Voters across New York State will head to the polls on Tuesday, May 20 to have their say on local school district budgets for the 2025-26 school year, along with electing trustees to their boards of education, and deciding the fate of any other ballot proposals. Due to the lateness of the New York State budget, school districts were left guessing as to whether their state aid figures would rise or fall based upon Gov. Kathy Hochul’s initial proposal; unlike in years past, the state legislature largely accepted the governor’s proposal, making few changes to her proposed state aid runs. But some districts are still feeling the pinch.
Below, Hudson Valley One summarizes the spending plans for each of the school districts we cover, but we encourage you to learn more by visiting their websites or either attending a school board meeting or viewing an archived budget hearing if available.
Kingston City School District (KCSD)
Voting locations: All seven of the district’s elementary schools based on your election district
Voting hours: 7 a.m. – 8 p.m.
The KCSD is touting a $249,522,500 budget proposal that maintains all student programs while staying below the state-mandated tax cap increase of 7.27 percent, meaning it would only need a simple majority to pass. In the district’s proposal, the tax levy would rise to $125,791,600, an increase of around $8.2 million, or 6.97 percent.
The KCSD saw their total state aid rise by 3.52 percent, while their foundation aid increase — averaging 9.7 percent — fell to just two percent, the lowest allowable by state law. In a district newsletter, KCSD Superintendent Paul Padalino said the aid figures presented challenges for the district.
“State aid is a key funding source for the district,” Padalino said. “Unfortunately, the proposed increase in state aid does not keep pace with rising costs.”
The district is applying $12.25 million in existing reserves to help fund the spending plan, with additional savings found in staff attrition and retirements.
The KCSD budget supports all current academic offerings, AP classes, college credit courses, STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) programs, extracurricular activities — including athletics, performing and visual arts, and clubs — social-emotional learning supports, mental health services, expanded services for unhoused students, increased security funding, technology initiatives and universal pre-K for over 300 three and four year olds.
Saugerties Central School District (SCSD)
Voting location: Saugerties Junior High School gymnasium
Voting Hours: 6 a.m. – 9 p.m.
The SCSD is presenting a $79,876,153 spending plan for 2025-26, an increase of 3.49 percent over the current year’s budget. The tax levy in the budget proposal is $47,354,312, an increase of 3.43 percent, the state-mandated cap increase, meaning only a simple majority is needed to pass.
In a district newsletter, Superintendent Daniel Erceg said the budget proposal was crafted with both students and taxpayers in mind.
“As we developed the budget, it was important to the district that the needs of our students and taxpayers were prioritized,” Erceg said. “Finding that balance required some tough decisions, but ultimately we believe we were successful.”
Among the tough decisions were the elimination of two administrative positions, not replacing a retiring business teacher, reducing select shared services with Ulster BOCES, eliminating select software subscriptions, reducing supply and technology purchases and rerouting mandated private school transportation. An additional $2,830,131 was added from the district’s unassigned fund balance.
The SCSD budget proposal maintains extracurricular activities, supports the Ulster BOCES Career & Technical Center at iPark87, maintains current levels of art, music and library services; supports a social worker and school psychologist in each school building; maintains armed security at all three elementary schools and at the Jr./Sr. High campus; expands in-district special education options for students with IEPs; supports the implementation of a cell phone ban; invests in professional learning needs to improving academics; continues a bilingual school advocacy specialist, expands English and English as a New Language instruction; and restores modified sports and field trips.
New Paltz Central School District (NPCSD)
Voting location: New Paltz High School gymnasium
Voting hours: 7 a.m. – 9 p.m.
The NPCSD will present a budget of $76,095,330 for the 2025-26 school year, which comes with an overall 4.35 percent tax levy increase.
During a budget hearing last week, superintendent Stephen Gratto said the district had to overcome a significantly low state aid package in preparing the spending plan.
“A $2 million (tax increase) is significant,” he said. “Our state aid went up by only $90,000, which was a .5 percent increase. The state is not keeping up with the expenses that we’re experiencing as a district, which is one of the big problems that we face, as well as one of the big problems that all the (school districts) in the state, and probably around the country face as well.”
Among the expenses in the budget proposal are purchases of two 65-passenger buses (combined $320,532), one 28-29 passenger bus ($87,389), and a Chevrolet Suburban ($72,079) for a total cost of $480,000.
Also included are the costs of an unarmed security guard primarily stationed at the high school ($51,840), a full time athletic trainer ($112,000), stipend for continuing education coordinator ($3,000), BOCES lease at iPark87 ($184,800), summer work previously covered by federal American Rescue Plan funding ($68,435).
Reductions to cover the cost of the athletic trainer include the elimination of planned wellness center upgrades, reduction in continuing education stipend, cutting back on furniture replacement, reduction in musical instrument replacement, money for an itinerant athletic trainer, various software and office supplies, special ed consultants and abandoning the purchase of a new $50,000 football field scoreboard.
The district also trimmed the budget in other areas, including a full-time middle school social studies position, a full time district integrated technology position, a full-time high school ELA position, and will leave two vacant elementary special education positions unfilled. The equivalent of cutting 4.4 total full time positions, including three current employees, saved the district $813,551 in salaries and benefits.
Elsewhere they’ve seen money come in from renting the middle school to BOCES for summer school ($40,000) and a Medicaid reimbursement ($100,000). The budget also includes the use of $2,354,000 of its $8,590,523 fund balance to reduce the local tax impact. Of that total, $1.9 million comes out of unrestricted fund balance, $300,000 from the retirement reserve fund, and $154,000 of the remaining 2015 middle school capital project funds.
Onteora Central School District (OCSD)
Voting locations: Woodstock
and Bennett Elementary Schools
Voting hours: 2 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Voters in the OCSD will have their say on a $63,558,660 budget proposal, a 2.3 percent ($1,263,160) increase over the current year’s spending plan. The budget includes a proposed tax levy of $49,402,800, a 2 percent increase over 2024-25, nearly a full percentage point lower than the state tax cap for the district.
District officials balanced the budget using $2,518,408 from appropriated fund balance.
Among the budget highlights are the continued replacement of technology (Chromebooks, BenQ Boards), maintaining the active learning space initiative, continuing afterschool homework and extracurricular opportunities, furthering work on the Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) process and using the MTSS data system (Branching Minds) to support student growth, continuing multisensory reading and math training for staff, continuing professional learning in math, literacy, and science; reinstating the Summer Skills Academy, and continuing funding for mental health support.
Also on the ballot is Proposition 2: Optimizing Onteora: A Tax Neutral Capital Project to enact a districtwide cental campus, including improvements and alterations to Bennett Elementary School, and the middle/high school campus, along with site, athletic and recreational improvements. The proposition would allow the district to spend up to $70,500,000 on the project, with $10 million covered by the 2023 capital reserve fund, $5 million from other district funds, and the remaining $55.5 million covered without increasing local taxes.
“We will borrow the $55.5 million in increments, to be repaid over 20 years, starting in 2028,” reads the funding information text of the district’s Optimizing Onteora plans.“Each year of the repayment, we will receive approximately $1.3 million of state aid, which can be combined with more than $3 million in annual savings generated through the efficiencies of a central campus to allow us to repay our debt without increasing taxes.”
The plan includes the closure of Woodstock Elementary School, likely at the end of the 2027-28 school year. The district stressed that voting no on Proposition 2 is unlikely to save Woodstock Elementary from being closed.
For more information on Proposition 2, visit: https://www.onteora.k12.ny.us/about/optimizing-onteora.
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