Letters to the Editor, May 15, 2026

Prop. 3 is the fiscally responsible choice

To the Editor:

Proposition 3 is the right choice for KLSD for three reasons.

First, there is a demand for pre-K we are failing to meet. Last year, with 44 seats and 120 applications, the district turned away three of every four families. New York is mandating universal pre-K by fall 2028 and nearly doubling per-student funding from $5,400 to $10,000. To access those funds, the district needs space.

Second, Prop. 3 is cost-effective. It renovates an asset the district already owns. For $9 a month on a $500,000 home to $18 a month on a $1 million home, we get a UPK center and community space serving seniors, scouts, campers and civic groups year-round. The state reimburses 25% of approved construction costs through building aid. A stronger district is also ballast to property values.

Third, this plan was developed by a committee of district staff, trustees, and residents with engineering and real estate expertise — studied, costed, architecturally reviewed.

If Prop. 3 fails, we do not save $24.5 million. We spend $7.5 million just to keep the building from falling apart — roofs and systems have a lifespan. That is $7.5 million for nothing. No pre-K. No community space. No state reimbursement. Demolition costs another $3.5 million and erases a district asset forever.

Our income taxes will fund UPK statewide regardless. The question is whether those dollars come back to our community or go to districts better prepared to claim them.

A fiscally responsible voter sees a building we already own, a mandate coming, funding doubling, 25% reimbursement, and dozens of families turned away every year — and wants their tax dollars working here.

Vote “yes” on Prop. 3.

Barbara Williams South Salem

Note: The writer is a Board of Education member, but these views are her own.

Save Lewisboro school: Vote 'yes' for Prop. 3

To the Editor:

There’s a deeper question behind Proposition 3 — beyond budgets, buildings, and bonds: Who are we as a community?

Right now, we already pay for universal pre-K. Every year, our tax dollars go to Albany with the expectation that they will come back to support our children. But here’s the reality: they don’t.

Because we don’t have enough seats, an average of 76 families a year are shut out of the program. Their children — our children — are left behind in a lottery system that decides access to education by chance.

At $5,400 per student, that’s more than $400,000 lost every year. We are not saving money by doing nothing. We are wasting it. Families are left paying for preschool out of pocket, knowing they already paid for a public option they can’t access.

That should bother us.

Prop. 3 gives us a way to fix it. Even if increased aid and a mandate never come, it’s the most fiscally responsible path forward. It transforms a costly, underused building into a functioning asset while allowing us to recapture UPK funding.

It also remains the most equitable choice. Access to high-quality early education should not depend on luck.

And yes, there is a cost. But for most households, it totals $10 to $20 per month. For young families, it means thousands of dollars in relief.

So the question isn’t just whether this bond makes financial sense — though it does. The question is: Who are we, if not the kind of community that takes care of its children and young families?

Proposition 3 is a chance to answer that question — not with words, but with action. That’s why I’m voting “yes.”

Carolyn Snell Katonah

Note: The writer is a Board of Education member, but these views are her own.

Study reallocating BCSD resources

To the Editor:

My ninth-grade social studies teacher, years ago, was interested in entrepreneurship and economics. The class mantra for solving problems became “reallocate your resources.” This applies as well today, to the Bedford Central School District. The Recorder’s article (May 8, “Town board quizzes superintendent on PRES,) on the May 5 BCSD superintendent’s conversation with the Pound Ridge Town Board highlights residents’ concerns over possible closure of the Pound Ridge Elementary School due to declining enrollment. 

The BCSD website reports that K-5 classes average 18 students; if PRES classes are smaller than this, then the classes at other schools must be larger. Before closing any facility, I suggest that the school district commission a small independent working group to assess the efficacy of reallocating the schools to which elementary students are assigned. I gather that some school choice options already exist, so this is not an entirely new concept, and district boundaries are already not coterminous with those of the six communities served. The working group would establish and apply goals, such as maximizing students’ ability to walk to school and minimizing time on buses, while balancing out class sizes and using all resources effectively.

I understand that this proposal might be slightly more controversial than congressional redistricting. However, for the good of all of our students, I urge the BCSD superintendent and board to take this call to action: It’s time to reallocate resources.

Michele Braun Pound Ridge

Give us regular updates on senior bus purchase

To the Editor:

I have just read this week’s newspaper and also looked at the Town Board meeting of May 5. (“Paperwork for new senior van crawls along.”)

I was surprised that there is still a holdup of the new senior (community) bus. I had brought this up in April’s meeting that I had taken the bus trip which was a tour of Pound Ridge and it happened to be around 90 degrees outside and humid and in the bus the temperature was 82 degrees and back then I was told it was in the process. 

It has been roughly one year since we as seniors were told there were two grants and they were in the process to obtain the bus. I do recall that during the summer the state had not approved the budget. 

Also, on the last trip a couple of weeks ago, the muffler on the bus fell off while going on the trip. 

I was unable to go to the May 5 meeting. My problem is that I have asked to have updates put in the supervisor’s newsletter not every week but once a month and that was not done but then they bring up that they needed someone else to sign off on the application. 

I just wonder when the bus will appear at the Town House. Will it be this year or next? Inquiring minds want to know.

Katherine Biagiarelli Pound Ridge