The Locust Valley Board of Education has yet to release its spending plan for the 2025-2026 budget, but officials said at the Tuesday, March meeting they expect a 2.3% increase to the tax levy.
Assistant Superintendent for Business Karen Horoszewski said the current year’s budget is $96.4 million, with over $88 million coming from the tax levy. Horoszewski said the district anticipates a 2.3% increase in the tax levy in the coming year, totaling over $90 million.
Horoszewski said the maximum allowable tax cap is 2.7%. She said the tax cap is based on factors such as the current tax levy, tax base growth factor, and consumer price index.
In the 2024-2025 school year, over 91% of the budget came from the tax levy, a 1.96% increase from the previous year.
Horoszewski said in previous years, the district has implemented a lower increase in the tax levy than permitted. In the 2022-2023 school year, for example, the maximum allowable increase was 2.36%, but the actual increase was 1.14%.
According to Horoszewski, the estimated increase is .4% lower than the tax cap. The maximum tax levy increase is 2.7% but is anticipated to be 2.3%.
Horoszewski said neighboring districts’ increases range from 2.07% in Mineola to 3.39% in Port Washington, putting Locust Valley in the middle.
“Just because we can go to the levy, you can see that we try not to do so,” Horoszewski said. “With that said, there may be some years which we have to.”
“Our board of education is very thoughtful over the impact it has to the homeowners within the district,” Horoszewski said.
The meeting also looked at changes to the curriculum in the upcoming school year.
“When we think of budget, we think of planning,” said Janine Sampino, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction
Sampino said the district aims to improve instructional practices to foster student success in the next academic year. She said the district will use state and national testing data to “guide and enhance the educational experience.”
Sampino said the state has issued unfunded mandates that impact course curriculum and state testing standards. She said the district will change its curriculum over the summer to “keep up” with those changes.
She said the district will also hold professional development courses to support teachers, including new teacher orientations, superintendent conference days, workshops, and collaborative planning.
Sampino said students use technology in the classroom but that teachers aim to find a balance between digital and traditional instruction, especially at the elementary level. She said students use Chromebooks in the classroom but do not bring the laptops home. As students enter the high school, she said, they use the laptops to take tests like the SAT.
“There’s a balance,” she said.
Sampino said the English, social studies, music, and arts departments will offer additional courses and electives in the upcoming school year.
New offerings include College Composition, Advanced International Relations/Model UN, Advanced Placement Human Geography, Comprehensive Music Theory & Keyboarding, Exploring Theater: From Stage to Song, Visual Storytelling for Theater: Set and Prop Design and Advanced Drawing and Painting.
