New Hyde Park resident David DelSanto recently announced his candidacy for reelection to the Board of Education for a third term.
A 24-year resident of New Hyde Park, DelSanto was a NYPD Lieutenant assigned to the Organized Crime Control Bureau and retired after a 21 year career to accept an Investigative Accountant position with the NYS Attorney Generals’ Organized Crime Task Force.
DelSanto considers himself fortunate to have retired from NYPD on Aug. 31, 2001, 11 days prior to the events of 9/11. Assigned to 1 Police Plaza, there would have been a strong likelihood that DelSanto would have been in lower Manhattan on 9/11.
DelSanto first began work in the district in 2003 after accepting an offer to create the Investigator position.
“It was time to come home and start taking interest in my own community,” he said, addressing a growing concern of illegal residency. In the first 12 months over 120 cases were investigated and 17 families were found to be in violation and removed.
In 2006, DelSanto was elected to the NHP-GCP Board of Education and has also represented the district on the Sewanhaka Board of Education in 2008.
DelSanto is currently employed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Surface Transportation Security Program, performing security audits on mass transits systems throughout the country and is also an associate at a New Jersey based accounting firm.
He also volunteers for the No Greater Sacrifice (NGS) organization. Which provides college scholarships to the children of men and women of the Armed Services who have lost their lives in service of their country.
He resides in NHP with his wife, Josephine and two daughters. His youngest daughter attends . He is running unopposed for his seat.
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When asked his reasons for seeking a third term on the board, DelSanto stated that it is “his sense of obligation” and commitment “to working towards a solution to the ‘misguided’ direction of the legislators in Albany.”
He also stated that “while I applaud the governor and the lawmakers for recognizing the importance of education, their effort at fixing the problem falls way short of the much needed relief that taxpayers and students demand. When they finish patting themselves on the back they need to go back to the table and address the real concerns for all school districts across New York State.”
Regarding the 2 percent tax levy cap (while not a true cap), DelSanto expressed his dissatisfaction that the measure “did not address the unfunded mandate relief that districts across the state are screaming for,” and that the laws surrounding the cap cause him “great concern.” He pointed to the clause of having to have a 60 percent supermajority if a local board requests exceeding the imposed cap.
“Since when, in a democratic society, does one vote outweigh another?” he asked.
While the conforms to the 2 percent state cap, DelSanto said he was proud that during his time on the board that the budgets have been in line with the national CPI and that the district has while keeping the increases to modest levels.
“The increases to the unfunded mandates coupled with drastic cuts to the state aid received by this district, have been the driving forces behind the budget to budget increases,” he pointed out.
