SWR school board to hold public hearing on veterans’ exemption

The Shoreham-Wading River school board will hold a public hearing Tuesday night on a new property tax exemption program for veterans, according to the agenda. 

If the board approves the resolution, taxpayers would be required to make up for the loss in revenue from the school district portion of property taxes. Shoreham Superintendent Steven Cohen is expected to provide more details into the exemption at the meeting.

The exemption law has been in effect statewide since the 1980s but has until now only been applied to the county and town’s portion of a veteran’s property tax bill. Last year, the state Legislator approved an amendment to expand the program to school districts, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed it into law in December.

The board is also scheduled to discuss a hot-button topic — selection classification. That refers to the policy for seventh and eighth-grade students to be move up to play varsity sports. Athletic director Mark Passamonte is expected to outline a plan that the school can follow to determine how and when a student moves up the varsity sports. A discussion on selection classification was originally scheduled for Feb. 3 but was postponed because of snow.

The public portion of tonight’s meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. at the high school library.

To view the complete agenda, scroll below:

SWR School Board Agenda (2/25/14)