It's 2012: Do You Know Where Your Tax Dollars Are Being Spent?
The North Babylon Board of Education, along with the Central Office staff, has begun the process of putting together the budget for the 2012-2013 school years. This process, while normally painstaking, will be even more so with the implementation of the state’s new tax cap. The district will, as in the past, need to make decisions about what they deem to be priorities in order to spend your tax dollars. To derive a budget, the school board will hold a series of meetings, which the public is strongly encouraged to attend. The first budget meeting will be held on January 24th in the High School Little Theater at 7:30 PM. Additional meetings are scheduled and the dates can be found on the district website at www.northbabylonschools.net.
Also, in 2012 some budget decisions will need to be made based upon New York State’s new testing guidelines and procedures that will affect every student, especially those in grades 3-8. I encourage you to visit the State Department of Education website at www.nysed.gov. to familiarize yourself with the state’s plans. These new policies can affect how your child scores on exams, as well as how the district is required to spend some of its resources to remediate students who are not making adequate progress according to the state guidelines. We in North Babylon need to make sure that we stay involved so that our tax dollars are used wisely.
In addition, Gov. Cuomo and legislative leaders have reached a three-way agreement on a proposal to reform the state’s tax code, which would generate $2 billion in revenue. It is important that education receives a fair share of that revenue, and we urge you to advocate for more aid for public education.
Written by NBTO President Selina Durio (pictured)