Community Opinions on Budget Plans

For the upcoming 2024-2025 school year, the Long Beach School District is not only expecting the loss of COVID-19 recovery funds, but also a devastating reduction of almost 4.3 million dollars worth of aid from the state. While Governor Kathy Hochul’s budget proposal has not yet been approved by the New York State legislature, if carried out it would be the second-greatest budget cut out of all the Long Island school districts.

With such enormous cuts, the district administration is now scrambling for ways to repurpose its remaining funds. Currently, the district is entertaining two main plans: removing funding for various high school electives, such as the business, technology, art, and music, or closing down East Elementary School.

East School, which was established in 1926, is the oldest of the four elementary schools in the district. It is also the smallest. Considering that most students who live in the East End of Long Beach go to other elementary schools, closing East seems like the most practical option. However, the school still does hold immense sentimental value to members of our community who attended the institution in their youth.

Long Beach High School currently has an extensive list of electives and extracurricular activities; there are a large number of clubs that represent any possible interest of the student body. Our high school film studio exceeds that of many colleges equipment-wise, and the theater and music programs perform in many ways on a professional level. A combined student-teacher pit orchestra performs the score for the spring musical, and our two jazz ensembles play at a variety of school events as well as participating in a spring encore concert. The high school is also home to the Riptide Robotics team and the Fragments literary magazine, both of which are high achievers in their fields. These clubs and activities enhance the student experience and provide valuable skills that cannot be taught with the core classes. The cuts would not only hinder this variety of education and these valuable extracurriculars, but the student body and by extension their parents: members of the Long Beach community.

Recently, we had the opportunity to interview multiple teachers and students who are a part of the local community on their opinions about the potential cuts, and how they believe the district should handle it. For the privacy of everyone interviewed, everyone will be left anonymous.

One anonymous interviewee expressed the dilemma the district faces that is resulting from the loss of funds, and how it feels to deal with the possible loss of valuable activities: “I think it’s causing the school to pick which extracurricular and electives that are more important and it feels like a slap to the face for the students that partake in those certain activities.” The budget cuts seem to be focused on certain activities more than others, and if those cuts are to happen, many students seem to prefer a more evenly spread version of the current plan to minimize the loss.

Another interviewee told us that “as a school, we have spent so much time and effort in building up the great programs we have, and it would be a shame to see any cuts at all… we’ve made great strides towards student achievement and I would hate to see cuts in any of those areas, ultimately knowing that it would be the students that suffer the most from the lack of opportunity that is created when funding is dropped.” After-school clubs and electives are the experiences most of the student body anticipates during a draining day at school, and for most the best option would be making sure that these cuts have little to no effect on said programs to further the education and high school experience of Long Beach students. Unfortunately, keeping these middle and high school programs would be to the possible detriment of East School.

However, the loss of East should not be devalued. For former and current students, as well as families all over Long Beach, East is the site of many important memories that are cherished and treasured. The closure of the elementary school, while perhaps the more practical option, has and will continue to evoke an enormous emotional response from parents and students. A source told us that “the closure of the school is devastating to any community, so I would hope that there is a maximum effort both on the parts of this community as well as on a state level to keep all the schools with the most staff and continuing programs possible.” Continuing programs is the top priority for everyone in our district, but, unfortunately, without the correct funding this would be impossible. If East School were closed, the funds would become available. Students’ futures are dependent on the education they receive in High School. With the electives offered currently, students gain further knowledge on what college they will want to apply to and what career they will choose. The students of East School will one day reach high school, and it is important that the program they find there is not a shadow of what we have today.

Not by any means are these proposals set in stone. The Board of Education will continue to rework their plan for repurposing their limited funding, and just as the BOE plans are still fluid and open to change, so is the states’ budget plan. The voices of our community can be heard by our governor and her staff, and it is possible that the reduction can be circumvented before it is put into place.