Next Tuesday, May 18, the Floral Park-Bellerose community will be going to the polls, and I write to ask for your vote in support of the Floral Park-Bellerose School District’s 2021-2022 budget.
We are in the midst of a transformational moment for our district. Last year, we broke ground on two critical school expansion projects, which promise to bring our students state-of-the-art classrooms, science centers, and art studios.
Construction is underway, and our proposed budget ensures that we can open these exciting new facilities within budget and on time for the upcoming academic year.
We faced many challenges over the last fourteen months with the COVID-19 pandemic, but it brought some incredible opportunities. With the purchase of iPads for all of our students, we successfully incorporated a fully remote program into our curriculum, complementing in-person learning.
Our budget proposes to build on our technological capacity with Smart TVs for all classrooms, new Discovery Labs, and upgrades to our libraries.
Our budget is packed with other strategic investments in programs and faculty aimed at helping our students develop their math, science, reading, English Language Arts (ELA), and speech skills.
We have a renewed focus on special education and extracurricular activities. And we are planning a significant expansion of our pre-K program.
Our overall budget proposal is approximately $34 million. It includes a tax levy increase of 3.87 percent-$165 per household – and it keeps us tax cap compliant. We also are seeking approval to establish a capital reserve fund so that we can address future needs in our aging buildings.
With this proposal, we are offering one of the best bangs for the buck on Long Island, we can keep our schools among the best in New York State, and we can maintain our home values throughout our villages.
Voting will take place on May 18 from 7:00 am to 9:00 pm at Floral Park-Bellerose and John Lewis Childs Schools. You can find more details on our district’s website: https://www.fpbsd.org.
Thank you for your consideration and continued support. We have been hard at work over the last 12 months, and we would like to keep our progress and momentum going. With these strategic investments, our future is promising, and our community will continue to be one of the best places on Long Island to live, work, and raise a family.
Michael Culotta
Trustee
Floral Park-Bellerose Board of Education
