Voters will decide on the budget and school board membership across the North Fork on Tuesday. (Photo by Katherine Schroeder)
This year, there has been encouraging news about New York State providing financial aid to the North Fork School District. The 2023-24 state budget includes $34 billion in general funding for public schools, an increase of $3 billion over the current school year.
Nearly all East End school districts received roughly 3 percent aid, with two notable exceptions in North Fork: Greenport received a 47.4 percent increase in aid, while the Riverhead Central School District received a 34.6 percent increase, or nearly $20 million More than received this year.
All of these increases are welcome developments as we approach Tuesday, May 16, when local voters will vote on each school district’s proposed budget and select candidates to fill vacant seats on its Board of Education.
Since the majority of our property taxes go to schools, keeping an eye on school district proposals and understanding school board candidates is critical to our well-being and that of North Fork as a whole.
With this in mind, we urge voters to approve the budget proposals in their districts and choose the candidate best suited to address the very specific and often unique educational and fiscal challenges each district faces. A no-vote on school budgets sets a district back and puts everything from sports and arts programs to after-school activities at risk. Downvoting is not the way forward.
Last month, in the Suffolk Times and Riverhead News Review, we listed each district’s financial proposals and candidates on the ballot.
As a reminder, below is a summary of each region’s 2023-24 budget proposals and open board seats.
Mattituck – Cutchogue The proposed budget is $44,016,344, raising taxes by 2.77%. The district is proposing to allocate $4.3 million in capital reserve funds for elementary and secondary programs. There are two vacant seats on the Board of Education.
new suffolk The proposed budget is $1,188,645, an increase of $90,188 over the current year’s budget. Last year, voters approved a $1.1 million budget that exceeded the property tax cap. There is one vacant seat on the Board of Education.
southhold The proposed budget is $33,168,000, a 2.94% tax increase over last year’s $32.2 million budget. There are three vacant seats on the Board of Education.
greenport The proposed budget is $23,709,875, an increase of 9.63% over the previous year. There is one vacant seat on the Board of Education.
oyster pond The proposed budget is $5,558,823, a decrease of $1.775 from last year’s budget. There are two vacant seats on the Board of Education.
Heyuan The proposed budget is $191,999,210, an increase of 1% over last year. There are four vacant seats on the Board of Education.
shoreham and wedding river The proposed budget is $84,794,360, an increase of 2.16% over last year. There are three vacant seats on the Board of Education.
