Sweet Home projects $1.5M budget gap for 2025–26; board outlines staffing plan, tax-cap limits

Sweet Home Central School District Superintendent Michael Genestri told the Board of Education on March 18 that the district is projecting a $1,500,000 budget shortfall for the 2025–26 school year and outlined steps administrators are recommending to close the gap without layoffs.

Genestri said the shortfall is driven mainly by increases in mandated special education services, contracted transportation and health-care costs. “We are projecting a $1,300,000 mandated increase in special education programming for next year,” Genestri said. He added the district expects a $500,000 increase for contracted transportation and a roughly $700,000 increase in health-care costs reported by the district’s trust.

The administration presented a multi-part plan to cover the shortfall while keeping all current employees. The budget recommendations include limiting program aides to two per building (estimated savings $300,000), eliminating building-based substitute positions ($300,000), absorbing certain administrative retirements rather than filling them, consolidating some grade-level sections where enrollment permits, and pursuing state grants tied to prekindergarten special-education classrooms.

Genestri said the district has received conditional approval to pursue up to three special-class-in-an-integrated-setting (SCIS) rooms for universal pre-K (UPK). “Each room can generate up to $400,000 in revenue,” he said, and the administration has budgeted $1,200,000 in potential revenue assuming three rooms are approved and funded through the state process.

Business officer Don Feldman (presenting the detailed budget slides) reviewed revenue and the district’s tax-cap position. Feldman said the district’s allowable simple-majority tax-cap increase for 2025–26 is 0.4 percent, which he quantified as about $218,590 in levy capacity. He described the state’s “allowable tax base growth factor” and said Sweet Home’s levy growth factor was set at 1.0 this cycle, reducing potential levy room relative to prior years and eliminating eligibility for rollover levy funds the district had considered earlier.

On projected revenue, Feldman reported an estimated 2025–26 revenue total of $105,513,012 and budgeted expenditures of $105,464,831, producing a narrow surplus in the draft numbers presented to the board. Feldman reviewed the district’s state aid calculation base (TAFPU — total aidable foundation pupil units), reporting a small increase from the executive budget run and noting the district’s continued monitoring of state and federal funding signals.

Genestri and Feldman stressed contingencies that could change between now and final adoption: late adjustments to state aid, final health-insurance rates from the New York 44 Trust and registration/transfer activity over the summer. Genestri said the board will be asked to adopt a proposed budget on April 22 and that the district’s annual budget vote and school board election is scheduled for May 20 from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the school building.

The administration repeatedly emphasized that the recommendations are intended to avoid staff layoffs. “We will not lay off any service employees… We will not lay off any faculty members,” Genestri said, adding the plan relies on turnover, targeted consolidation where enrollment allows and grant revenue to close the gap.

Board members asked for clarification on specific lines including special-education cost drivers, the treatment of charter-school tuition, and whether rebidding contracted transportation could yield savings under changing bus routes or start times. Trustees and administrators also discussed the timing of state budget decisions and the district’s use of reserves.

The board and administration said they will return with updates at the April 8 study session and again when the board meets to adopt a proposed spending plan in April. The presentation included specific line items and dollar changes discussed by administrators and is available in the district’s budget materials.

Ending: The board proceeded with its meeting agenda; the administration said it will continue to refine revenue assumptions and staffing placement and will present a recommended proposed budget to the board on April 22 for adoption prior to the May 20 vote.