East Ramapo presents 2025–26 budget that boosts school spending while keeping tax levy flat

Interim Superintendent Anthony DeCaulo and Assistant Superintendent for Business Eric Stark presented the East Ramapo Central School District’s proposed 2025–26 budget and said the plan increases spending on instruction and capital needs while not raising the local tax levy. The district plans to put the budget before voters on May 20 and will hold a budget hearing on May 6 at the PLCC at the District Office.

DeCaulo said the budget “concentrates on the instruction of our students” and focuses on “turnaround leadership, talent development, instructional transformation, and cultural shifts.” He and Stark told the audience that recent increases in New York State aid and corrected coding of multilingual students allowed the district to add instructional resources and positions that had been reduced in prior years.

Stark explained how the district calculated revenue under New York State’s property tax cap framework, saying the maximum allowable tax levy calculation for 2025–26 is $167,000,000.93…