The Meadow Drive PTA strongly supports the proposed 2007-2008 school budget and urges others in the community to do so as well. As history has shown, when school budgets fail, communities suffer in a wide variety of ways; our children lose but so does the community. Our educational system, its soundness and strength, and the student achievements it produces, benefit us all - young and old alike - in both tangible and intangible ways. For example, as we know, property values are closely tied to the strength of a school district's performance and resources. Moreover, with a failed budget, all private and parochial school students can lose transportation, textbooks, computer software, health services, special education services and library materials, which are provided by the Mineola School District.

We are a community filled with generations of families in which moms and dads went to the same schools that their children are attending now, characterized by strong scholastic achievement and educational renown. In large part, this recipe for success has been based upon the small class sizes, which enable students to receive the sort of educational attention and commitment to learning that produces academic excellence, raising the prominence of our community in both the educational and real estate markets. Should the present budget fail, we are in jeopardy of a vastly different Mineola School District, in which schools may close, class size will likely increase, and the educational environment we have come to cherish will undoubtedly change for the worse.

The proposed budget seeks a per family increase of $2.08 per month - the price of a newspaper and coffee, or $25 a year. This relatively modest increase will preserve what is and enable our school district to continue to deliver the kind of high quality educational services that produce the educational excellence that benefit all, young and old alike.

For just $25 a year, our community can continue to improve. If the budget doesn't pass, ask yourselves whether you are ready for what will happen as a result. Supporting the budget makes sound sense on many different grounds, but perhaps most importantly, an investment in our school district is an investment in your homes, your community, and ultimately in your retirement accounts.

The Meadow Drive PTA