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Iroquois board hears budget outlook as state aid negotiations continue
Summary
Board members reviewed preliminary 2025–26 budget projections, emphasizing uncertainty in state aid, erosion of some expense-based aids, and a narrow gap the district expects to cover if the state increases aid by the governor's proposed 2% or legislature's near-3% proposals.
The Iroquois Central School District Board of Education reviewed preliminary figures for the 2025–26 budget and discussed how competing proposals at the state level could affect next year's revenues and local tax levy.
Board and staff said the governor's executive proposal would raise state aid by a 2% minimum for districts; Senate and Assembly proposals were described by staff as nearer to 3%. District staff said the proposals now move into negotiations in Albany and that the final number is uncertain.
District presenters told the board that several long-running trends are reducing the share of locally spent dollars that the state reimburses. The district has seen a gradual erosion of expense-based aids such as BOCES and transportation aid compared with a decade ago, when those programs returned well over 60% of eligible costs; staff said those reimbursement levels are now below 50% in some cases. School leaders described a combined-wealth ratio above the statewide baseline, which reduces certain aid formulas and has steadily risen for the district over the past decade.
Officials also flagged federal Title funding volatility: the district reported Title I receipts of about $199,000 in 2020–21 that later dropped to roughly $118,000 when measured child-poverty metrics fell below a 5% threshold. Because Title I supports interventions and staff who run RTI and reading programs, staff said the budget must assume roughly $100,000 less in targeted federal aid next year and fold that cost into the general fund unless the child-poverty metric changes.
On the expense side, staff presented a working estimate of a 2.63% increase in overall expenses driven by transportation and instruction costs; the tax levy was estimated at a 3.34% increase under current calculations. At the time of the presentation, staff said the district's preliminary gap between expenses and revenues was about $160,000, a figure board members characterized as manageable if state aid was finalized near the legislative proposals. Staff signaled they would monitor developments in Albany and adjust the final budget if the enacted state budget differs from current proposals.
Board members pressed for more detail on how particular aid lines and reserves would be used in the coming year and for more time to review presentation materials ahead of meetings. The board scheduled the formal district budget presentation in April and noted the budget hearing and May vote dates on the district calendar.
Ending: The board will return to the budget once the state budget is enacted and present a final proposed budget for public review; officials said they expect to bring a final proposal to the board in April and prepare propositions for the May 20 vote.
