Brentwood UFSD projects $38 million transportation budget as district readies general fund plan

Stacy, the district’s assistant superintendent for finance and operations, told the Brentwood Union Free School District Board of Education that staff have begun formal budget development for the coming school year and will present a general fund budget for community review ahead of the May vote. “What we're doing is we're planning for the upcoming school year. We take input from all stakeholders … and we have to quantify it, turn it into finances, and see how it fits into our budget,” Stacy said.

The presentation outlined the district’s calendar and major budget drivers. Salaries and benefits, Stacy said, make up the largest share of expenditures — “about 75 to 80% of our budget” — and state aid, especially Foundation Aid, is the single largest revenue source. Stacy said Foundation Aid accounts for about 86% of the district’s state aid and warned that proposed changes to the state formula could materially affect the district. She summarized recommendations from a state-commissioned review by the Rockefeller Institute, noting the institute’s suggestion to use more current data, to recognize actual poverty measures rather than a floor-and-ceiling combined-wealth ratio, and to phase in any changes to avoid abrupt shifts in funding.

“Any change in one box, you'd really have to follow it and flow down, through that formula. It could have significant impacts,” Stacy said, describing how formula changes could affect districts differently.

Eric Carlin, the district’s director of operations, presented the transportation budget and operations. He said the district contracts bus service through Suffolk Transportation and runs roughly 109 large buses, 167 minibuses and 15 wheelchair-accessible buses daily. The district provides about 160 district-employed driver assistants and more than 450 total staff who support transportation each day.

Carlin proposed a $38 million transportation budget for the coming year, up from $36.5 million this year — a 6.2% increase driven primarily by the contractual CPI adjustment with the bus contractor and potential growth in high-needs routing. “This transportation contract goes up by CPI, and then we could have additional buses that we need, the resources as students come into the district,” Carlin said.

Carlin described safety and service investments included in the request: stop-arm camera enforcement (which he said has produced an 18% year-over-year reduction in illegally passing buses for the past two years), driver-assistant crisis prevention intervention (CPI) training, reflective safety vests and replacement of phased-out uniforms, and expansion of field-trip and inter-district routes to support curricular and extracurricular programs. He also highlighted technology the district uses, including the Where’s the Bus app, and said revenues from stop-arm enforcement appear on the revenue side of the budget rather than in this transportation expenditure presentation.

Stacy walked the board through other budget details discussed in the workshop: budgeting timelines that begin in October, the staggered submission of principal and departmental requests (principals in November, departments in December), the distinction between the general fund presented for voter approval in May and other funds such as special aid, debt service, cafeteria and capital funds, and the procedures for projecting retirement contribution rates. She said the district budgets conservatively (for example, budgeting TRS at the top of the projected range) and tracks multiple benefit plans — naming NYSHIP/Empire and HIP — noting HIP projections were higher (about 9% projected) though fewer employees use that plan.

Board members and community members asked questions about CPI training efficacy, the Rockefeller Institute timeline and how the district advocates at the state level. Anna Flores, a Brentwood resident, asked when the Rockefeller Institute review was done; Stacy said the institute began in spring 2024 and issued its report in December 2024. Stacy and other administrators said the district will continue to communicate with state representatives and that the board and superintendent regularly advocate on state funding matters.

Board members asked staff to compile additional data on CPI training and incident reports to evaluate whether the training reduced written incident reports; staff agreed to pursue those data. No adoption or final vote on the budget occurred at the workshop; the district will present refined figures at upcoming budget meetings, hold a budget hearing roughly two weeks before the May vote, and the community will vote on the general fund budget on the third Tuesday in May.

Votes at the meeting were limited to procedural actions. The board approved a motion to adjourn the workshop at the close of the session. Motion by Brandon Garcia; second by Julia Burgos. The transcript records the motion, the second and a voice vote but does not list a roll-call tally.