Frank Russo is convinced that if the voter turnout rate for school budget elections were the same as for the general election in November then school budgets would be defeated. His conclusion is based on several fallacies. First, he claims that the turnout rate for the general election is 60 to 80 percent. It has not even been close to that rate for the last 25 years. According to the Federal Election Commission (www.fec.gov) the national participation rate for presidential elections has been about 50 percent since 1976. The rate for the most recent midterm elections has been about 35 percent. The rates in New York State have been close to the national average. Even if we assume that all of Mr. Russo's other assumptions about voting patterns and rates of his subgroups (school employees, other voters and current non-voters) are correct (which I do not) the math in his calculations only begins to work at a 60 percent participation rate.

Second, he assumes that the 400 to 600 school employees who are residents will participate at a 100 percent rate and that they will all vote for the budget. Although it may be in their self-interest to vote for the budget, some will not vote for the same reason that other residents do not vote: they may not have time or they may forget.

Third, Mr. Russo assumes that the current non-voters will vote at the same rate as all current non-school employee voters. It is hard to make predictions about this group. The voters probably care more about the schools and/or taxes than the non-voters, but that does not mean that all of the non-voters do not care about education and will only vote their supposed financial self-interest.

Mr. Russo accuses Ethan Fried, another resident who criticizes his analysis, of being a "big spender." According to Mr. Russo, anyone who thinks that it is worthwhile to spend money on our public schools is a "big spender" We are all members of the Port Washington community. As a community we decide, through our democratic process, how much to spend on projects that benefit the community. Our government spends money on our local police and national defense. My neighbors driving brand new Mercedes may be deriving more benefit from our low crime rates than I, who drives a 10-year-old car, but I am not going to ask for a refund on my police taxes. As a community, we have decided that a good education for our children benefits not only those families with school-age children, but also the entire community. Two houses on my street were recently sold for double what they were worth 10 years ago. Neither of the buyers have school-age children, but they still found value in a community that cares about its children's education.

Joshua Hoffman