White Plains board adopts 2025-26 proposed budget with 1.67% tax levy increase

The White Plains City School District Board of Education on April 7 adopted the district's proposed budget for the 2025-26 school year, advancing a spending plan that would raise the local tax levy by 1.67% and remain within New York State's tax-cap calculation. The board approved the measure by voice vote; the motion passed and was recorded as "Aye."

Superintendent Dr. Ricker told the board the proposal aims to preserve current instructional and extracurricular programs while closing a multi-million-dollar gap through a five-year fiscal plan and internal savings. "We brought forward a fiscally conservative budget that also supports everything that our children have today, while also staying within the tax cap," he said.

The nut graf: If voters approve the budget on May 20, the district will implement the plan as proposed; if voters reject it, the board could submit a revised budget or the district would be required to operate under a contingency budget that the superintendent said would require about $3.4 million in program reductions. That contingency reduction was described at the meeting as roughly a 1.22% cut to the proposed budget.

Board discussion and the superintendent's presentation emphasized sustainability and program preservation. The administration said nearly 77% of expenditures are for direct program costs and pointed to increased Foundation Aid and other revenue sources as contributors to the revenue picture. The presentation also described how payment-in-lieu-of-tax (PILOT) agreements affect the tax-cap calculation and said the district is advocating for legislative changes to exclude some PILOT revenue from the cap calculation.

Budget mechanics presented at the meeting included a capital levy exclusion tied to debt service for the district's ongoing capital project; the administration said it recommends using debt-service reserve funds to reduce this year's debt payments so the local share remains consistent with commitments made when the capital project was approved. The administration also reviewed staffing changes in the proposed budget: one full-time-equivalent teacher for a self-contained classroom at Mamaroneck Avenue School, two full-time-equivalent teaching assistants for that classroom, a half-time speech reallocation at the high school, a 0.4 FTE addition for a dance program, and a 0.4 FTE foreign-language allocation. The administration described these as reallocations and additions intended to match program needs rather than layoffs.

Superintendent Ricker and finance staff walked through voter-facing logistics: the district will hold its budget vote on Tuesday, May 20; polls are scheduled to open at noon and close at 9 p.m. The administration published a line-by-line budget and a website called "All About the Budget" and offered direct contact (budget@WPCSD.US) for residents seeking further detail.

What happens next: after the board adopted the proposed budget, the measure becomes the board's budget to bring to the community for the voter referendum on May 20. The administration repeatedly urged community members to participate in the vote and said staff would continue outreach and informational sessions in the weeks before the election.