Will Herman, assistant superintendent for business and operations, ledMineola Public School’sannual budget hearing on Monday, May 4, and discussed an increase in district spending on additional security measures for the district’s middle and elementary schools.

In fiscal year 2025-26, the district spent $615,000 on security and has proposed increasing that amount by 180.48%, raising security spending to $1,725,000. Herman said the district is proposing to hire more security staff and a security supervisor to ensure the rest of the district’s schools have access to the same similarly robust security services as the high school.

“The way that we determine [security staffing] is really with the input and influence from our partners in Nassau County Law Enforcement,” Herman said. “We did it by looking at peer districts and getting input from Nassau County Police Department, who we have a very close partnership with and relationship with.”

The district currently works with Arrow, a third party security firm that provides the guards that are already employed by the district. The district is proposing to work with another third party firm that Herman says will bring an additional layer of security sophistication to Mineola schools.

Security is just one of four parts of the budget that could see a significant increase if passed. Herman defined these “buckets” of spending as the purchased service budget, which includes security, insurance, utilities and BOCES. Of the four, Herman said security will be the single biggest line item within the 2026-27 budget.

Despite the proposed increase in security, Herman explained that the district would not pull as much from its interfund transfers account, which sends money to different operating funds across the district. He said fiscal year 2025-26 saw the redirection of nearly $1.9 million, while this fiscal year would only need $305,000.

During the last fiscal year, Herman said the district transferred $1.6 million from the capital fund to finance capital projects. This year, however, the need for as much funding is not needed.

Herman concluded the budget presentation/adoption with a discussion of the district’s tax levy, explaining the levy would be hitting the allowable limit at 2.36%, while the average across Nassau County remains at 2.41%.

Mineola’s Parent Teacher Associations convened after the budget proposal and voted in favor of the budget. The budget will be put to a district-wide vote on May 19.

Along with the budget vote, the district will also be voting on two capital reserve propositions. The first additional proposition would pull $3.3 million for boiler and HVAC upgrades in the high school. The second additional proposition would implement a new capital reserve fund with a maximum of $20 million over a 12-year period.

Source: LI Press