Mineola residents who say that parents are the ones responsible for passing the school budget year after year might want to check their facts going forward. According to Mineola School Superintendent Dr. Michael Nagler, it is actually those who do not have children in the district which may have put the 2012-13 budget vote over the top in terms of passage.
Relying on data from a new computer name-tracking program which is linked to a pen residents use when they sign in to cast their ballots, the district was able to collect data on voters and organize them into groups such as parent, staff member, age bracket, etc.
“The number of parents alone did not pass the budget,” Dr. Nagler said at the May 24 meeting of the at the . “Not enough parents voted in order to pass the budget. In fact, half of our parents aren’t even registered to vote. These really came to light as the new system went in. There is a good portion of this community that do not have children in our schools that are positive in this particular vote.”
This year 69 percent of residents voted to .
“I think it’s nice that we can say ‘the community passed this budget,’ it wasn’t just parents,” Dr. Nagler said.
