The Island Tree School Board unanimously approved a $83 million budget for 2025-2026 at their school board meeting on Wednesday, April 23.
The $83,631,197 budget is a 4.59% increase from the 2024-2025 school year. It also has a 2.17% tax cap increase. The district will leave nearly $3.4 million in reserve.
The district experienced a rise in state aid of 8.34%, mostly from foundation aid. In total, the district will receive $26,631,989. The district also released and approved its expenses for 2025-2026. The single largest expenditure increase was $50,864 for Nassau BOCES ESL services, an increase of 66%.
The largest expenditure was over $46 million allocated to pupil instruction and over $5 million for pupil transportation.
Other expenditures include over $2.5 million for “administration and improvements,” a 25% increase for lobby aides for both elementary schools, and a nearly 20% raise for special education teachers at Stokes Elementary. The money allows the district to offer special education classes with a lower student-to-teacher ratio.
Meanwhile, Island Trees High School and J. Fred Sparke Elementary cut funding for special education teachers by 1.39% and 16.32%, respectively.
The district also made a few cuts, some of the largest including -18.21% for special education aids in the middle school, -61% for science and math workbooks, and -27% for math teacher support.
The Island Trees district also allocated $90,000 to tuition for charter schools, an increase of $72,000 from 2023-2024. The budget notes that the total will be split among all taxpayers and distributed to any charter school student.
Since the first charter school opened in 2016, the student body has grown to over 4,000 in Nassau County.
The district will have its budget hearing on May 6.
The Island Trees community will vote on the budget on May 20. Both will take place at 74 Farm Edge Road in Bethpage.
