Hicksville Public Schools Board of Education voted unanimously to adopt a 2026-2027 budget of $186,315,191 at its Wednesday, April 22, meeting, a 3.4% increase from this school year’s $180 million budget.
Residents will vote on the budget proposal on May 19, which includes a 2.58% tax increase — comfortably below the district’s tax cap of 3.04%.
“We were able to balance the budget after three consecutive years of initial budget gaps exceeding $6 million,” said Assistant Superintendent for Business Marcy Tannenbaum in her presentation to the board.
This comes after the district pierced its permitted tax cap last year, raising taxes by 2.54%.
In its efforts to balance the budget, the district plans to replace only 14 of the 27 teachers resigning or retiring this school year, and eliminate seven full-time teaching assistant positions. The district also plans to merge some administrative duties and centralize bilingual grades one through five at Old Country Road Elementary School to increase efficiency.
Although Tannenbaum was pleased with the district’s financial standing for the year, she warned that, like most other school districts, the district is facing increasing costs and flattening revenue.
“All districts are moving towards that same cliff,” she said.
Tannenbaum said the Hicksville school district has the eighth-lowest fund reserves on Long Island.
State aid, the district’s second largest source of funding behind property taxes, will increase by 7.6% for the following school year, but Tannenbaum warned that from year to year, state aid is “uncertain and subject to change.”
Programming encompasses over 82% of the district’s budget, with 10% going towards capital improvements and 7.7% going to administrative costs
Source: LI Press
