F^ rningdalc Pub
274 Ifcin S t. Wiflte Oxendine, Eleventh Vietnam Casualty
JjarmmgM? ( Sterner
10*
On newstands or
$ 4 oer year by mail AH OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE INCORPORATED VILLAQE OF FARMINGDALE
SERVING GREATER FARMINGDALE. BETHPAGE & MELVILLE
Vol. 5 No. 42 Second Class Postage has been paid at Farmingdale, N„ Y. 11735 Thursday, June 6, 1968
SCHOOL BOARD REDUCES
BUDGET BY ' 280.263
The District 22 Board of Education approved by a 6 to 1
vote a reduced school budget which will be submitted to the
voters on Saturday, June 22.
The budget figure to be raised by taxation is now $ 7,591,238,
a reduction of $ 280,263 which will lower the tax rise by 30
cents from the May 8th budget figure. The tax rifle b\ sed on
the revised budget will be $ 1.37 rather than $ 1.67. The estimated
tax rate would be set, if this budget passed for Oyster Bay
at 7.859 and for the Town of Babylon sector $ 12,409.
The budget reductions were made possible by a $ 94,000
figure in transportation, due tc more favorable bids from a
school bus firm plus Citizens Advisory Committee recommendations
of $ 201,759. Increases amounted to $ 48,500 with
additional revenue from High Tax State Aid and other adjustments
amounting to $ 127,004.
The recently Appointed CAC which has been working to
find deletions from the school budget said they would now
unanimously approve the new budget.
Trustee Bernard Lang before voting " no" on the newly
revised budget issued the following statement:
The late Robert F. Kennedy
" I have been living on Long
Island for almost 20 years and
during each of those years I
have voted in favor of the school
budget of the district in which
I lived. Not a one of these budgets
was perfect but I recognized that
they are guides and estimates
and not one can predict the problems
and emergencies which will
arise in the year ahead."
For the first time I am going
to vote against a school budget
and will urge others to do likewise.
I am opposed to the revised
budget and believe that it
should be defeated.
There are items being reduced
which in the opinion of the educational
leadership of the district
have an impact upon education.
I have no quarrel with a change
based upon a lower bid being
received for an item although
even these corrections may be
and often are made by a board
in September before setting the
tax rate.
I had notified some of my
colleagues of my intention not
to attend tonight's meeting in
order to avoid having a " No"
note recorded. The personal impact
of the events which occurred
in Los Angeles this morning
reminded me again that each
person is important and that I
still have a moral responsibility
to people in this school district.
Some one must speak in
behalf of those who believed in
the original budget submitted and
who believed in the things for
which I have worked.
The amount of the revision in
the new budget is arrived at no
more scientifically than by
capitulation to the promise of
threat that if the tax rate was
reduced by 30C the leaders of
the fight to defeat the first budget
will now support this one. The
school board is paying the pound
of flesh and has agreed to reductions
to achieve the result
demanded regardless of the wisdom
of a particular cut. The
rationale behind this is that the
community will support such a
budget but ont one with a 20C
rate reduction for example. The
30C reduction represents a saving
to the average taxpayer of $ 1.25
per month.
Two nights ago I presented a
report to the board indicated the
need for certain steps to be taken
urgently in order to safeguard
our educational system. The new
budget will make it impossible
to put a single one of these
recommendations into effect even
if the board and administration
should decide that they were
vital to the welfare of our school
system.
In my opinion the revised
budget - and the method by which
the final figures was reached
has the potential of doing more
harm to more children than an
austerity budget would - although
I question the need for either.
Some of my colleagues are
concerned with demonstrating to
the community that they are being
reasonable and acceding to the
demands of the people. I wonder
what the community reaction will
really be! The increase in the
transportation item in the
original budget was represented
to the people as being due to
my desire to bus children from
Wyandanch to Farmingdale.
Every board member knew that
this was a lie. Yet what was the
impact of the long explanation
in the news letter? The majority
of the people obviously still
believed the lie - which has
never been retracted. The
$ 94,000. reduction in the transportation
item will be seen as
clear evidence that since we
obviously changed our minds
about busing children in from
Wyandanch we were forced to
reduce this item.
You board members think that
you are postponing things which
must be done for another year.
You know that we will have to
put in large sums for educational
purposes in the next budget. What
will change a year from now?
Will not the pattern of capitulation
once established operate as
forcefully next year as this year?
When some person or group gives
you the price for unity next
year will not this determine the
budget amount? I believe that the
method you are following this
year has within it the seeds of
destruction of our quality educational
system - as well as
your integrity as a board.
Many times during the past
years I have seen boards accept
the wishes of one or two board
members in the name of unity.
I think that such actions are
wrong. However we always
depend upon certain people to
go along rather than rock the
boat. I must say to those of
you with whom I have worked
most closely for a longer period
than this past year - Terry
Weathers - Lucille Goulding -
Tom Lavan - Josephine Jones -
you have compromised your own
integrity in the eyes of the community
- you may be convincing
some of what they had been led
to believe that you had presented
a hastily devised budget with
lots of fat. You have apparently
won the support of others who
opposed the budget previously.
Your loss of my support to accomplish
this may not be very
meaningful in terms of votes
this year - the budget may
possibly pass. But I am opposing
my first school budget - but
who will believe you then and
why should they?
At this moment in the life of
our nation our commitment to
education may be the most important
one which we can make
transcending our personal comforts
and problems. This school
board should lead the community
in affirming their commitment,
Lang concluded.
Trustee A. Terry Weathers
took issue with Lang's statement
and said that although he was not
happy with the changes, he had
to weigh to realities in the dis-
[ Continued on P4g § 12)
