This article was originally published in Kaleidoscope‘s Spring 2025 print edition. It is being published as a separate online article now for easy access.
Each May, residents of the Three Village community head to Ward Melville High School to participate in the school budget vote and board election. With nearly 3,000 ballots cast on Tuesday, May 20, the budget for the next school year was passed. In addition, Amitava Das and incumbent Dr. Stanley Bak were both elected to the Board of Education.
Although the school year begins for students in September, the Board of Education held meetings in July and August 2024 to lay the foundation for their upcoming work. Most notably, the board continued their efforts in restructuring the district. Considering that Three Village is one of the last school districts on Long Island to have ninth grade students attend junior high schools, such a change had been called for by parents and community members for several years.
To account for aspects involved with restructuring such as staffing, transportation and building space, surveys and analyses were performed to assess the feasibility of this change. In an update presented at the March 2025 Board of Education meeting, it was determined that the cost of extra classrooms and offices would amount to approximately $2 million of the $3 million in the budget for capital projects for the 2024 to 2025 school year. However, that number was brought down, and the total budget for capital projects was decreased to $1.5 million to better fit within financial constraints. Additionally, this transition will also allow for improvements to the cost of transportation, leading to savings of up to $240,000.
Another initiative strongly supported by community members over the past few years has been the changing of school start times at the primary and secondary levels. Currently, Ward Melville High School students begin their first class at 7:05 a.m. In contrast, the National Center for Education Statistics found that the average start time for public high schools was 8:00 a.m. However, it is important to note that while the start time for the high school is significantly below the national average, it is in line with many other schools on the North Shore of Long Island.
Throughout the budget process, it seemed increasingly likely for start times to be pushed back at the secondary level. A proposal to shift Ward Melville’s starting time to 7:40 a.m. and the junior high schools to 8:15 a.m. had in fact been approved by the Board of Education, with the caveat that it was contingent on the existence of necessary funds. However, the Board of Education ultimately decided not to move forward with this endeavor.
In an interview with Interim Deputy Superintendent Jeffrey Carlson, he highlighted that transportation costs would need to increase by nearly $1 million for such a change. Additionally, despite the savings of $983,500 from moving grade levels, an increase in healthcare costs necessitated by national trends had to be considered in allocating money for school start time changes. Although it is currently unclear if start times will be changed for the 2026-2027 school year, Carlson added that “it is absolutely a goal of the administration and Board of Education to get [school start time changes] into place.”
While many of the decisions related to the budget are guided by the interests of students, staff and community members, some are more closely tied to decisions made by local and state governments. In the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year, the Board of Education implemented an updated policy regarding cell phones and other devices. More specifically, a guideline was created for each of the schools detailing the times when such devices can be appropriately utilized. This policy was the district’s own effort to reduce the number of distractions in the classroom, but it has now been forced to go further.
In late April, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that New York State would become the largest state in the nation to require bell-to-bell restrictions on smartphones. As a part of this plan, Hochul secured $13.5 million in the 2026 State Budget to go towards infrastructure for storing smartphones, saying, “This isn’t about being anti-phone or anti-technology — it’s about being pro-childhood. We’re giving students seven hours a day free from distractions so they can focus on learning, access their creativity, and make real human connections.” While Three Village didn’t incorporate storage solutions such as magnetically locked pouches in the current school year, other school districts that did found varying levels of success. As a result, during the May 13 Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Dr. Kevin Scanlon announced that the cell phone committee, which had guided district policy in the past, will be reconvened to explore other options, including the use of lockers.
In addition to funding for distraction-free classrooms, New York has also recently become the latest state to offer universal free school lunches. On May 9, Governor Hochul allocated $340 million for this purpose. As a district which previously did not qualify for providing free meals to all students, this change ensures students have the sustenance to attain good grades in the classroom while alleviating financial stress from families in providing such meals.
Despite improvements to the structure of the district’s schools and the allocation of funds to provide meals, there were some areas where concessions had to be made to follow through with these plans, including the Intellectually Gifted (IG) program and various clubs at the secondary level. Considering that the number of students in Three Village has been decreasing in previous years, the number of participants in clubs has as well. Dr. Scanlon pointed out the effect of this demographic shift during the May 13 Board of Education meeting, saying, “It’s getting tougher to run clubs with single digit numbers of students at this point in time.”
While the IG program and some co-curricular clubs could not be accounted for in next year’s budget, the Board of Education worked tirelessly to preserve as many programs as possible in a year demanding many changes. For example, during the months leading up to the budget vote, families learned that the music program for third grade students would not be continued for the next year. However, after community members voiced their concerns over the impact this would have on exposing students to the musical arts, this cut was reevaluated. Ultimately, after student performances and a showcase of achievements at music competitions at the May 13 Board of Education meeting, it was announced that the program would be continued. In an email sent to district parents, Dr. Scanlon credited Ms. Ashley Ockner, the Director of Music, with finding a way to maintain third grade music “without an increase to the budget.”
At this point, a finalized proposal was presented to members of the Three Village community. With a budget of $238,151,502 proposed for the 2025-2026 school year, this represents an increase of $1,988,547, or 0.84%, from the previous school year. Additionally, the tax levy, or the amount of money the district collects from property taxes to fund the budget, reached $178,973,738, an increase of $4,837,466, or 2.78%.
Because the 2.78% increase in the tax levy remained below the state-mandated tax cap, only a simple majority was required to pass the budget. As such, with 1,852 votes for the budget and 1,110 against, the Three Village community was able to pass the budget. Moreover, while they were the only candidates running for the two available positions on the Board of Education, Dr. Stanley Bak and Amitava Das received 2,116 and 1,957 votes, respectively.
Looking ahead, the 2025–2026 school year marks a period of significant change in the Three Village Central School District. With the restructuring of grade levels, shifting school start times, and new state policies, many considerations had to be made in forming a fiscally responsible budget. However, its approval highlights the importance of community participation and collaboration with the Board of Education in guiding decisions that reflect the district’s educational priorities.
