Voters across Long Island will be sending a message to their school districts through their selections during the May 16 Budget Vote and School Board Trustee Elections, and Levittown and Island Trees are no exception, other than that there are no contested school board elections in either district.

In Levittown voters will have the opportunity either approve or vote down a budget increase of $8,714,510, which will bring the district's budget for the 2000-01 school year to $108,167,824. Under the blended tax rate this would bring the total taxes for the average homeowner in Levittown to $3,774 per year, an increase of $326 per year.

If the Levittown budget fails, the school board has announced that they will have to cut all athletics, extracurricular activities, transportation for field trips, the middle school gifted program, instrumental music for grades three and four, the summer school program and preventative maintenance. They also agreed that if they had to go to contingency they would return the class size to the 1998 level, adding one child to each class and would charge community groups for the use of buildings. If the budget fails the district would have to cut $750,000 from the budget and these cuts make up that money and do not directly affect the academic program. Under the contingency budget, the average homeowner would pay $43.76 less than under the proposed budget.

Levittown voters will also have the chance to vote upon a proposal by the district for a capital improvement plan. This capital project would include $1,308,125 for the construction of four classrooms at Salk Middle School and $638,250 for the renovating two science labs at Division Avenue High School and a new science lab at MacArthur High School. The total cost included in this referendum is $1,946,375, which would add $113.36 to this year's tax bill for the average Levittown homeowner. This is a one time cost to the district, and this year, under the New York State Education Department's Capital Improvement Incentive, is 75 percent aidable, if approved by voters by June 30. It is expected that if the project were to be approved after June 30, the aid ratio could go down as low as 55 percent, signifying an additional cost to the district of approximately $500,000. This referendum is separate from the annual budget proposal.

Michael Moriarity and James Moran are both up for re-election to the Levittown Board of Education this year and are running unopposed for these seats.

In Levittown, voting will take place on Tuesday, between 12 noon and 9 p.m. at Gardiners Ave. School, Wisdom Lane Middle School, Levittown Memorial Education Center, Division Ave. High School, Northside School, East Broadway School, Lee Road School, and Salk Middle School (depending on which election district you are registered in).

In Island Trees voters will be voting on a budget increase of $2,641,504, bringing the total budget for the 2000-2001 school year to $34,559,302. While the district had originally estimated that this budget increase would signify a $5.97 per 100 AV increase for the Class I average homeowner, the board and administration this week announced that because of additional state aid money, the impact on the Class I homeowner would be decreased to $5.56 per 100 AV.

Accounting for almost half of the Island Trees budget increase is $1,300,000 for capital projects. The capital project is intended to address the lack of space in both the middle and high schools. Part of the project, costing approximately $200,000, is the removal of asbestos floor tile from Gallow Elementary School in preparation for BOCES and Island Trees to occupy the building for their preschool programs. By moving the Island Trees preschool program from the middle school, where it is currently located, to Gallow, the district opens up additional rooms in the middle school, where they are needed for the increasing population at that level.

The majority of the work planned in Island Trees' capital improvement program will focus on the high school, where the district is expecting to see a population increase of 36 percent, or 250 students. In anticipation of this increase the district has planned to convert the rooms in the lower level of the high school into a lower concourse art complex. This would free up the space that had been used for an art room to be used as classrooms. The cost of this portion of the project would be approximately $350,000. Another plan to increase instructional area in the high school is for the district to reconstruct an existing vocational shop area to house two small group instructional areas, one general purpose science room and one computer lab. This portion of the project is expected to cost approximately $635,000. Another approximately $100,000 is planned to reconstruct the first floor corridor ceilings and install energy efficient lighting and approximately $15,000 will be used to reconstruct and install wall tile in the main office corridor.

Under this year's New York State Education Department's Capital Improvement Incentive, the reimbursement for the Island Trees' planned capital projects would be 68 percent, if approved by June 30. If the project is approved after that date, it is expected that it will cost taxpayers an additional $260,000.

If the Island Trees school budget is defeated, the district would be required to operate under a contingent budget, under which the budget increase would be capped at 2.64 percent. If the budget is not passed, the capped budget could only increase by $842,630. The board of education would have to reduce the budget by $1,798,874, a reduction of 5.6 percent. In order to reduce the budget by this amount the board of education and administration have stated that class sizes would have to be increased and many staff members and programs would have to be eliminated.

Board of Education Trustees Charles Bambino and Jerome Donahue, who are both up for re-election this year, are running unopposed.

On Tuesday, Island Trees residents who are registered to vote in the general election or who have registered to vote with the school district, may vote between the hours of 12 noon and 9 p.m. at the Stokes School gymnasium.