Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Instructional Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Middle Country presents 2025-26 instructional budget priorities, highlights program growth
Summary
Assistant Superintendent Jonathan Singer presented the district's proposed instructional budget for 2025-26, describing staffing levels, program expansions and grant-funded supplements; board members offered brief commentary and no substantive amendments were recorded.
Assistant Superintendent Jonathan Singer presented an overview of the Middle Country Central School District's instructional budget planning for the 2025-26 school year, detailing staffing counts, program expansions and the use of grant funds.
"I appreciate the chance to share some details about our instructional budget planning for the 2025-26 school year," Singer said as he opened the slideshow for the board. He said the instructional staff proposed includes 714 classroom teachers and 202 teaching assistants, and that preschool staff numbers were not reflected in the slides he was presenting.
Singer said the district serves just over 3,600 elementary students across eight elementary schools and two kindergarten centers and 5,073 secondary students in two middle schools and two high schools. He described curricular additions and pathways, including Career and Technical Education (CTE), Individual Arts Assessment Pathway (IAAP), and the Seal of Civic Readiness endorsement. "We are currently at work building the Seal of Biliteracy Endorsement to provide an additional opportunity for students to demonstrate skill mastery," Singer said.
The presentation noted the district's reliance on Title I, II and IV grants to supplement instructional materials and professional development; Singer said textbook and some materials allocations appear as $0 on certain slides because grant funding covers those costs. He also described special education services for about 1,478 in-district students with Individualized Education Programs and additional out-of-district placements, plus related arts offerings, dual-enrollment and AP courses, and programs such as cosmetology that can yield New York State licensure after completion.
Board members provided brief comments after the presentation. Board member Feldman congratulated and thanked staff on the recognitions that had preceded the presentation; Mr. Feeny highlighted a Selden Middle School mental-health bulletin-board initiative. No board member requested a change to the instructional budget at the meeting, and no formal amendment motion was recorded.
The district said career and college pathways are expanding, with increased dual-enrollment and AP offerings and newly embedded capstone research projects across grade bands. Singer also summarized supports for English language learners (about 833 active students across 21 home languages) and described alternative and home-based instruction programs for students who cannot attend regular classes.
The presentation closed with a statement of the district mission and an outline of next steps in budget development; the board did not take a formal budget adoption vote at the meeting.
