The Plainview-Old Bethpage Board of Education held its first budget meeting for the 2025-26 academic year Monday, unveiling a proposed $197 million budget for the upcoming academic year.
The board held its first of four budget discussions, which featured general budget information as well as insight into the transportation, technology and facilities budget for 2025-26. The district announced a $197,404,327 budget for the upcoming school year, which would be a $7,342,235 — or 3.86% increase — from this year. This number includes a $2.5-million transfer to fund capital projects, the district said.
The district said it has set aside $5,585,000 for projects throughout the district that were initially listed on a referendum for local residents. Community members struck down a two-proposition bond in January that would have given the district $113.9 million in funding for a number of infrastructure projects.
The district reported that its tax levy is $147,171,558 for the upcoming school year, representing a 2.75% increase from this year. That number is 0.87% below the allowable tax levy cap determined by the state. The board reported that the district has saved Plainview-Old Bethpage residents $59 million since 2013 due to consistently being below the allowable tax cap.
According to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s January proposal, the district is expected to receive $41,979,247 in state aid, a 7.55% increase from the 2024-25 school year, which also includes $30,121,735 in foundation aid.
The district also reported that it had $43,807,243 in reserves as of June 30, 2024. The board also clarified that the district needs to follow certain criteria set up by the state in order to allocate funding within its reserves.
The district said there will be a 9.25% increase in costs for the upcoming school year’s transportation budget, resulting in $11,564,728 set allocated for this.
Plainview-Old Bethpage has set aside $5,240,450 for its facilities budget for next year, which is a 4.37% increase from this academic year. The district reported that $2,500,000 of that total will go towards electricity and gas.
The district has set aside $6,261,177 for its technology budget, a 28.1% jump from the 2024-25 budget. Plainview-Old Bethpage increased both BOCES Technology Services ($5,359,858) and Instructional Software ($218,535) by 33% each, resulting in a large jump.
The district will hold three more budget discussions on March 10, March 25 and April 7. The budget will then be adopted April 20 and then voted on by the community on May 20.
