The Glen Cove Board of Education discussed its graduation rate and budgeting at its Jan. 22 meeting. The district has seen an 81% graduation rate in recent years, with 37% of students earning an advanced Regents diploma.
Alexa Doeschner, assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction and technology, said the state calculates the graduation rate based on the total number of ninth-grade students entering the building, which can be adjusted for student transfers in and out of the district.
“Cohorts are based on student enrollment as of June 30 before their graduation reporting year,” Doeschner said.
Doeschner said the state considers any student a graduate if they receive a local, Regents, or advanced Regents diploma. The state also tracks students who remain enrolled in school after four years and calculates a separate five- and six-year graduation rate for each cohort, she said,
Glen Cove High School’s August 2023 graduation rate was 81%. The 2023 graduation data comes from the 2019 cohort, she said.
The district had a total of 294 students enrolled in the Class of 2023, 239 of whom graduated with a local, Regents or advanced Regents diploma. Some 37% of students graduated with an advanced Regents diploma, 44% graduated with a Regents diploma and 1% of students graduated with a local diploma, Doeschner said.
Just 1% of the enrolled class completed a non-diploma credential and 3% of students transferred to a GED program, Doeschner said. Some 6% of students are still enrolled in school, and 9% dropped out, she said.
Glen Cove’s 2019 cohort students who are still enrolled will be accounted for in the five-year cohort reporting in 2024, Doeschner said. She said the district has its 2024 graduation data but cannot release it until the state allows it.
Doeschner said the state is looking into changing its graduation credentials. She said students will receive a single diploma instead of local, Regents, and advanced Regents.
“It will be a one diploma for all students, with different seals of designations,” she said.
Doeschner said there will also be changes to state Regents requirements.
“The second change is the uncoupling—in the fall of 2027—of the Regents exams as graduation requirements,” Doschner said. She said the Regents exams will still exist but will not be required to graduate, as they are now.
The board also examined the estimated budget for the 2025-2026 school year, accounting for proposed state foundation aid and increases to district costs.
Theresa Kahan, the assistant superintendent for finance, said the “budget will help to establish the tax levy for the district.” She said district revenue comes from the tax levy, state aid, interest earnings, reserves, taxes on consumer utility bills and PILOT payments.
She said the budget can be updated through budget transfers and will be used as a guide for purchases throughout the year. Kahan said there is a tax levy limit based on the prior year’s levy and the school reserves tax base growth factor, among other things.
The current year’s budget totals about $113.4 million, with a tax levy accounting for about $74.1 million.
Kahan said the estimated 2025-2026 budget is approximately $115.9 million, with a tax levy of almost $76.4 million.
She said the district’s expenditures are expected to increase due to health insurance costs, which are projected to increase by 12%, and various insurance costs, which are projected to increase by 20%. The district also has contract obligations with vendors that are expected to increase, Kahan said.
The estimated tax levy is increased by over $2.2 million from the current year. Kahan said these estimations are “subject to change.”
“The tax levy calculation you see here is based on estimates and will be adjusted once we receive the actual figures necessary for the calculation,” Kahan said.
The proposed state aid from the governor’s office accounts for about $29.2 million of the budget, Kahan said.
Superintendent Maria Rianna said her concern about the state aid is that “there is no mention of creating a more accurate foundation aid formula, and so there is some concerns there.” She said more information will be presented on state aid at a future meeting.
Rianna said she was unhappy with the state’s preliminary aid numbers and is “hoping that our advocacy through different state ed officials and legislators will help move that in the proper direction.”
Kahan said the next budget presentation will be on Feb. 12, including continued conversations about state aid.
Read More: Glen Cove High School analyzes AP exam data, sees “upwards trend”
