Herricks School District
The Herricks School District’s $144.5 million 2025-2026 budget was approved with 69.9% of the vote.
The total votes were 702 in favor and 301 against.
The budget is up 2%, or 2.8 million, from the $147.7 million 2024-20265 budget and includes a 2% tax levy increase under the state-imposed 2.5% cap.
According to calculations by Schneps Media LI, the district spends $32,768.81 per student.
Voters also approved a proposition allowing the district to transfer roughly $2.1 million from the district’s capital reserve to purchase new boilers for the community center and high school.
The total votes were 771 in favor and 222 against.
School Board President Juleigh Chin, who was running unopposed, was elected for a fifth term. Chin received 806 votes.
Floral Park-Bellerose School District
The Floral Park-Bellerose School District has a new trustee.
Newcomer Victor Ferrante won the election against fellow newcomer Lauren Persic for Michael Culotta’s seat, receiving 52.2% of the vote. Ferrante received a total of 401 votes and Persic received 367 votes. Culotta announced his decision to step down at the end of this term in April.
Incumbent Rosemarie Peltonen, who was running unopposed, received 523 votes. Peltonen has been on the board since 2022.
The district’s $40.4 million 2025-2026 budget was approved with 68% of the vote.
The total votes were 605 in favor and 291 against.
The budget is $820,036, or 2.07%, more than this year’s $39.5 million budget and includes a 1.94% tax levy increase, under the district’s state-imposed cap.
According to calculations by Schneps Media LI, the district spends $25,788.96 per student.
Voters also approved a proposition allowing the district to establish a capital reserve to save and allocate money toward capital improvement projects, including renovations and upgrades to school buildings and facilities. The proposition received 70% of the votes.
The total votes were 625 in favor and 267 against.
New Hyde Park-Garden City Park School District
New Hyde Park-Garden City Park voters voted to keep all of their incumbents.
Longtime incumbent Jenn Kerrane, a 21-year resident of New Hyde Park, won her contested race with 277 votes against newcomer Rose-Ann Cunanan, a lifelong Garden City Park resident and PTA president, who received 271 votes.
District voters also re-elected the two unopposed trustees, school board President Kathryn Canese and Trustee Patricia Rudd. Canese received 495 votes. She has held her seat for six years. Rudd received 490 votes. She has held her seat for over twenty years.
The school district’s $48.6 million budget was approved with 69% of the vote. There were 470 in favor and 211 against.
The budget is $532,025, or 1.11% more than the $48.1 million 2024-2025 budget and includes a 2.35%% tax levy increase, equal to the district’s state-imposed cap.
According to calculations by Schneps Media LI, the district spends $31,356.53 per student.
A proposition allowing the district to establish a new capital reserve, a savings account that could hold up to $10 million over 15 years, was approved with 67.8% of the vote. The funds will be used to pay for renovations to school facilities and buildings.
The measure received 458 votes in favor and 218 against.
Great Neck School District
The Great Neck Public School’s $290 million budget was approved Tuesday, May 20, with 80.7% of the vote. There were 1,337 in favor and 320 against.
The budget, which is increasing by 2.84%, includes a 3.05% tax levy increase, which did not exceed the district’s allowable cap.
According to calculations made by Schneps Media LI, the district spends $42,615 per student.
The district’s proposition to use $8.8 million in capital reserves for North Middle School field improvements and room renovation also passed with 75% of the vote. A total of 1,258 votes were in favor of the use of funds, and 418 were against it.
The two projects are for installing a synthetic turf field along with other field improvements and converting a former shop classroom into a multi-purpose meeting room at Great Neck North Middle School.
The community also voted to reelect Vice President Donna Peirez to the district’s board of education. She ran unopposed and received 1,472 votes.
This will be Peirez’s fourth term, which will expire on June 30, 2028.
Voters also approved the Great Neck Library’s $11 million budget, an increase of $712,679, or 6.91%, from the current budget.
The budget received 1,297 votes, or 78.8% of the votes.
Sewanhaka School District
The Sewanhaka community voted 67.1% in favor of the district’s $264.2 million budget for the 2025-56 school year. The total votes were 3028 in favor and 1488 against.
The budget has an 8.5 million, or 3.33% increase from the district’s $255.7 million budget for the 24-25 school year and includes a 2.91% tax levy increase
According to calculations made by Schneps Media LI, the district spends $34,229.15 per student.
A proposition permitting the district to establish a capital reserve was approved with 70.5% of the vote.
The money placed in that reserve, which will come from unspent general funds at the end of each fiscal year, will be used to fund future improvements at district buildings, such as classrooms, facilities, fields, cafeterias, electrical, technology, and security renovations and upgrades. It will have a maximum amount of $15 million and a maximum lifespan of 10 years.
The total votes were 3150 in favor and 1315 against.
Unlike other districts, Sewanhaka voters do not vote for trustees. The trustees on Sewanhaka’s board will be appointed from the four elementary district boards that feed into the high school district, New Hyde Park-Garden City Park Elementary, Floral Park-Bellerose Elementary, Elmont Elementary and Franklin Square Elementary at the district’s July organizational meeting.
