On Tuesday, May 20, residents of the Goshen Central School District will vote on a $96,824,965 proposed budget for the 2025-26 school year.
If approved, the proposed spending plan would result in a 2.8% tax levy increase for the school year, and would call for a $4,969,904 or 5.4% increase in spending over the current year’s budget.
This tax levy increase is equal to the district’s legal limit as defined by New York’s tax levy legislation meaning a simple majority of voters (50% + 1) is needed to pass the budget.
Residents will also vote to elect two Board of Education members for three-year terms to commence on July 1, 2025 and expire on June 30, 2028. Both incumbents whose terms are expiring, current Board President Tom Loftus and Vice President Brett Weeden, are running for reelection. There are no other candidates.
The candidates, in ballot order:
■ Tom Loftus
■ Brett Weeden
What factors are contributing to next year’s spending increase?
Like many districts across New York State, Goshen is faced with a number of challenges as it looks to balance the 2025-26 school year budget. Challenges include employee salaries, benefits and BOCES services will increase by $3.6 million next year, and many of these costs, such as healthcare and retirement benefits, are determined by external providers and are not controlled by the district.
The proposed budget also includes a $1.75 million capital project as part of next year’s spending plan. This project will address updates to facilities that would ensure the health and safety of our students. Capital projects are excluded from tax levy limit calculations for New York schools, but the cost is included as an expenditure in the proposed budget.
The capital project would include improving the heating system at C. J. Hooker Middle School and the speaker/PA system at Goshen High School. The heating controls at C. J. Hooker are aging and the district wants to prioritize maintenance of the building’s physical controls that are used to regulate the temperature, as well as the I. T. infrastructure that allows for the district to manage the building and floor level networks. This work would ensure a healthy and comfortable learning environment for students and staff, as well as the efficient use of energy in the building. The PA system at Goshen High School is in need of maintenance to boost the volume level in parts of the building including the hallways, which is considered a safety concern by the district.
Once improvements on the heating and PA systems are complete, the Board of Education has the option to either add unit ventilators that control A/C and heating to seven classrooms in C. J. Hooker Middle School, or reconstruct the district’s tennis courts. Depending on the remaining funds from the capital project, the Board of Education will make a decision based on the real cost of work, rather than projections.
How much state aid will Goshen receive for the 2025-26 school year?
Stagnant state aid is another contributing factor when planning the proposed budget for the 2025-26 school year. This aid, along with school taxes, are the two main sources of revenue a school district receives. Because the state budget was not approved at the time Goshen adopted their budget, the district used a conservative approach to budget planning based on the aid amounts promised in the Governor’s preliminary proposal. The projections from the Governor’s office gave Goshen a 1.4% increase in state aid, amounting to $446,570. This is one of the lowest increases in recent years.
Declining enrollment is another issue affecting the district. State aid in the form of Foundation Aid is allocated to districts as a key source of funding for daily operations; however, it is a formula-based aid that takes into account numerous factors, including a district’s enrollment. Because Goshen’s enrollment is declining, so is its Foundation Aid. Although the district will qualify for New York’s Save Harmless provision, which prevents a district’s total aid amount from being less than the year prior; Goshen’s 1.4% increase anticipated for next year does not keep pace with the rising costs.
How will the district balance the 2025-26 budget?
The proposed budget includes the allocation of $4,075,000 in appropriated fund balance to help balance the budget while mitigating costs to local taxpayers.While this allocation is possible for the 2025-26 school year, it is important for the district to maintain savings to use in the event of an emergency.
Although there are no new programs in the proposed budget, the district is prioritizing the continuation of offerings that have engaged students and supported their academic growth throughout the current year. For instance, the continued expansion of the K-6 Scholastic Literacy Program has provided students with daily literacy lessons to improve their core skills in reading, writing, listening and speaking. Teachers also benefited from professional development focused on improving students’ writing skills in the classroom.
In addition, the Goshen High School will continue its partnership with Ramapo College, which opened new doors for students to earn college credits through courses in Social Media Marketing, College Economics, and Future Teachers.
“Continuing to build upon our youngest students’ academic foundation and provide our older students with early college opportunities, along with internship opportunities to build career readiness, reflects the district’s commitment for preparing students for post-secondary success,” said Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum, Instruction, Personnel & Technology Dr. Jason Carter.
Because of rising costs, declining enrollment and stagnant aid, district officials were forced to make tough decisions to help balance the budget in order to preserve academic offerings and opportunities for students while prioritizing fiscal responsibility. In order to achieve a budget within its legal tax levy limit, Goshen has chosen to take these actions rather than pass the costs to taxpayers.
Goshen continues to monitor enrollment in order to manage and offer the highest quality programs with current staff. The district has chosen attrition for some retiring positions, meaning that following retirements, the following positions would not be replaced for the 2025-26 school year: one social studies teacher, one English Language Arts teacher, and one guidance counselor, all at Goshen High School.
In addition, Goshen will reduce 24 hourly teacher aides, all at the elementary level in Goshen Intermediate School and Scotchtown Avenue Elementary School. None of the 24 aide positions are required for assisting in student learning, meaning no students with extra needs will lose their support. These reductions are necessary to accurately represent the district’s needs heading into the next fiscal year.
The district will also see cost savings through the departure of six teacher positions and one clerical position. Although these positions will be filled, the district can replace them with personnel that in the short term will save the district in contractual agreements.
The attrition and reduction of staff would result in a total savings of $965,136.
Other cost saving measures include numerous operational reductions that will lower expenses by $1,812,152. These reductions were the result of carefully analyzing what offerings could be reduced to create savings without sacrificing our students’ experiences.
For example, the district will eliminate duplicate and underused computer software throughout the district, and reduce spending on certain supplies and contract items. In addition, the district will not purchase any new buses or vehicles, saving funds for the district to put toward the proposed budget.
Goshen will also use reserves to help reduce costs; for instance, the district will use reserves from the Tax Certiorari Fund for tax refunds and judgements as well as unemployment while its Employee Benefit Liability Reserve will be used to pay for employee benefits rather than be included in the proposed budget.
Now that the transportation department is fully staffed, students who attend classes outside of Goshen will be transported by the district, reducing not only the cost for the district, but also dramatically reducing the amount of time students are spending on the bus, in some cases up to one hour.
“Continuing to offer the best education and experiences possible for our students remains the focus of the district,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Kurtis Kotes. “Planning the proposed budget had its challenges, but we are committed to providing a quality education while remaining fiscally responsible to the community. Our goal is to ensure students have the resources they need to succeed throughout the 2025-26 school year, and beyond.”