Massapequa Board of Education trustees presented the second draft of a proposed district budget for the 2025-26 academic year at their recent meeting on March 6.
The presentation examined the district’s expected instructional budgets, capital plan and final tax levy calculation.
The district approved a tax levy of $178,753,644 for the 2024-25 year, which was 1.9% below the allowable tax levy limit. The Massapequa School District submitted a 2025-26 tax levy limit of $184,279,514 to the office of the state comptroller on Feb. 28.
The district allocated $749,605 for its curriculum development and supervision budget, marking an 8.054% increase from this year.
The presentation then went through many instructional costs and their expected budgets. This included $66,694,307 for teaching salaries, $180,250 for equipment, $400,700 for fees, mileage and homebound instruction, $39,684,531 for special education, over $2.8 million in teaching supplies and textbooks, over $1.6 million for library needs, $6,085966 for technology, $3,449,886 for guidance, $1,615,045 for health services, $2,193,762 for psychological services and $1,748,446 for interschool athletics.
The board said it would be a “good use of funds” to budget $250,000 for the transfer to capital code for interior renovations.
The board also announced it would like to use $4 million from its capital reserves for seven listed projects throughout the district. The board said this would be added as a proposition to the budget vote and that it would not have an impact on the tax levy.
The first budget meeting for Massapequa was held in February and went over the district’s rollover budget, state aid, tax levy cap and general support.
According to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s January proposal, the Massapequa School District is expected to receive $48,163,562, which is a 2% increase from the 2024-25 academic year. The board’s budget presentation noted $46.1 million in proposed state aid. The state budget will be approved prior to the finalization of the district’s budget.
According to 2023-24 enrollment data, Massapequa had the seventh-largest student population for a school district in Nassau County and the second-highest in the Town of Oyster Bay. The school district had 6,482 students during the 2023-24 academic year spread across nine academic buildings.
The district operated with a $235.6 million budget during the 2024-25 academic year, which increased from $227.8 million the year prior. The 2025-26 total budget along with expected revenues is expected to be announced at the district’s final budget meeting on March 20.
Massapequa community members will be able to vote on a finalized budget for the 2025-26 academic year on May 20 at four of the schools within the district.
