Little input on East Meadow school budget

Eight minutes. That is just about how long the East Meadow Board of Education’s annual Budget Input Session lasted on March 3 in the auditorium of the Leon J. Campo Salisbury Center. 

The meeting offered district residents an opportunity to share their views on the budget proposal, to be adopted by the board in April and voted on by the public in May.  

Reductions in state aid, rising pension and salary costs and a proposed property tax cap are issues that administrators in the East Meadow School District are contending with this budget season. As they work with school board members to craft a spending plan, planners say programs and jobs are safe, and the expense increase is modest, comparable to the current $178 million budget that upped spending by about 1.7 percent from the previous year. 

Jeffrey Angelino, who has three children attending school in the district, offered some potentially cost-saving advice. He proposed to the board to seek ways to cut down on mailings, especially to families like his with multiple students enrolled. 

“It doesn’t seem like a big thing, but how many students are in the schools?” he said. That’s one little cost-savings I just figured I would throw in because I know we have been saying that for years.”

  Salisbury resident Helen Meittinis touted the district’s Central Registry department and its efforts to combat students enrolling from illegal housing or from outside of the district boundaries. She recommended that the district consider adding a part-timer to enhance the Registry’s efforts and results.

  “This will help us save money in the long run,” Meittinis said.   

  Barry Rubinstein, an East Meadow resident and a former trustee on the Board of Education, urged voters to approve the proposed budget because of the educational prowess he believes the district provides. 

“Children eventually going to have to graduate from schools and go into the real world and ones educated in East Meadow are going to do much better because of the social and emotional development,” he said.

Fiore Federico, a resident of East Meadow for more than 40 years, said after the meeting that he wants officials to provide more clarity on how the proposed budget is going to affect his tax bill. Federico, who did not address the board during the Budget Input Session, said he’s be unsuccessful in getting clear answers from the county, which sets the property tax assessments, and the school district. It’s perplexing, he said, that while the assessed value of his home decreases, his property taxes continue to rise. 

“Who are they playing games with?” Federico said. “This [meeting] is a farce as far as I’m concerned.”

The Board of Education held a short work meeting before the Budget Input Session to approve special education and business-related resolutions. Also, administrators, led by Superintendent Louis DeAngelo, briefly answered questions from trustees about the budget and the planning process. The school board will host a work session on Thursday, March 17 at 7 p.m. at the Leon J. Campo Salisbury Center on 718 The Plain Road, Salisbury. 

Comments about this story? MCaputo@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 287.