BOE Seeks Voter OK To Change Busing Limits

More middle school and high school students in West Islip could be walking to school beginning in September should voters approve a referendum changing the busing limits for youngsters in grades six through 12.

As the Board of Education looks for ways to trim dollars from the 2012-13 school spending plan still being formulated, changing the busing limits for non-elementary students would save approximately $500,000, according to school officials.

Richard Simon, school superintendent, said the board is seeking voter approval to extend the busing limits from one mile to one-and-a-half miles for middle school students and from one-and-a-half miles to two miles for high school students.

He noted that any changes to West Islip’s current mileage limits on who gets and who does not get busing needs approval from school district residents. The referendum will be put before voters on Tuesday, March 27, from noon to 8 p.m. at the high school.

Local residents not registered to vote may register on Thursday, March 22, from 2-8 p.m. at the school district’s administrative offices. 

He noted the decision by the board of education to put the referendum before voters is part of its effort to look for cost savings without “taking apart educational programming.”

“We have tightened the transportation budget over the past few years, but we are at a point that in order to save any additional money, the transportation boundaries will need to be changed,” Simon said.

The BOE’s to close two elementary schools — Westbrook and Kirdahy — will save the district upwards of $3 million, about half the amount of money needed to be reduced to get the school budget within the state mandated two percent tax cap that became law in 2011.

This past fall, Simon initially revealed that the school district was about $6 million over the tax cap.

Beyond the school closures and possible changes to middle school and high school busing limits, Simon said the handful of teachers and administrators that have put in for at the end of the current school year is expected to save the school district an additional $700,000.

The superintendent said more details on the budget will be presented at the first public budget forum on Tuesday, February 28, 7:30 p.m. at Beach Street Middle School.