Farmingdale voters turned out in great numbers last Friday to help pass the district's budget for the 2002-2003 school year. The school budget, which was originally voted by the public on May 21, failed the first time by only four votes. Due to the small margin of votes for and against the budget during the initial vote, the district decided to put up the same budget for a revote.

School officials stated at recent meetings that they worked hard to propose a conservative budget for next year which would maintain continuous student programs without hitting the community with a high tax increase. Superintendent of Schools Dr. Roberta Gerold said that the budget is very basic, maintaining the current programs provided to students of all Farmingdale schools. In addition to maintaining the programs, the budget also includes funding for state mandated programs, as the board knew state aid and requirements are going to be divergent. The budget also includes debt services associated with the capital construction included in the bond referendum and the creation of a transition team to help with the expected movement of sixth graders to Howitt Middle School in Sept. 2003. All of these factors make up the $100,857,346 budget, which represents an increase of approximately $7.3 million or 7.8 percent over the current school year's budget.

Last Friday, 1,155 more voters showed up at the polls than did at the original budget vote held in May, when 1,584 residents voted for and 1,588 voted against the budget. At the revote, 2,426 residents voted for and 1,901 voted against the budget, which brought the margin of "yes" votes from a mere four during the first vote to 525.

School district officials thank the community for coming out and supporting the budget. They were particularly pleased to see how many more residents turned out for the revote.

"We were so pleased that all the community groups came together to make sure that we had a budget in place that supports our kids," Dr. Gerold said. "We heard comments from people as they came in, [concerned] because they hadn't voted before, and worried that what they had expected for their kids and what Farmingdale usually delivered would be in jeopardy."