Voters Approve Great Neck School Budget, Board Members Elected

Great Neck residents approved a 2017-18 school budget on Tuesday.

The $223,311,165 budget passed, according to the school district. The budget is a 1.9 percent spending increase over the current year and it comes with a 1.26 percent tax levy increase.

Results:

• GNPS Budget Vote Results: 6,772 yes votes, 1,607 no votes
• GNPS Revised Bond Referendum: 6,299 yes votes, 1,925 no votes
• GN Library Budget Vote Results: 5,894 yes votes, 2,363 no votes

Residents also elected Rebecca Sassouni and Jeffrey Shi to the Great Neck Board of Education.

"While there were some intense differences of opinion about the Bond and the annual Budget being voted upon, the fact that so many of you became involved is a very good thing, as you expressed your opinions and exercised your right to vote which are fundamental rights and privileges in America," Barbara Berkowitz, Great Neck Public Schools Board of Education President, said in a statement. "We sincerely hope that as a result of this election, more people will attend school district meetings and become educated in the detailed workings of our district.

"This election brought out some rather heated exchanges, and we will now need to seek ideas and ways to work to bring our community together again. In 1858, then President Lincoln said, 'A house divided against itself cannot stand.' We can and we must again become ONE community, and we will do so, because we’re Great Neck, and this communal appreciation of one another is what makes us GREAT!"

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