Full-day kindergarten on the line
Budget vote is May 19
The fate of the East Meadow School District’s kindergarten program will be in the hands of voters on Tuesday, as they decide whether they want to preserve the current half-day program, as part of a smaller budget, or join the vast majority of Long Island districts by expanding to a full-day program, and pierce the state tax levy cap.
East Meadow is one of six districts on Long Island that do not have a full-day kindergarten program. It is joining three other districts in putting the program on the ballot for the 2015-16 school year — but is the only one that would do it by exceeding the tax cap.
Voters will choose between two propositions that preserve district programs and staff. But Proposition One will maintain the current half-day program, and Proposition Two includes the full-day program.
Proposition One totals $192.8 million, with a tax levy of $136.3 million — the highest the district could go under the tax levy cap. Proposition Two totals $195.8 million, with a $137.5 million tax levy. Though only the second option goes above the cap, both measures will require supermajority — or 60 percent — approval, Superintendent Louis DeAngelo explained. Proposition Two would also require residents to forfeit their tax rebates for 2015-16, which are awarded by the state to certain homeowners in districts that stay under the tax cap.
It is the first time a district budget will require the approval of a supermajority. Last year, 77 percent of voters approved the 2014-15 budget.
Voters who want full-day kindergarten must select “yes” on both propositions. Those who want to keep the half-day program must vote “yes” on Proposition One and “no” on Proposition Two. If both pass, Proposition Two will be adopted. If neither passes, the district will have to revise the budget. A revised spending proposal that does not pierce the cap would no longer require a supermajority.
While there have been calls by parents for full-day kindergarten for years at Board of Education meetings, those calls have grown more frequent since the implementation of the more rigorous Common Core State Standards in 2011.
