Proposed 2025-26 Budget Highlights

The Board of Education and district administrators have carefully developed a proposed budget that upholds our commitment to high-quality instruction and programs tailored to the diverse needs of our students, while remaining sensitive to the financial pressures our community faces. With inflation at 3.8% across New York State, the District, like many others, is experiencing rising operational costs. Contractual obligations for salaries and services and daily operational expenses continue to increase.

Despite these challenges, our priority remains clear: to meet the needs of all students while maintaining fiscal responsibility. New York State is proposing only a 1% net increase in state aid, which results in a budget shortfall for our district. To close this gap responsibly, we plan to use $2 million from our fund balance and $500,000 from tax certiorari reserves. The proposed budget includes a modest 3.25% increase in the tax levy, which is below the state tax cap of 3.78%.

The total proposed budget for the 2025–2026 school year is $107,323,677, a 2.8% increase from the previous year. This budget includes 11.5 critical instructional positions, including:

• 3 Special Education Teachers

• 3 Teacher Assistants

• 5 Teacher Aides

• 1 part-time Music Teacher

The budget is divided into three categories: programming, administrative, and capital. The following chart illustrates that 74.59% of funds are expended on student programming, 14.1% for capital needs, and 11.3% for administrative costs.

Program Costs: 74.6%	Capital: 14.1%	Administrative: 11.3%
Legal	Operations	Board of Education
Teacher Salaries/Benefits	Maintenance	District Clerk
Programs	Employee Benefits	District Meeting
Occupational Education	Debt Service	Administration Salaries/Benefits
School Library & Audiovisual	Interfund Transfers	Auditing
Computer-Assisted Instruction		Treasurer
Guidance		Tax Collection
Health Services		Purchasing
Co-Curricular Activities		Fiscal Agent Fees
Interscholastic Activities		Legal
District Transportation		Personnel
Contract Transportation		Public Information and Service
Public Transportation		Central Storeroom
BOCES Contract Transportation		Central Printing & Mailing
Employee Benefits		Central Data Processing
		Unallocated Insurance
		Assessments on School Property
		BOCES Admin. Charges
		Curriculum Development, Supervision
		Research Planning and Evaluation
		Inservice Training
		Programming for Students with Disabilities
		Health Services

While overall PreK through 12 enrollment is declining, the number of students requiring special education services is increasing. By state and federal law, the district must provide students with disabilities with Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) tailored to their unique needs. The following chart demonstrates the inverse trend of declining enrollment and rising special education needs.

Beyond supporting students with disabilities, the budget also ensures the continuation of academic, athletic, and extracurricular programs for all students. This includes funding for summer school, previously supported through temporary grants, allowing us to maintain smaller class sizes, close achievement gaps, and support student wellness.
 

• Over 23 College Credit Courses 
• 8 AP Course Offerings
• Project Lead the Way Advanced Courses in Engineering and Biomedical Sciences
• 19 Career and Technical Education Programs through Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES
• Best Communities for Music Education Programming
• Over 50 school clubs and activities