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VOL. 35 NO. 36

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State’s school reserve cap under scrutiny By JUAN LASSO jlasso@liherald.com

Every year when school budget season rolls around, school boards are tasked with a simple, but dif ficult problem: cover the cost of running istricts their schools with Should excess the money they should be funds be redirected have. to aid struggling In recent years, encouraged to the pressure has maintain surplus districts? Under state law, been on to make school districts are school budget reve- reserves if they limited to holding nues go far enough can. It creates no more than 4 perto hit multiple cent of their annufinancial goals even stability. The al spending in unreas other forms of more wealthy stricted reserves. funding, like panG e n e r a l ly, u n re demic aid, dry up. districts are s t r i c t e d r e s e r ve Va l l e y S t r e a m obviously in funds are used durSchool districts ing unforeseen have largely suc- a more ideal downturns or emerceeded in keeping existing programs position to do it. gencies: a sudden spike in student funded, restoring enrollment, unexlanguishing infra- MIchAeL ReBeLL pected shortfalls or structure, staying Civil rights lawyer delays in state fundunder the tax cap, ing, or abrupt critiand setting aside cal failures in infracash for rainy days. But Albany is pushing for structure. Gov. Kathy Hochul held up greater scrutiny of school districts sitting on too much sav- an overflow of these reserves in ings in the form of unrestricted some districts as a symptom of reserve funds. Nineteen school Continued on page 16

Melissa Baptiste/Herald

‘I wish summer could last forever’ Valley Stream residents gathered for a poolside screening of Disney’s 2023 ‘The Little Mermaid’ at the Hendrickson Park pool complex earlier this month. Story, more photos, page 3.

Goldstein’s new coming-of-age novel inspired by hometown By JUAN LASSO jlasso@liherald.com

After a decades-long career as a successful screenwriter and film critic in Los Angeles, Gary Goldstein returns to his Valley Stream roots as inspiration for his newest and third novel, “Please Come to Boston.” The book’s central character, 18-year-old Nicky DeMarco, breaks away from his sheltered Long Island upbringing in Franklin Square to attend his first year of college in Boston. The year is 1975 and in the big city, he is, in many ways, the odd man out. Along the way, the young man finds himself thrust into a romantic trian-

gle with two fellow students: Joe, “a charismatic and kind-hearted jock,” and Lori, “a warm and adventurous psychology major.” Suffice it to say, the tangled and torrid affair pushes Nicky to grapple with questions about his sexuality and identity in ways he never thought before. Goldstein’s novel is a vivid snapshot of a time not like our own: where exploring one’s sexual orientation and gender is as salient for so many Americans as it is fraught with risk and uncertainty. But at its core, the novel is a classic comingof-age journey into personhood — about the experiences that both reveal to us who we are Continued on page 14

districts on Long Island, according to recent media re p o r t s, we re fo u n d w i t h reserves at amounts exceeding the legal cap. But the problem is a longstanding one, and there is no current penalty in place to discourage it.