Too Few Facts, Many Unknowns

The Westbury School District is proposing a bond for $173 million to build a new school.
While some of this money will come from federal sources, this translates to a school tax increase of about $500 per household for the next 30 years for village residents. Do you have this money to spare? I know I don’t. 85% of our students come from outside the village, yet we residents will be responsible for over 50% of repayment of this debt. How fair is that?
Did you know that we are the second highest taxed school district in Nassau County? Yet while we spend much more per student than the average school district in Nassau, our academic scores hover around the 65% mark, as opposed to our surrounding districts, which have a norm of 81%. Building a new school, a new track and a new press box (among the amenities included in this bond) will do precious little to academically prepare our students for the new Common Core higher standards of testing. If our district is at the 65% mark now, imagine how we will fare once the new tests are in place.
Therefore I am voting no and hope that the home owners retirees and private school parents will also cast a no vote, they will pay the most.
—Larry Wornum