The budget this year is about $103 million, and if you live in the majority of the Five Towns, how that money is spent is largely up to you. Take a look at your property tax statement. Close to 70% of your tax obligation funds the Lawrence School District, that is District 15. Today, thankfully, our yeshivas are also beneficiaries of the school budget, in no small way thanks to our right-thinking current board.
If you lived around here for more than ten years, then you know that prior to the election of our present board, our tax base was skyrocketing from year to year. With the election of this year’s candidates who are seeking reelection, Board President Murray Forman and Dr. Asher Mansdorf, that budget and our taxes have remained stable.
Once again, however, both Mr. Forman and Dr. Mansdorf are being challenged by fringe and not-noteworthy candidates, but the opposition is hoping that you will not vote and that somehow they will be able to score an upset victory, undermining the well-worked balance of our school board.
This year, courtesy of the novel coronavirus, the votes will be cast exclusively by mail-in ballots, and that shaky system requires that we all vote and also be extra vigilant to the potential of voter fraud. Unfortunately, in the electoral system in general, voter fraud is what candidates and their parties around the country resort to when they have no chance of winning. You may have noticed that in the national movement to maintain social distance, more states are moving in the direction of increased, if not exclusive, mail-in voting in our upcoming national election. President Trump is against the wide-scale mail-in ballot because he feels that he knows what his opposition is up to.
Since the Forman-run school board has been in place, the schools in the district are more academically proficient and the district has been running smoothly and effectively from a fiscal standpoint, without annual multi-million dollar increases in the budget. The bottom line is that the current education board is representing the people who elected them, and they take seriously the task of representing all the people who reside and pay taxes in the district.
Over the last few days, all registered voters have received ballots in the mail. If you are not yet registered to vote, you can do so at the Department of Motor Vehicles website and then send proof of registration to the school board clerk to receive a ballot. You can register up to four days before the election; the deadline to receive ballots is June 9.
In addition to the two trustees, the $3.1 million library budget is also on the ballot.
If you usually vote, then you can do so from the convenience of your home without schlepping to a voting booth location. If you’ve never voted before, this is your opportunity to make your vote count. The most important matter before us is to make sure we vote for Murray Forman and Asher Mansdorf, the candidates who will stay the course and continue to represent our best interests.
