West Islip School Budget Passes By Wide Margin

Citing the need to keep class sizes small and preserving sports and educational programs, West Islip voters approved the school district's 2010-2011 budget, even though it included a 6.9 percent tax rate increase.

Supporters outnumbered detractors by a 2470 to 1,580 margin.

"I recognize that for some of our residents, it was a tough decision on the proposed budget.  I'm sincerely grateful that it was approved by our voters," said West Islip Superintendent of Schools Dr. Beth Virginia Blau.

The West Islip School district will operate the 2010-2011 school year with a $104.1 million budget, a 2.87 percent year-over-year increase.

As for the 6.9 increase, that number could be lower if enough state aid is granted, but New York lawmakers have yet to pass a budget.

According to district officials, a West Islip homeowner with an average assessed value of $45,000 can expect a tax increase of $451.01 per year, or $37.83 per month, as a result of the budget passing.

Also, by passing the budget, the school board avoided the possibility of having to adopt a contingent budget. Under such a budget, 14 teaching positions would have been eliminated in addition to the 16 that were eliminated under the proposed budget. That would have led to the further increase of class sizes.

Additional reductions would have included the elimination of summer school, 7th and 8th grade athletics, junior varsity athletics and music/drama productions at both the high school and middle school.

"The school board is extremely pleased that the residents of West Islip continue to support education even when economic conditions throughout the state make it difficult to do so," said West Islip Board of Education President Steve Gellar. "The superintendent and board believed that maintaining the integrity of our programs was the educationally sound choice and we are very grateful that the community agreed."