The Sayville School District recently adopted a $107.7 million budget for the 2026-27 school year, a roughly $2.1 million, or 1.94 percent increase from the current year. The proposed budget, if passed, would maintain all programs and staff positions and seek to expand some programming areas.

To fund the budget, the district is seeking a 2.79 percent, or approximately $1.9 million tax levy increase, which is below the district’s allowable limit, meaning that the budget only needs a simple majority of votes to pass.

Administrators said they felt good about the budget, noting that the district has been trending toward bridging the gap between expenses and revenue in recent years, with Robert Bartels, interim assistant superintendent for business and personnel at the Sayville School District, saying he hopes revenues will surpass expenses in the next budget process.

According to data from the Sayville School District, expenses have remained mostly stable over the last three school years, while revenues have increased by millions of dollars each year, leading to a revenue vs. expense gap of $370,000, down from roughly $4.9 million during the 2023-24 school year.

“We have a really good budget this year,” said Marc Ferris, superintendent of Sayville School District. “We see the outcome in terms of revenue and our expenses, and we’re looking forward to this budget vote hopefully succeeding.”

Along with closing the multi-year budget gap, the Sayville School District has been focusing on reducing reliance on reserve funds to balance the budget as revenue increases through the district’s long-term planning process.

If passed, the 2026-27 budget would also expand some program areas. These include implementing a new pre-k through grade 5 literacy program, providing professional development to support middle school academic teams, issuing new Chromebooks to fifth through ninth graders, and adding three middle school sports teams.

The budget also allocates funding for the restoration of the district’s summer school program, curriculum writing and professional development activities.

Numerous facility improvements are listed in the budget, with some of the higher-cost items including $350,000 to upgrade the high school wrestling room to the fitness center, $240,000 for district-wide repairs, including lighting and masonry, along with $200,000 for HVAC repairs and $230,000 for upgrades to the weight room to a bike and dance studio.

Sayville School District is also asking voters to approve a proposition to use $1.1 million in already-allocated tax reserve funds to improve the high school auditorium’s sound and lighting, along with the weight room upgrade, and upgrades to math classroom whiteboards and security cameras districtwide.

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