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Starpoint proposes $71.5 million spending plan with new special-education and tech positions; board to vote next meeting
Summary
District budget presenters described a proposed $71.5 million spending plan (5.79% increase), staff additions for special education and technology, an $830,000 capitalized interest offset, and an estimated tax-rate decrease of $0.09 per $1,000; board will vote at the next meeting pending state aid.
District staff presented the proposed 2025–26 budget at a Starpoint Central School District board meeting, describing an approximate $71.5 million spending plan — a 5.79% increase from the prior year — and outlining personnel additions tied to special education and technology needs.
The proposal, presenters said, assumes the state budget is issued on time and includes the capital project costs previously approved by voters. The district’s contingent budget figure, staff reported, is a little over $69,000,000; if voters were to reject the budget twice the presenters said approximately $2.4 million in cuts would be required.
Why this matters: the budget includes staff changes intended to address capacity in special-education self-contained classrooms, add teacher aides and consultant-teacher support, and fund a one-year director of technology position the district described as necessary given the growth of technology services.
“Moving forward from here at the next board meeting, we'll be asking you to approve the budget,” Dr. Kropf said during the presentation, noting the board’s formal vote is scheduled for a future meeting once final state-aid numbers are available. “I could load budgets about 71 and a half million, which is… a 5.79% increase,” said John, a district business official who summarized revenue and levy impacts.
Staff described several position changes tied to special education: creating a third self-contained classroom at a primary site referenced in the meeting as Pocono, adding a self-contained classroom at the middle school to address a “log jam” of younger students moving up from intermediate grades, additional special-education teacher aides at the high school to support testing accommodations, and 0.5 long-term substitute consultant-teacher positions at the middle and high school levels to handle higher caseloads. Presenters said the district will monitor two of those long-term-substitute positions to determine if permanent staffing is required.
On revenues and tax impacts, staff said foundation aid is currently scheduled to rise by 2.63% (about $522,000). The presenters said the tax levy would increase 6.87% overall, with a baseline operating increase of 3.38%. They also reported an estimated tax-rate decrease of $0.09 per $1,000 (a 0.62% drop) — citing higher assessed values and the return of previously piloted properties to the tax rolls — with an example rate estimate of 13.46 per $1,000 versus last year’s 13.55.
Staff said the district plans to use roughly $50,000 of fund balance to offset some personnel costs and to capitalize about $830,000 in interest to reduce the immediate tax impact of the capital project; that capitalized interest is an estimated figure subject to change based on interest earnings.
Presenters described the director of technology position as largely a one-year increase tied to shifting costs from BOCES services and anticipated reductions in certain BOCES costs in 2026–27.
Board members asked clarifying questions and offered praise for the presentation and for extracurricular successes noted earlier in the meeting. The board did not vote on the budget at this meeting; presenters said the vote is planned for the next scheduled board session and will depend on the state budget and finalized aid figures.
