A proposal by Gov. Kathy Hochul for the state to cover the cost of school meals for all children could have a major impact on the Sag Harbor School District budget for 2025-26, the school’s business administrator, Jennifer Buscemi, told the board last week.
The proposal was announced on Jan. 10 in the governor’s State of the State address with the aim of saving parents money and addressing food insecurity across the state.
“The research is clear: Good food in the lunchroom creates good grades in the classroom,” the governor said of the proposal, which would go into effect next school year if it is passed by the State Senate and Assembly.
If it is successful, Ms. Buscemi expects participation in the school meal program to increase, meaning the district may need to hire more staff. In discussing next year’s budget, she recommended that a proposed transfer of $90,000 to the 2025-26 lunch fund stay the same.
“I think it’s better to just keep the proposed budget the same at $90,000,” she said, “so that we can support any of the changes that we make next year.”
During an earlier board meeting, Ms. Buscemi discussed the largest part of the budget: salaries and employee benefits.
The projected salary expenses for Pierson in the 2025-26 school year is nearly $28 million, an increase of 3.9 percent from this year’s nearly $26.9 million. The projected cost for employee benefits is $14.28 million, an increase of 2.9 percent over this year’s costs.
Ms. Buscemi described this as a “huge difference” from the previous year, when employee benefits rose by more than 10 percent.
Projected salary increases were determined based on several factors including previously negotiated contracted increases, historic spending trends for substitutes, extra pay, overtime, lunch duty, tutoring, lane changes, and changes in assignment.
According to Ms. Buscemi, “employees that do not have a contract for next year, and they don’t have a salary increase, we roll forward the current year’s salary.” There is also a planned contingency built into budgets projections to account for any future salary adjustments. Additionally, the custodial and maintenance staff are due to have contract negotiations next year.
In terms of benefits the individual health insurance rate went up by 2.3 percent and the family rate had a slight increase of just .02 percent. The rates are dictated by the state and they are based on all schools throughout the state.
“From 2020 to 2025, the individual rate went up by over 43 percent,” Ms. Buscemi said, “and the family rate went up over 41 percent just over that time period.”
Another factor contributing to the increase in budget is an increase in retirees, whereas the number of active employees in the building is actually decreasing. There are two different retirement systems based on whether or not someone is a certified teaching employee. Again the rates here are directed by the state, and the rate for the Employee Retirement System for nonteachers rose by 8.6 percent.
The board will discuss the budget again at its meeting on Monday.