Facts -- and where to find them

Is school enrollment declining?
No. The district looks at demographic projections regularly. Most recently, we looked at both enrollment projections and the capacity of our buildings. The report is here: http://www.northshoreschools.org/boe/presentations/demographic-capacity-study-19.pdf
The presentation is here: http://www.northshoreschools.org/boe/presentations/demographic-capacity-study-19.pdf and the video can be found at the meeting on March 28th: http://www.northshoreschools.org/boe/Board_Videos.html
Importantly, the study notes that the middle school has the highest capacity and thus has corresponding improvements in the bond. You'll also see in the data that North SHore did have a 10% decline from a historic high.

Without the bond, would we get a tax cut?
This post explains new debt at a tax neutral level versus a $150 tax cut. You can also read this post which includes the link to the presentation by the district's bond counsel on the impact of the bond - and the potential tax cut if there is no bond. This presentation includes a wealth of charts and schedules.

Will we be able to sell our homes?
An answer here would be speculative but we do know from the demographer's report (see Is School Enrollment Declining above for links) that the majority of people buying homes here seem to be doing so for the schools.

Does the district have financial information?
Absolutely. The district routinely posts financial information to their website here including budgets, past spending, reserve information and the the results of multiple annual audits. Additionally, bond information is posted here.

Why do we need a bond if we have reserves?
Read this post.

What is the Board of Education and who are the trustees?
The Board of Education is elected by the community and sets policy for the district. You can find more information about the Board here. All meeting dates and agendas are posted online as well as minutes from the meetings. You can see video of all meetings here.

Why do we pay more than other school districts and get less?
This statement has been asserted on social media. There is a lot of data to the contrary. If you are interested in student achievement, please read these posts:
North Shore has highest learning growth rate in Nassau County
School Rankings and Niche
Test Scores and Rankings
If you're interested in relative cost, you can read:
Cost per Student
Admin Costs
Reserve Funds Pt 1
Reserve Funds Pt 2
And wrap things up with:
Why Our District is Special

Better yet -- Our District's Spending has an enormous Positive Effect on our Local Economy
Read the study and take a look at these numbers.

What about LIPA and our taxes?
Our district has used reserve funds strategically to lower costs, e.g. self insuring for workers' comp with a reserve fund and to protect the district from our significant long term liabilities such as through retirement reserves. The use of many reserves is restricted. The district also has a reserve due to the decommissioning of the GWL plant that was planned to help us through any resulting changes in the tax levy. While we do not yet know the exact impact of the negotiations between LIPA and Nassau County, we do know we have been planning for various scenarios and will continue to work and plan in the best interest of our students and tax payers. The Superintendent addressed these issues here. NYSED posts property tax report cards with reserve fund schedules here. The NYS Comptroller posts fiscal stress scores here.

Do we need air conditioning?
I think so but here's what we know.

Now, some questions to consider:

• Is the "information" I am seeing from an anonymous source?
• Does it contain data or assertions?
• If data, is the source provided?