Sweet Home board hears reserve, special‑education costs and debt options; capital vote set for Dec. 16

Sweet Home Central School District officials told the Board of Education they recommend setting the 2025–26 unassigned fund balance at roughly 3% of the budget as the district contends with rising special‑education tuition and contracted transportation costs. Separately, the board formally announced a capital project vote for Dec. 16 with two propositions for voters.

Mitch Feldman briefed the board on reserves and fund balance, noting the district’s 2024–25 budget was $100,410,422 and the 4% statutory maximum for an unassigned fund balance would have been $4,016,417. He recommended an unassigned fund balance of $3,167,280 for 2025–26 (about 3% of the approved $105,576,012 budget). Feldman said the district carried total reserves and fund balances of about $12.1 million and used over $2 million of reserves in the prior year to close budgetary gaps.

Feldman attributed much of the recent pressure to special‑education tuition increases and transportation: he said the district saw more than $1.2 million in added special‑education tuition expense after the 2024–25 budget was adopted and about $600,000 in additional contracted transportation costs related to new placements and McKinney‑Vento (students experiencing homelessness) transportation. He said the district recouped about $500,000 from Erie County for some contracted transportation costs where county responsibility applied.

“Since the 2024–25 budget was passed…we did see over $1,200,000 in increased special education tuitions resulting directly from student transfers and out of district placements,” Feldman told trustees. He said district leadership wants to reduce reliance on reserves to balance future budgets and flagged the tax cap as a constraint on options.

On capital planning, the board announced a December 16, 2025 referendum with two propositions. Proposition A is a $55.2 million, tax‑neutral package focusing on additions at Maple Mirror, Glendale and Heritage, building condition items, a new middle‑school roof, playgrounds, parking lots, elementary library upgrades, relocation of the Ready Academy to the District Office, and electrical upgrades at the transportation center. Proposition B is a $35.3 million package that would carry an estimated tax increase of “about $64 per $250,000 assessed value” (the presentation also included a 2.61% figure) and would fund additional renovations identified through community input, including turf and track replacements, lighting for baseball and softball and other facility upgrades.

Board members discussed how the district will present the propositions to voters. Trustees debated language in the board goals that said the board would “support all initiatives necessary to ensure successful passage,” with several members asking for wording that emphasizes educating and informing voters rather than directing how to vote. Administrators said they will conduct town halls, PTA presentations and outreach in coming weeks: “We’re going to publish [the schedule] and we’re going to make phone calls to families,” a superintendent representative said.

On buses and debt strategy, Feldman said the district spent about $1 million from the general fund for bus purchases (three electric and three diesel buses) and proposed exploring issuing debt for future bus purchases to free general fund capacity; he noted electric‑bus mandates and state funding opportunities but said final tax‑cap impacts and debt service calculations remain to be determined.

Why it matters: rising special‑education and transportation costs are driving district budget pressure and reducing the cushion available to respond to unanticipated expenses. The capital vote will be a significant local fiscal decision in December, with Proposition A presented as tax neutral and Proposition B carrying a potential tax impact that voters will weigh.