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It’s easy to appreciate the herculean task that Union Free District of the Tarrytowns Superintendent Howard Smith and his staff had in crafting a $63.4 million budget, when confronted with a toxic combination of plunging tax revenues and sharply lower state aid.
But when it came to executing that task and finalizing a spending plan that included $3.6 million in cuts, Smith and the Board of Education have fallen woefully short. No doubt they were tough choices, but they were also the wrong ones.
Smith wielded his budget ax hardest at the elementary schools, most glaringly with the proposal to shutter Tappan Hill School, which houses pre-K and kindergarten. It’s a proposal the school board unanimously rubber-stamped on March 20 with barely a whisper of discussion.  more »