To the Editor:
My name is Laura Labriola and I just wanted to express my full support for the proposed tax cap override for our school budget. Many of you know me in my capacity as the Rye High School RAISE representative and for my advocacy efforts for special education, but I also understand the importance of funding our programs to provide our children with the highest quality education.
Over the past seven years that Dr. Byrne has served our community as superintendent, I have seen such positive changes in the overall education of our students, and our district has become the living embodiment of the Rye Commitment, providing our children an equitable, inclusive environment and ensuring that the district supports this important work for all students, faculty, staff, administrators, and the community.
Our district has prioritized having the resources needed to continue providing innovation and growth in academic and extracurricular programming, supporting the physical and mental health of students, providing inclusive special education programming with a range of supports that meet the needs of all students, maintaining small class size, and so much more.
We as a community need to show our support for all the hard work and dedication to creating such rich programing for our students by approving this override. We need to ensure that our schools have the resources they need to continue providing this outstanding education. It does not go unnoticed that the business and financial team at the Rye City School District strives to provide the underlying funding that supports the Rye Commitment within a tax cap compliant budget, but sometimes the increases in inflation and unfunded mandates make that a challenge, and it means making decisions to ensure adequate funding.
This historically high inflation, along with mandates imposed by the N.Y. State Department of Education without corresponding funding, are budget line items out of our control. There are increases in the cost of health insurance, utilities, and fuel. Without adequate funding to cover these expenses, our schools may be forced to make difficult decisions, and we risk budget cuts to the years of hard work building such robust and essen-tial programs in pursuit of the Rye Commitment.
Investing in education also has a direct impact on real estate val-ues within our community. Excellent schools are a key factor for families when considering where to live, and strong schools contribute to the value of our homes and properties.
I urge you to vote YES and support the tax cap override for our school budget so we can ensure that our school has the resources needed to continue pro-viding innovation and growth while also addressing the chal-lenges posed by budgetary con-straints. Together we can invest in the future of our children, our community, and The Rye Commitment.
Laura Labriola