Voters in New York State will get a chance to vote on their local school budgets on Tuesday.
Dr. Michael Hynes, superintendent of the Patchogue-Medford School District on Long Island, says this is a real opportunity for residents to decide how their school tax dollars will be spent as the budget affects staffing, purchases, and capital improvements.
“You do have a lot to say. It’s a lot more than people think, and it’s worth the opportunity to go out and vote.”
And he says the school budget affects everyone, whether you have kids in the schools or not.
“To be honest with you, for people who look at property values, there is a lot of correlation between how well a school district does, and it does have, I think, some sort of effect on property value.”
But Hynes says most citizens don’t bother to vote on the budget, with turnout usually between ten and twenty percent.
