The Glen Cove City School District’s proposed $122.3 million budget for the 2026-27 school year passed Tuesday night, earning strong support from voters despite months of discussions surrounding a multimillion-dollar budget gap, planned program reductions and ongoing concerns about rising school costs.
The spending plan passed by a vote of 668-388. Voting took place at both Connolly School and Glen Cove High School, where the budget received 116 yes votes and 88 no votes at Connolly, and 552 yes votes and 300 no votes at the high school.
The spending plan is 3.55 percent larger than the current school year’s budget, and includes a 2.42 percent tax levy increase, which is the district’s allowable cap under state law.
The approved budget follows last year’s voter approval of the district’s $118.1 million 2025-26 spending plan, which passed by a vote of 850-389, with 1,239 residents casting ballots. That budget represented a roughly $4.7 million increase over the previous year’s spending plan.
District officials previously described the 2026-27 budget process as one of the most difficult in recent years as inflation, contractual obligations and health insurance increases continued to put pressure on district finances. Foundation aid growth has also slowed significantly after several years of larger increases from the state.
In the Board of Education race for two open seats, incumbent Maria Elena Venuto, 60, received the highest number of votes with 547, followed by Robert Nosek, 58, with 510, securing both seats on the board. Challenger Angela Raimo received 470 votes, and there was one write-in vote cast.
Venuto, who was first elected in 2015, said she plans to continue prioritizing building improvements and arts programming throughout the district.
“The most important priority that I think has been the most impactful, but also the most important to continue is facilities, improving school buildings,” Venuto said. “I want to keep pushing for the arts and support of the arts.”
Venuto has previously pointed to continued improvements needed at Connolly and Gribbin elementary schools as well as Finley Middle School. She has also emphasized the importance of maintaining student mental health supports and expanding opportunities for students after graduation.
Nosek, an attorney and parent of twin daughters at the high school, said he hopes to strengthen communication throughout the district as he begins his first term on the board.
“One of the priorities that I have seen is enhancing and or further developing an overall communication policy for the district,” Nosek said, “so that we can make sure that we’re properly communicating from buildings to schools, to the parents, from the district out to the community.”
Nosek previously said his professional background in litigation and transactional law, along with his involvement in the PTA and the district’s Technology Committee, would help him navigate the district’s financial and governance challenges.
Superintendent Alexa Doeschner, who is completing her first year leading the district, said the outcome reflected community confidence in the district despite the difficult financial decisions that were made during the budget process.
“Since the budget passed, we know that the community feels confident in the work that we’re doing,” Doeschner said. “We want to make sure that we continue to communicate transparently and openly and listen to the community so that we can move forward in the right direction.”
Doeschner said that district officials will now move forward with staffing decisions, course planning and several capital projects included in the budget.
“We are really looking at staffing positions, making sure that we have everything that we need in terms of courses for students and supplies,” she said. “We can start working on the capital outlay projects that were part of the budget.”
Those projects include bathroom upgrades across the district, improvements to pre-kindergarten spaces and playground renovations.
The Board of Education unanimously adopted the budget in April after working to close an initial $7.57 million budget gap. District officials used $4 million from reserve funds to reduce the deficit to $3.57 million while implementing several reductions to help balance the spending plan.
Among the reductions were cuts to the Summer Academic Program, student-teacher conferences, the Twilight Program, curriculum writing and the fine arts coordinator position. The district will also shift the middle school from a nine-period day to an eight-period schedule.
District officials said they worked to preserve key programs and services despite the financial pressures. Priorities included maintaining Advanced Placement and dual-enrollment courses, special education programs, staffing positions, arts programming and extracurricular activities.
