Floral Park’s school district has proposed a 1.942% tax levy increase to fund the district’s over $40 million financial plan.
The district proposed a $40,359,720 budget for the 2025-2026 school year, a 2.07% increase from last year. The district’s proposed expenditure number is $40,629,826, which makes for a budget gap of $270,106.
According to Linda Macias, assistant superintendent for business, the district has been actively working to close the budget gap using a strategic approach in three areas: staffing, data, and mandated services.
“We anticipate concluding these efforts in time for the April 10 Board of Education meeting, at which point the budget will be adopted for voters to vote on,” said Macias. The budget will likely be funded through a combination of local taxes, PILOTS funds, state aid, and other community services.
Additionally, Macias said the district wants to establish a new capital reserve fund, which will be a proposition on the main ballot.
“This initiative is designed to support the district’s long-term financial planning by setting aside funds for future capital projects such as building renovations and infrastructure improvements,” said Macias. “We believe that creating this fund will help us address these needs in a fiscally responsible manner while minimizing the impact on taxpayers.”
Macias said the proposed capital reserve fund would provide flexibility and project funding.
“It ensures funds are available for necessary improvements without requiring emergency financial measures,” said Macias. “If approved with the May 20 vote, this reserve would be in place for a maximum of 10 years and would be capped at $9 million.”
The district’s director of special education, Sharon Meyer, used the meeting to highlight the proposed special education budget of $1.3 million with a 15% decrease from last year’s budget.
“This includes enhancing specialized services and increasing our speech-language therapists,” said Meyer. “We are looking to increase our teacher of the deaf to strengthen the hearing support that our students are receiving.”
Meyer also said the special education program is wants to expand the mental health resources in response to the growing needs of students in both school buildings.
Dr. Peter Rufa, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, said the district is currently evaluating a new science curriculum for the 2025 to 2026 school year.
“The current science curriculum that we have in place is a copyright curriculum of 2017 and does not align with the New York State next generation standards,” said Rufa.
The proposed curriculum and instruction budget is $897,341, a 0.9% decrease from last year.
The budget adoption will take place during the April 10 Board of Education meeting. The budget vote will take place on May 20.
