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In Suffolk County, both the Sachem Central School District and the West Babylon School District fell short of the 60-percent supermajorities that were needed as the proposed budgets exceeded the tax cap.
Final vote tallies Wednesday, May 22, showed 56-percent of voters backed West Babylon’s levy increase, while just 50.3-percent supported Sachem’s.
Prior to Tuesday’s vote, the Sachem Central School District said the levy increase was needed to “preserve the strong educational, co-curricular, and health and safety programs established in recent years.”
Voters in both districts were asked to approve a nearly 5-percent levy increase, which would work out to approximately $27 more per month, officials said.
The Sachem school district is now pushing for a heavily scaled-down, 1.92-percent levy increase which would raise property taxes by $11 per month. It would eliminate all middle school sports and all JV sports at both high schools and cut all elementary school clubs.
If approved, it would also:
- Increase class size districtwide
- Eliminate five social worker positions
- Eliminate the partnership with Northwell Health
- Reduce funding for all secondary clubs, including marching band, robotics, and DECA, by 50 percent
- Reduce the number of school librarians
- Limit high school plays and musicals to one per building
The West Babylon School District is proposing a similar scaled-down budget that would also eliminate all secondary athletic programs, reduce full-day kindergarten to half-day, and reduce art, music, and technology programs, among other measures.
Voting on the scaled-down levy increases will take place on Tuesday, June 18.
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