At the April 21st Board of Education meeting, the new budget plan for the 2026-2027 year was proposed. Different from other budget proposals, this year the BOE is asking the community to support an override, which means spending over the budget cap. This is the first time the Board has ever asked for an override, and it is largely due to inflation.
The plan includes a proposed budget of $57,608,210, and a percent tax levy increase of 4.8%. The official vote will occur on Tuesday May 19th, and for the first time in the last 13 years of the tax levy cap, it will require 60% to 1 supermajority for approval. The board is pushing for the override for a variety of factors. This year the board felt there was no program that deserved to see any budgeting cuts, and the impacts of keeping the budget at the cap would hurt the community.
In the Elementary School, there would be a decrease in funding for kindergarten aids, librarian hours, musical instruments, and class sizes would grow. In the Middle and High Schools, class sizes would grow, and funding would be cut for electives in the High School. District wide, there would be a reduction in medical director hours. The board emphasized that the impacts of budget cuts wouldn’t be acceptable for the community, and especially mentioned how small class sizes make Bronxville the school that it is. Additionally in athletics, assistant coaching for JV and Modified sports would be negatively impacted, as well as the newly implemented programs, such as Girls Flag Football, and Modified Volleyball, could be potentially jeopardized.
For the 2026-2027 year, if successful, the budget will be 2.8 million dollars higher than usual. Many community members might ask, why this year? Some further explanations include that there is a large gap between operating budgets and inflation over the last five years and the healthcare benefit cost is rising at three times the rate of inflation. The Board also stated that if the tax levy cap is exceeded this year while trailing below inflation, this would position the district to stay under the budget cap for at least the next two years.
In the May 7th meeting, the board introduced the divisions for how the money will be spent. 75.79% will be allocated to salaries and benefits, with smaller distributions for textbooks, BOCES, supplies, tuition, contractual codes, equipment, and more. Additionally, with the May 4th grant application cycle, The Bronxville School Foundation spent $60,000 in athletics.
Additional updates The Board of Education presented outside of the budget are:
- Tenure recommendations for Mr. Nelson (Counseling), Ms. Dowd (Special Education), Mr. Dell (Orchestra), Ms. Chippa (Elementary), and Ms. Tiels (Elementary).
- 9th and 10th grade students for the 2026-2027 academic year will be required to use chromebooks in the High School next year, with 11th and 12th grade students using the device of their choice.
- Mr. Mitchell was announced as the new Assistant Principal.
