The Springs School Board held its first of three budget meetings for the 2025-26 spending plan last Thursday, with Sam Schneider, the assistant superintendent of the business office, walking through school accomplishments and the reallocation of expenses.
Most notably, the school proposed increasing its budget for the superintendent and business offices by 19.76 percent and its auditing and legal expenses by 23.83 percent, though Mr. Schneider explained the reasoning for both.
The former, Mr. Schneider said, was the result of moving a staff member from a different share of the budget, so “it’s really a reclassification of expense,” not an increase.
The second increase, he explained, has to do with “additional BOCES services the district anticipates needing next year.”
The costs of real property insurance, which covers fixtures and the building itself, will also rise by 7 percent as part of the district’s proposed budget — though that is likely to go up. The number, however, is “outside the district’s control,” and real property insurance is “essential in the protection of the district and the taxpayers.”
Despite this, Mr. Schneider urged that the school stick with the New York Schools Insurance Reciprocal, as it is “the best of bad options” and private insurance would open the possibility of the school being dropped from a plan, which is far less of a concern with NYSIR coverage.
“It’s always nice to start with accomplishments of where we are academically and fiscally,” Mr. Schneider said, laying out some of the accomplishments of the Springs School over the previous school year.
Financially, “you’ve entered into a number of intermunicipal agreements that are saving the taxpayers money.” The New York State Comptroller also removed the “fiscal stress designation” in January for the previous year.
Academically, 88 percent of eighth grade graduates were proficient in mathematics, while 82 percent were so in English, and 76 percent in science. Altogether, third through eighth graders performed at or above state levels in all three subjects.
At the next budget presentation on Feb. 11, the school will discuss the tax levy limit.