"School Aid Both Boon, Burden," read the Aug. 5 headline in Newsday announcing the settlement of the state budget in Albany. In its chart of state aid to Long Island schools, this publication revealed that the Westbury School District will be beneficiary of a 36.05% windfall in funding from state coffers. Is this the same Albany that for years has defied all reason by denying that the Westbury School District required additional support? This gives reason for pause and retrospection of events of the past year.

First and foremost, we have to revisit the spring school board elections and subsequent passage of an unprecedented $47,511,482 budget. This was occasion for forum and broad-ranging discussion of the problems plaguing the district. Instead, this debate and the concerns of many district residents were sidetracked by the "termination" (i.e. resignation) of Dr. Robert D. Pinckney, and his "philosophical difference" with the board. In light of these events, does it not seem reasonable that the concerns of the district taxpayers once again be aired and discussed?

Word has it that schemes and plans to spend this boon are underway at a frantic pace. In an interview on Channel 12, the district's budget director projected increases for just about all of the district's eligible programs: expanding curriculum, hiring teachers, etc. Nowhere in this interview was the question of returning the increase in property taxes, which were adopted along with the passage of this record budget, to us, the taxpayers. The burden has been ours for years, and now it sorely needs to be lessened.

It's time for the good and loyal citizens of the district, who have, through years and years of deficient state aid, been bankrolling the school budget, to enjoy some long overdue relief. Can the current board members in the highest-taxed school district in the Town of North Hempstead come to grips with the reality that we're just about maxed out? Or will they again miss the opportunity to constructively entertain constituents' wishes and reach a satisfactory balance between the needs of both the students and taxpayers in the Westbury Union Free School District?

Ann Cannon Sweat