On Tuesday, May 19, Nassau County residents will do something easy to take for granted and easier still to skip: they will vote on how their local public schools are governed and funded.
Polls across the county will be open for the annual school budget and Board of Education elections. Turnout is sometimes modest. It should not be.
The school district is the unit of government closest to most Long Island families and, unlike governments, gives them direct control over what is the highest local tax bill.
A Board of Education sets the budget, hires and evaluates the superintendent, approves curricula, and steers the long-term priorities of every building that serves the community’s children. The quality of education it helps produce has a significant impact not only on students attending schools but also on the property values of every homeowner.
This year there is even less excuse for sitting it out. Many ballots across Nassau County are unusually crowded.
In Mineola, seven candidates are competing for two at-large seats. In Herricks, five challengers are vying for two open seats left by departing trustees.
In Carle Place, two incumbents face four challengers. Oyster Bay–East Norwich has a five-way race for three seats. Great Neck has a four-way race for two seats. Locust Valley has a contested field. That is a striking amount of democratic motion for what is often a sleepy off-cycle Tuesday.
Many of the names are new. Financial advisers, neurologists, nurses, a recent graduate, retail executives, former teachers, first-time candidates of every description — they are stepping forward in numbers we have not seen in years. That alone is worth celebrating.
Public service at the local level can be a thankless work, but a healthy democracy depends on the steady willingness of ordinary residents to volunteer for it.
The surge in Mineola, however, warrants a special mention. The district is still absorbing the fallout from the Build Your Own Grade controversy — a video-based learning program that was pushed into eighth-grade classrooms by former Superintendent Michael Nagler and quietly tied, through a company called Quave LLC, to Nagler and his son.
Source: LI Press
