Mineola

This increase is within the state's tax-cap limit of 2.51 percent, so a simple majority is required to pass the budget. School taxes on the average single-family home would rise 2.18 percent, from $6,238 to $6,374, the district estimates.

The proposed budget calls for a total increase in teacher salaries of 1.25 percent. The teacher's contract accounts for a 0.5 percent increase; the step increase is 0.75 percent. The proposed budget would result in cutting about 20 full-time teacher aides, the district said. District website: www.mineola.k12.ny.us

The Candidates

Incumbent Irene Parrino and Patricia Cregan Navarra are vying for one at-large seat. The term is three years.

Patricia Cregan Navarra

BACKGROUND: Navarra, 55, is a professor of writing and Irish studies at Hofstra University, where she has taught for the last 13 years. She grew up in Albertson and attended University at Buffalo and later went to graduate school at Queens College. She is president of the Mineola Music Parents Association and is a former PTA District Council president. She has a daughter who is a senior at Mineola High School, and an older daughter who graduated from a local parochial school.

ISSUES: Navarra said the most important issue facing the district is ""being able to work with the Common Core fully, despite the obvious handicap we've been given."" She said she supports the implementation of a five-day, half-day prekindergarten program. She said she would be vigilant in questioning unfunded state mandates. She doesn't believe in opting out of state testing requirements, saying ""opting out is copping out."" Instead, she advocates letter-writing campaigns and organized community opposition against some of the requirements.

Irene Parrino

BACKGROUND: Parrino, 46, has served on the board since 2010. She is an attorney in private practice. She previously was an administrative law judge for the New York City Transit Authority and Department of Finance, a Nassau County District Court arbitrator and a New York State Supreme Court Small Claims real-property tax assessment hearing officer. She is a member of the New York State School Boards Association. A graduate of John Jay College of Criminal Justice and New York Law School, Parrino has two children in the district, one in the fourth grade and one in first grade.

ISSUES: Parrino said she'd like to see science programs and technology initiatives expand, citing them as key to preparing students for college and the job market. Enabling students to attend science classes more frequently, by moving from a six-day to five-day cycle, she said, is a welcome idea. She said she supports expanding five-day, half-day kindergarten programming in the district. In the wake of the Newtown, Conn., school shootings, she said she'll seek new security measures, including enclosed vestibules and updated security cameras.