The Mineola School District will be holding an uncontested trustee election May 21 since two incumbent trustees are running for their seats again unchallenged.
The deadline to file a petition to run for the Board of Trustees closed Monday at 5 p.m. Brian Widman and Stacey DeCillis, both incumbent trustees on the Mineola board, submitted petitions for the two trustee seats up for election.
Neither candidate suggested radical changes to the district in the statements provided to Blank Slate Media. Both Widman and DeCillis said they place value on fiscal responsibility as trustees, especially since other nearby districts have proposed cutting staff and programs in their draft 2024-2025 budgets while Mineola has not.
The proposed 2024-2025 budget in the Mineola School District is $109,552,352, which represents a slight decrease from last year’s budget. The proposed tax levy is 2%.
State aid is expected to increase from Gov. Kathy Hochul’s initial proposal, from a 0.63% state aid cut to a 1.91% increase, according to the state budget adopted nearly three weeks late Saturday. It is unclear how this change in state aid will affect the proposed budget.
The approved 2023-2024 budget was $109,652,819, meaning the budget-to-budget decrease is $100,467 or 0.09%.
This is unusual, since most North Shore districts are facing budget increases this year and many are reaching the tax cap, blaming spikes in health insurance costs and changes to state aid.
“As someone who plans to be a community member for many years to come, I really like helping the Mineola School District area remain an amazing, affordable place to live for future generations,” Widman said in a statement to Blank Slate Media.
Widman is closely connected to the area as a Mineola High School alum who has lived in the district for more than 50 years. Now, he shares two children with his wife, who works as a public school teacher. One of their two children is in college and the other is an 11th grader in the Mineola district.
“I am very proud of initiatives that [the] district has undertaken, that other schools are now visiting Mineola so they will be able to emulate [us] in their districts,” Widman said in a statement.
More than 300 educators from around the country toured the Mineola district during a recent visit to glean tips and tricks to bring back to their own schools, Widman said in a statement.
In addition to keeping the tax levy below the tax cap for the past 12 years, other district accomplishments include upgrading buildings, fields and infrastructure, pivoting to remote learning during the pandemic and supporting top-quality education and extra-curricular activities, Widman said in a statement.
If re-elected, Widman said he would continue to set goals for the district and work with administrators to keep the district fiscally sound.
Trustee DeCillis is nearing the end of her first term as a board trustee.
“My first term as board trustee has afforded me the opportunity to give back to a community that is really a special place and has influenced me to run for [re-election],” DeCillis said in a statement.
As a parent, educator and community member, DeCillis said she prioritizes providing students with a high-quality education that will shape them to become problem solvers, critical thinkers and collaborative teammates.
Her mission is holistic, as she said she views the student as the “whole child,” and strives to foster a positive, inclusive learning environment across the district.
Both candidates are running to secure another three-year term.
District residents can vote on the proposed budget and trustee candidates on May 21 between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. at the Mineola Synergy Building at 2400 Jericho Tpke. in Garden City Park.
