Thursday, April 24, 2025
Malverne Union Free School District held their first budget workshop to review the 2025-26 school year budget on Feb. 25.
Superintendent Lorna Lewis expressed that the upcoming years budget is “one of the tightest budgets we have ever put together.” The district made several hard decisions in order to stay within budget while also maintaining the integrity of their programs.
The budget vote will be held on May 20 in the Howard T. Herber Middle School gymnasium from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Proposition 1 will contain the 2025-26 Budget and Tax Levy. The proposed budget is $73 million and the proposed tax levy is $49 million. There will be a second proposition pertaining to a proposed expenditure of $1.35 million from the district capital reserve funds.
1. Malverne received a 1.85 percent total State aid increase; this is less of an increase then seen in prior years.
This is an increase of $389,000, but approximately $192,000 must be put towards supporting universal pre-k, which is the district outsources. This means the district only received about $197,000 increase in aid from the state to support costs of the 2025-26 school year.
2. Several mandatory expenditures increased in costs. To reduce taxes, the district is withdrawing over $1.6 million from reserves to maintain the budget.
The district is facing increases in special education, transportation and health insurance, which affect the overall budget. Transportation has increased by $862,500, while special education tuition and contractual services increased $870,395. Inflation has impacted health insurance and general insurance costs. Premiums for individual and family Empire NYSHIP plans have increased 83.7 percent and 86.1 percent, respectively, in the last 10 years.
The district will be returning $1.6 million from the budget reserves to Malverne taxpayers this upcoming school year. These funds will assist with covering insurance, debt service, and retirement system contributions. The reserve will be maintained in order to provide the district with cash flow and to address any large, unexpected expenses.
3. There will be a proposition two on this year’s ballot, for approval to use $1.35 million from the district’s capital reserve fund.
This will be at no additional cost to the taxpayer, as these funds have been saved from prior fiscal years’ budgets. The funds will be used to cover expenses for several project, including the MHS multi-field scoreboard, Davison Avenue and Maurice W. Downing playground upgrades, MHS window replacements, district wide Promethean board replacements, and district wide door upgrades.
4. The district is proposing to increase the 2025-26 tax levy by the allowable amount as per the Tax Cap Levy formula.
The proposed tax levy increase from the district is an increase of 2.44%. This is the maximum allowable tax levy increase. The increase is subject to change based upon any changes in State aid. The district is working with representatives at the state level, including Assemblywoman Griffin, to try and access more money for the upcoming school year. They’re also working to try and receive grants that support Malverne’s programs and classrooms.
5. There are several upcoming events where members of the school district can learn more about the budget and ask questions.
