Superintendent Jennifer Morrison-Raptis and Assistant Superintendent Michael Frank presented the proposed 2023-24 budget at the New Hyde Park-Garden City Park Board of Education meeting Monday.
The total proposed appropriations for the 2023-24 fiscal year were $46,599,885, an increase of $2.4 million, or 5.4%, over last year’s budget.
The largest increases in expenditures came in the categories of salaries and benefits, with spending on textbooks and equipment actually decreasing relative to the previous year.
Despite the growth in the size of the budget, the tax levy will remain flat for the 2023-24 year. This is largely due to an increase in state aid of $1.8 million.
“We’re going to take advantage of that wonderful gift from the state,” Frank said at the meeting Monday night. “I also want to emphasize as great as it is that we’re getting this extra money from the state, it’s the state catching up to giving us what we were actually entitled to based on their own formulas for calculating our aid.”
Morrison-Raptis outlined some of the great initiatives the New Hyde Park-Garden City Park school district has to offer and that will continue to be supported by this year’s budget. This included funding for the arts and music programs, financial literacy classes, mathlete programs and more. Additionally, facilities across the district are going to be replaced or repaired to ensure the schools are safe and beautiful, she said.
The community budget vote will be held on May 16, and schoolchildren are also encouraged to attend so they can vote for their field day snack and have the chance to win an extra recess.
In addition to the budget, community members will have the opportunity to vote on the potential use of the district’s capital reserve fund to add air conditioning and/or ventilation to all four schools. It is a $10.2 million project that would be fully funded by the capital reserve – with no taxpayer money needed. When this fund was created, it was stipulated that a community vote would be needed to release the money for use.
More information and a line-item description of the budget can be found on the district’s website at https://www.nhp-gcp.org/budget_information/budget_information.
