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Harrison Central projects steep enrollment growth; budget aims to "maintain what we have"
Summary
District leaders told the Board on March 19 that surging student enrollment, rising health‑insurance costs and special‑education expenditures are driving a preliminary 2025–26 expenditure increase; administrators said the goal for next year is to preserve existing programs while revenues and tax‑cap limits are resolved.
The Harrison Central School District presented a preliminary 2025–26 budget on March 19, 2025, saying enrollment growth, health‑insurance increases and special‑education costs are the main drivers of a multi‑million‑dollar rise in expenditures.
Doctor Woll, a district staff member who led the presentation, told the Board the district must stay within the New York State tax‑levy cap formula or seek a 60% voter override to raise the levy beyond the cap. "We are required to live within this tax levy cap or to seek a 60% voter approval, an override to spend more than that," he said.
The nut graf: the district is trying to keep programs and class sizes stable while planning for possible new classrooms and capital work as large housing developments could add hundreds of students to already pressured schools.
Tim, a district staff member who reviewed expenditure detail, said enrollment growth, employee benefits (notably health insurance) and operational costs for special‑education services are the top cost drivers. He told the board administrators had identified 6.8 potential new full‑time‑equivalent positions; staff estimated the direct budgetary impact of those positions at about $600,000 including salary and benefits, and said overall employee salary and benefit costs (including other factors) were roughly $1.6 million, or about 2% of the budget. "All in all, total increases in expenditures next year, 5,800,000.0, around 4%," he said.
Administrators outlined planned and in‑progress capital work from the district's 2023 bond project: window replacements across campuses, the Parsons School third‑floor renovation (six classrooms), high‑school classroom additions (four classrooms), Purchase Elementary classroom addition and a scheduled baseball‑field renovation in mid‑April. The district expects about $1.9 million in general‑fund capital allocations next year for additional in‑district projects such as auditorium work at Harrison Avenue School, major electrical switchgear upgrades at the high school, retaining‑wall repairs at Parsons, HVAC improvements and new bleachers/scoreboards.
Board members and staff repeatedly flagged the unpredictability of growth. Doctor Woll and other administrators showed demographer projections that, if realized, could add several hundred elementary students in affected zones (notably Purchase and Parsons) over the coming years. "If we're able to maintain what we have amid surging enrollment, that would be a good thing," Doctor Woll said.
Board vice president Kelly Movoy Mangan (also a member of regional school board groups) said the board is advocating with state legislators for changes to the tax‑cap and regional cost‑index formulas so aid better reflects local enrollment and cost realities.
Next steps: the district plans to present revenue projections at the April 2 meeting, revisit offsets and fund‑balance use, seek community input through the CBAC meeting on April 7 and hold a budget hearing before the May 20 vote. Tim told the board he expects to return April 2 with updated revenue numbers and a recommended budget to present to the Board on April 22.
