Why does Warwick need three school districts?

To the editor: Initially, the Warwick school administration justified the “tuition” arrangement with Greenwood Lake as a way to add new programs and reduce taxes by about 3 percent. Why are they now saying that unless voters approve this arrangement, they will cut programs? Sure looks like the same old game plan that the previous superintendent used to get what he wanted. The students from Greenwood Lake should attend Warwick schools but not at a rate that is subsidizes by Warwick taxpayers. The current proposal would result in Greenwood Lake taxpayers paying $ 9,000 per student while Warwick taxpayers are forced to pay $ 10,600 per student. The minimum tuition that should be charged for Greenwood Lake students should be $ 8,400 per student (and not 6,800 as proposed); at this rate both Warwick and Greenwood Lake taxpayers would be paying the same $10,600 per student. Why should WVCSD taxpayers even consider being the “spoiler” of the Tuxedo School System by charging $1,600 per student less than what Warwick taxpayers have to pay? The real way to unify the community is to merge the school districts, not only Greenwood Lake but also Florida as well. Why do we need three administrations? Amalgamating all three could result in savings to taxpayers of well over $1,000,000 per year. A little over a year ago, the Greenwood Lake School District passed a referendum to build their own high school but the state Department of Education denied them permission as this would devastate the Tuxedo School system. So they approached the WVCSD with a proposal of sending their high school students to Warwick on a “tuition” basis rather than a merger of the districts. I suspect that they still want to build their own high school but must find a way to get out of the Tuxedo system so that they can obtain state Department of Education approval; otherwise, they would have approached either Tuxedo or Warwick about a merger. If this is the case, any benefit of a “tuition” arrangement would be short-lived. Bill Fullerton Warwick