Residents passed the Plainview-Old Bethpage Central School Distict's 2000-2001 budget by a 4-3 margin earlier this week. The approved budget is a more than 8 percent increase over last year's.

"I think last night's vote speaks volumes about Plainview-Old Bethpage as a community because we passed the budget by one of the widest margins on the island," said Evy Rothman, president, POB Board of Education.

The final tally on the $71 million budget was 2,044 votes to approve and 1,538 votes to reject. Also on the ballot were propositions to eliminate mileage restrictions for busing for students in kindergarten to 8th grade and to appropriate funds to the Plainview-Old Bethpage Library.

The student transportation variance was a voter-submitted proposition that will raise the tax rate 57 cents per $100 assessed valuation. It passed by a mere 62 votes. The library proposition, a perennial item on the budget day docket, was passed by an almost 3-1 margin.

The 2000-2001 budget was an 8.18 percent increase over the previous year. According to School Board President Evy Rothman, the budget's growth was fueled by the costs associated with the opening of the Pasadena Elementary School, transporation increases, increases in health insurance, and the debt service on the voter-approved bond of 1999.

"You take all of those factors and just normal increases in the school district, and I think the board did an excellent job," said Rothman. "It cut no program, it cut no staff, and it maintained all levels of educational opportunities for our children."

Rothman credited much of the budget's success to the commitment of the residents and to the work of the district's educational consultant, Pat Niccolino. She also partly credited the district's public relations firm, Zimmerman Edelson, for preparing a budget newletter that thoroughly informed the district's residents.