SCHENECTADY — Schenectady City School District taxpayers are set to vote on a proposed $265 million budget for the 2023-2024 school year after the school board voted unanimously to approve the spending plan during its meeting on Wednesday night.
The proposal represents a 10.9 % increase over last year’s approved $239 million school budget.
The proposed budget, which will be on the ballot for voters on May 16, includes a zero percent tax increase, the sixth straight year the district has presented a budget without a property tax increase.
The budget proposal is $5.8 million higher than the $259 million budget that the administration presented at the board’s March 29 meeting.
District Chief Financial Officer Terrence Gillooley told the school board that the increase accounted for the district’s proposal to purchase Keane Elementary School from St. Luke’s Roman Catholic Church, which will appear on the May 16 ballot in a separate referendum.
“That’s the money we’re using potentially for the purchase of Keane Elementary School from St. Luke’s Church,” Gillooley said on Wednesday. “We’re designating money to buy the school from savings we have this year.”
Under the district’s spending plan, Schenectady is set to receive $152 million in Foundation Aid from the state, a $22 million increase over last year’s funding level.
“New York State has not passed a budget for the next fiscal year yet, so this could change,” Gillooley said. “If it does, we might have to come back to the table and reduce what we’re projecting for revenue and maybe do a re-adoption of the budget.”
Schenectady Superintendent Anibal Soler Jr. told the board that the district does not expect state education funding to be cut in the ongoing state budget negotiations.
“We haven’t heard anything around education being adjusted at all,” he told the board. “The governor has promised to fully Foundation Aid for the final year.”
Board Member Jamaica Miles advocated for the public passage of the district’s spending plan during Wednesday’s meeting.
“Passing the budget is approving that we will spend this amount of money and that a vote against it does not change how it’s spent,” she said. “If the budget does not pass, it means we have to come back and cut funding.”
Gillooley noted that if the public votes down the proposed spending plan twice that the budget would be subject to New York State Education Department prescribed cuts.
Taxpayers approved last year’s $239 million school budget by a wide 1,164 to 326 margin last May.
The $265 million proposed budget includes a $2.7 million increase in transportation costs and a $1.7 increase for professional development for district staff.
The May 16 ballot will also contain a referendum on a proposed $300 million capital project to upgrade district schools, which will require a 60 % supermajority vote to pass. The proposed school budget requires a majority vote for passage.
The ballot will also include three school board elections, with Board President Bernice Rivera and Board Member Nohelani Etienne seeking re-election and a race to fill to seat vacated by departing Board Member Princella Learry.
Contact Ted Remsnyder at tremsnyder@dailygazette.net. Follow him on Twitter at @TedRemsnyder.