Great Neck board adopts $289.998 million 2025–26 budget to send to voters

The Great Neck Board of Education on April 22 approved a proposed $289,998,000 general fund operating budget for the 2025–26 school year and authorized the property tax report card to be filed for the May ballot.

Board members and district staff said the plan preserves all programs and relies on a property tax levy of $244,222,000, which the district presented as a 3.05% increase over the current year and within the district's calculation for levy limits.

The budget matters because it determines next year's school programs, staff levels and capital investments. With the state budget still pending, administrators said the district must adopt a spending plan now to meet legal and calendared deadlines for the public vote.

Deputy Superintendent John O'Keefe and School Business Administrator Michael Ernst walked the board through revenue and expenditure assumptions. O'Keefe said the proposed total expenditure budget of $289,998,000 is a 2.84% increase over the current year and that the district reduced earlier drafts by roughly $1.8 million without eliminating programs. O'Keefe described the levy calculation as starting from the current levy, adding tax base growth and the allowable 2% growth factor or the consumer price index (whichever is lower), and applying other formula adjustments the state provides.

O'Keefe and Ernst told the board that estimated state aid for 2025–26 remains tentative because the New York State budget had not been adopted. The presentation listed roughly $16 million in total state aid shown on a slide but noted that after removing universal prekindergarten (UPK) aid that cannot be fully used in the general fund the figure applied to the budget is about $14.6 million. The staff said the district will monitor final state aid and building aid adjustments once Albany acts.

The presentation highlighted planned capital investments included in this budget cycle and related ballot propositions: about $10.5 million in capital work is proposed, including a $7.7 million renovation of the South High School auditorium. The budget also proposes $7.7 million of the capital figure described as the auditorium component; other items called out included roofing, boiler replacement, public-address systems and athletic-facility improvements. O'Keefe said the capital projects are within the tax levy calculation and that voters will separately decide some uses of capital reserve funds. He also outlined the district's use of restricted reserves and appropriated fund balance: about $9 million is proposed to be drawn from restricted reserves (workers' comp, retirement reserves, accrued benefit liability, unemployment) and $3.9 million from appropriated fund balance.

Board members asked for clarifications about contingency planning, transportation contract drivers and recreational-program revenues and expenses. O'Keefe said employee benefit costs (notably health insurance) were essentially flat this year and that an expiring energy performance contract reduced debt-service payments, helping balance the budget. He explained that some recreation costs previously covered by COVID-era grants would return to the district and that parental tuition revenue assumptions were included to offset the expected spending.

The board voted, 5–0, to adopt the proposed 2025–26 budget and the property tax report card and to move the budget to the voters. The district scheduled a public budget hearing for May 12 and the budget vote, plus Proposition 2 (use of capital reserve and a trustee election), for May 20.

Looking ahead, administrators said the state education department's review and approvals are a necessary step for major capital projects and that final bid awards will depend on state approvals and the bids received. The board asked that the community be kept informed as state aid and bid information become final.