island’s struggling economy took another huge hit last year with Hurricane Sandy, but even before the superstorm struck, one area where the island’s financial woes were already obvious was education. Long Island schools have been subjected to a number of budget cuts over the years, and many services have been outright eliminated in response to the reduced funds available.  Today, Long Islanders are at the polls voting on whether or not to reinstate those services by returning the budgets to the schools. 

Voters are currently deciding the financial fate of schools in 124 districts, 56 of which are in Nassau and 68 of which are in Suffolk.  The tax levy increase in Nassau would be 5.05% if it passes, and the increase in Suffolk would be 3.51%.  Those are only averages; different districts would increase the taxes by different amounts.  The highest would be 7.49% in Sachem district.  School officials like Henry Grishman, superintendent of Jericho schools, are optimistic about the results of the voting.  “I expect a very, very high pass rate,” Grishman says.  “There’s a public appreciation that school districts have tried to tighten their belts.”  Polls will close tonight between 8 and 10 pm, after which the results will be posted.

jmitty@longislandyellowpages.com

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