Lawrence plan would spend less

The polls will be open on Tuesday in the Lawrence School District for voters to approve or reject a $93.1 million budget and vote for Board of Education candidates.

The proposed spending plan is almost 1 percent smaller than the current budget, yielding no change in the tax levy and a decrease of $96 in school property taxes for the average homeowner. Two incumbents are up for re-election, board President Murray Forman and Vice President Dr. Asher Mansdorf. Nicole Di Iorio is challenging Forman, and Gwynn Campbell opposes Mansdorf for three-year trustee terms.

Voting will take place from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. at Number Two School, 1 Donahue Ave. in Inwood; at the Number Six School, 523 Church Ave. in Woodmere; at Lawrence Middle School, 195 Broadway in Lawrence; at Lawrence High School, 2 Reilly Road in Cedarhurst and at Atlantic Beach Village Hall, 65 the Plaza.

Murray Forman

Forman, 53, is seeking a third term on the board. The Lawrence resident and investment banker said he is running again to continue the work he has been a part of for the past six years.

“I believe the district is on a positive trajectory with the advent of a new superintendent,” said Forman, who noted that negotiating a new contract with the Lawrence Teachers Association is high on his priorities list.

He rejected the perception of some residents that trustees — some of whom send their children to area private schools — don’t care about the public schools. Forman pointed to the completion of a major capital plan that included renovations and state-of-the-art upgrades in all the schools, and noted that Lawrence is one of two Long Island districts to have full-day universal pre-kindergarten, and that the board maintained and enhanced nearly all of the district’s educational programs.

“For the most part, all segments of the community have come to respect and appreciate the work of this board,” he said, adding that School District 15 “has the most diverse set of constituents of any on Long Island.”