The Syosset Board of Education unanimously adopted a $295.8 million budget for the 2025-2026 school year, an approximate $10 million increase from the current year’s budget. The increase is due to external factors like inflation, transportation costs and insurance increases.
“The budget climate is challenging this year,” said Patricia Rufo, associate superintendent for business.
Rufo said this year’s budget has been more difficult than in previous years due to “significant increases” in health insurance premiums, transportation costs and inflation.
As of the 2024-2025 district enrollment data, calculated by the state in October, the district comprises 7,238 students. If the proposed $295.8 million expenditure budget is approved, the district will spend approximately $40,870 per pupil based on enrollment remaining steady, according to a calculation made by Schneps Media Long Island.
Syosset’s district enrollment is one of the 16 districts in the county to experience an increase over the past 10 years, marking a 9.32% gain in the last decade.
Last year, the district approved a $285.7 million budget with an approximately $226.5 million tax levy. In the adopted 2025-2026 budget, the district proposes a $295.8 million budget with a $232.7 million tax levy.
The tax cap maximum limit is 2.8%, although the district proposed a 2.77% increase instead, which falls $67,000 under the tax cap, Rufo said.
At the March Board of Education meeting, Rufo said the district expected a tax cap and increase of 2.52%, although these numbers have changed due to changes in capital exemptions.
Rufo said the district has stayed under the tax cap since the 2013-2014 budget.
“We’ve remained under the tax cap to a cumulative amount of about $11 million,” she said.
Rufo said the district anticipates $35.8 million in state aid, a more than $1 million increase from last year.
Rufo said the district plans on using $9.1 million from its reserves toward the budget, an almost $2 increase from the reserves used in the 2024-2025 budget.
“We will continue to use our reserves to support the budget and help manage the tax levy,” she said.
Rufo said reserves must be replenished when they are used and that the proposed $9.1 million represents approximately 30% of the current reserves.
“That is an increase, but the reason that we have our reserves is to get us through difficult budget times and to protect the levy, and that’s the rationale of increasing that reserve,” she said.
Rufo said the district has finalized its list of facility projects totaling $4,325,000. Projects include upgrades to the H.B. Thompson tennis courts, renovations to the staff bathrooms to meet ADA requirements, upgrades to the sound and electrical systems in the secondary school auditoriums and districtwide roofing, masonry, paving and electrical improvements.
“These are smaller scale projects than what’s being completed as part of the bond work,” Rufo said.
Earlier this school year, the Syosset community approved a $143.81 million facilities improvement bond, which will include upgrades like building expansions, improved air conditioning units, sports facility additions and security upgrades.
Transportation costs have increased $1.7 million from last year’s approved budget, which indicates a large increase in the cost of transportation services, Rufo said. She said the school is currently in negotiations regarding busing costs.
Rufo said the district is considering purchasing its own buses. She said the purchase would be a “change in direction,” because the district has historically contracted almost all of its buses.
The ownership of buses would give the district “some control over cost escalations and some control over some routes,” she said.
In the 2025-2026 budget, she said the district proposed the purchase of three buses, including two regular-sized buses and one minibus. She said the purchase is cost-effective because the state will reimburse 36% of the cost and assuming the buses last at least 10 years, the district would break even in three years.
The amount accounts for $632,000 in the adopted budget.
She said they would be used for field trips and athletic after-school routes, and additional routes could be picked up in the future to “maximize the use of the bus.”
School Board Trustee Lynn Abramson said the purchase of the buses is a “good idea to prevent the situation we’re in going forward.”
The community will vote on the adopted budget on Tuesday, May 20. Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
