As a "senior citizen" on a pension, a home owner, and a parent of two children in the Westbury Public Schools, I would like to present a three-way perspective on the recent budget vote:

1. As a senior, I am eligible for the STAR program, which has greatly reduced my school taxes. I have not heard any of my fellow seniors mention this fact amidst all of the moans over "higher" taxes. A gracious stance might be to offer to return a small part of this rebate if the schools are in need.

2. As a home owner, I am aware of the need to maintain the appearance and repair of my property to uphold the property values of the neighborhood. I notice that the Central Westbury Civic Association grants an award periodically for the most attractive yard. I also notice that The Westbury Times is concerned with the appearance and prosperity of the businesses on Post Avenue and of the local service and religious organizations, including the village government, the library and the fire department. Why, then, do the public schools seem to be excluded from this concern, for they are at least as important to the maintenance of community values, including the value of residential and business property. The reason, perhaps, is that the school budget is the only budget in the community on which we are invited to vote directly, and we tend to make the schools a "sacrificial lamb" on which to take out our misdirected anger.

3. The children: When we employ a school superintendent, vote in members of the school board, or hire teachers, we emphasize that we are trying to do the right thing "for the children." There are various ways we can show our concern for the children: as parents and/or citizens we can attend school functions, many of which are excellent productions (such as the recent annual concert by the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra in conjunction with several of our students and faculty, as well as plays and musicals and special events in the schools). We are welcome to attend the semimonthly meetings of the school board, where our opinions are invited. Thus we can advise and support the citizens we have chosen to be responsible for us in running what is probably the largest single business in the community -- the schools, which employ hundreds of teachers and aides and staff with a budget of some $50 million a year, all under the mandate of the State of NY with guidelines from the federal government. (Note that the per student cost of the Westbury schools is some $11,000, among the lowest costs of any district on Long Island, where some communities spend $20,000 per student.) In order to keep this figure as low as possible, without depriving the children, some of us also find ways to volunteer as mentors or as tutors to children in the schools.

When I heard there were persons on the school grounds the day of the budget vote telling citizens to vote down the proposed budget, I thought it was a very self-defeating, as well as illegal, activity, if true.

Finally, The Westbury Times. As a newspaper covering our community, I hope to see fair and accurate reporting. Your paper is an advocate for the business community, and you report on various service clubs, the library, religious organizations, families and individuals. But when you went to press on May 11, the last issue prior to the school vote, your Letters section was headed by one based on false and misleading and fear-mongering statements, indicating that the average home would be assessed an additional $30,012 "per taxpayer"! Such a figure is patently ridiculous, and in printing such a charge, even over the signature of someone else, you must take a share of the responsibility, I think, for the defeat of the school budget.

In the future, please check the "facts" of letters you print, especially when they have such a potential for doing harm to one of the most important institutions of our community.

The Rev. Bruce S. Dean