NEW SCOTLAND — On May 19, residents of the Voorheesville Central School District will have the opportunity to determine next year’s school budget following the board of education’s vote earlier this month to adopt a $36.6 million spending plan for 2026-27 subject to voter approval. 

Also on May 19, residents’ ballots will include just one name for the two open seats on the board — Argi O’Leary, who is running for a third term. Trustee Robyn Willoughby did not return a nominating petition prior to the April 20 deadline.

Willoughby, who did not return a request for comment, cruised to victory in 2022 amid a national attempt by rightwing candidates to take over their local school boards.

For next year, the district’s budget is up about $2 million, or 6 percent, over this year, with more than half of the year-over-year increase being driven by costs over which board members have almost no control: employee health-insurance premiums, which are due rise 14.75 percent in the district's consortium this year, and paying down the debt on the district’s $25 million capital project. 

The budget maintains existing programming and preserves current staffing levels, while still being able to fund two new(ish) initiatives: the return of a  universal pre-kindergarten program, to be operated by the Capital District YMCA, and the creation of one in-house special-education class for both kindergarten and first grade, which Voorheesville estimated will eliminate approximately $400,000 a year in out-of-district placement costs.

Total projected revenues are $35.3 million against $36.6 million in spending, leaving a structural gap of nearly $1.3 million that the district plans to bridge with reserves and fund transfers. 

To close the spending gap, the district will pull a total of $869,000 from two places: fund balance and the Employee Retirement System reserve, while the remaining $450,000 comes by way of an interfund transfer.

The board proposed the maximum allowable levy increase by law, a nearly 4.2-percent bump, or $930,000 in new revenue, from this year’s total tax-dollar take.

Based on prior-year data, according to the district, a homeowner in the town of Berne would see an increase of roughly $160 for every $100,000 of assessed home value. In Guilderland and New Scotland, the increase would be just under $100 per $100,000, while in the village itself, Voorheesville property owners’ tax bills would increase a little over $100 for every $100,000 of assessed value.

Currently, after the equalization rate has been applied, property owners in municipalities served by Voorheesville schools — New Scotland, Guilderland, and Berne — pay a school tax rate of $14.60 per $1,000 of assessed value. 

With property taxes generating more than 60 percent of district revenue, board members on April 13 stressed that setting the levy increase just under the state’s allowable limit was the only option. The tax-cap formula compounds year over year, so proposing a zero or reduced increase this or any year would permanently shrink the tax base, leaving the district with a million-dollar-plus compounding-revenue problem.

At $27.5 million, salaries and benefits combined account for nearly 75 percent of next year’s total budget: salaries are projected at about $17 million, a 5.9 percent increase over this year, while employee benefits are estimated at $10.6 million, an 8.3 percent increase.

For 2026-27, the district is looking at a year-over-year increase in employee health-insurance premiums of somewhere between 13 and 14 percent — 12 percent for prescription plans, 10.5 percent for CDPHP plans, and 14.8 percent for Highmark plans; collectively, the benefits line item adds approximately $1 million to the district’s expenses in one budget cycle.

Other major expenditures for next year are expected to be:

— Board of Cooperative Educational Services at $3.5 million, a 2.52 percent increase;

— Contractual expenses, $2.3 million, up 3.57 percent; and

— Debt service on existing bond obligations at $1.9 million, a 6.42 percent increase.

Savings

One significant operational change impacting next year’s budget will be the creation of an in-district, self-contained special-education classroom for kindergarten and first grade, a decision driven as much by money as compassion. 

“Here now they are our community,” Superintendent Frank Macri told board members on April 13. Previously, as students educated in out-of-district programs, the children weren’t Blackbirds. The goal, he said, is to give the district “an outstanding program in-house for our students to become Voorheesville Blackbirds and community members.”

The most welcome news on April 13 was the board’s unanimous decision to approve a contract with the Capital District YMCA to run Voorheesville’s pre-kindergarten program for the 2026–27 school year. The two sides were able to make the deal work because the YMCA agreed to operate the program at the exact per-student state allocation of $5,400. 

The program will be run out of a building formerly owned by Christ the King Catholic Church in Guilderland, which the YMCA recently purchased. Christ the King had previously been Voorheeville’s pre-K provider, but underwent “a restructuring process and has declined to submit a bid to continue UPK services [for 2025],” the district said.

The decision not to submit a bid came shortly after parents and former employees of the church’s early childhood center made allegations that the place had been “poorly managed.”

Under current state regulations and funding, the $5,400 allocation would support a class of exactly 16 students, one teacher, and one teaching assistant. If enrollment were to increase to 18, New York would mandate a second teaching assistant, described by Macri as “a pretty financial[ly] heft[y]” for two students. 

But that $5,400 figure could increase significantly if the state, on its seventh extension, adopts Governor Kathy Hochul’s proposed budget, which nearly doubles the per-pupil allocation, from $5,400 to $10,000.