Voters To Decide Budget, 3 School Board Members Tuesday

Voters in the Plainview-Old Bethpage School District will go to the polls on Tuesday to decide whether to approve the proposed 2013-14 budget.

Voters will also decide upon three out of four candidates on the ballot to serve three-year terms on the Board of Education. Two are incumbents; two are challengers.

The proposed budget package of $141,358,095 represents a 2.98 percent increase over last year's spending plan. The tax levy increase is just below 2.9 percent.

Both figures are below the state's so-called "tax cap," a figure derived from a complex state formula applied to each individual district, school officials said.

To achieve that figure, Plainview-Old Bethpage staff members have agreed to take a pay freeze for the 2013-14 school year.

The proposed budget maintains class sizes, academic and extra-curricula activities and strengthens the district's comprehensive security plan, including upgrades to all school buildings. It also funds certain capital funds for building maintenance, school officials said.

See the entire budget proposal here:

Voting will take place in the usual polling places: Jamaica Avenue School, Plainview-Old Bethpage Middle School and Old Bethpage Elementary School. The polls will open Tuesday at 6 a.m. and close at 9 p.m.

There is a second proposition on the ballot to allow the district to finance a repair reserve fund. The proposal does not increase the tax levy. It allows the  Board of Education to finance a fund through unanticipated revenues and unexpended funds accumulated at the end of the current year. The concept, school officials say, is to be prepared for costly, unforeseen repairs.

Four candidates will appear on the ballot. They are, in order of their appearance on the ballot:

• Kevin Rey (challenger)
  
• Gary Bettan (incumbent)
  
• Seth Greenberg (challenger)
• Emily Schulman (incumbent)