Voters resoundingly passed the New Paltz Central School District budget today, with yes votes outstripping nays by more than two to one. They also opted to turn out one of the two incumbents.
Heading to the polls in one of these two districts? Here’s what you need to know.
A look at the $55.6 million budget and the three candidates for two school board seats.
Polls will be open on Tuesday, May 15 from 7 a.m. until 9 p.m. in all seven of the district’s elementary schools.
Voters will decide the fate of a $64 million budget with a 2.5 percent tax increase. Board president Robert Thomann, James Mooney and Mike Maclary are unopposed in the trustee election.
The reference to a higher power and the nation’s failure to live up to its ideals were cited among the reasons.
As voting day approaches, an issue about the American flag and school board meetings has boiled over in New Paltz. Specifically, several school board members — including one standing for reelection on May 15 — choose not to stand during the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.
In his remarkable Democracy in America, published in an English translation in 1840, Alexis de Tocqueville famously wrote about the importance of popular participation in private associations and local authorities in encouraging “habits of the heart” through performing civic tasks such as serving on school boards. These intermediary institutions between a central government and its citizens, he wrote, were essential to maintaining individual liberty.
Members of the Radical University Professionals staged a rally at Peace Park across from the SUNY New Paltz campus on Tuesday, demanding equitable funding for the SUNY system and a fair contract for professors. Candidates Jen Metzger, running for State Senate, and Cynthia Nixon, who has her eye on the governor’s office, appeared to express their support.
Three Onteora students suspending for walking out of school to protest gun violence told the School Board they’d like to start an Activism Task Force to improve communication between students who want to express their political beliefs and school administrators.