Hauppauge BOE meeting reviews 2024-25 budget, considers ongoing lawsuit
By Sabrina Artusa
At the Feb. 27 Hauppauge Board of Education meeting, the board previewed a 2024-25 budget overview, which projects a 3.38% increase to the tax levy and a 3.28% increase in expenditures.
Of the total expenditures, which are expected to be $133,216,224, 70% is consigned to staffing. According to the assistant superintendent for business and operations, Brigid Siena, it is the largest to date.
“The revenues have to meet and match the expenditures,” Siena said. She also noted that federal COVID-19 grants have expired and that $1 million in programs and salaries will be absorbed in the forthcoming general fund budget.
District enrollment has declined since 2022 and is expected to continue declining into 2025. This trend, however, is not unique to the Hauppauge school district, as Superintendent Donald Murphy noted. Data from the Education Trust-New York shows that statewide enrollment has decreased by 8% from the 2017-18 school year to the 2022-23 school year.
Murphy said, “Although enrollment has gone down, we have increased enrollment in different classes of students … so students with disabilities [and] our English language learners have gone up quite a bit.”
Hauppauge school district is not one of the 44 Long Island districts set to lose money according to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s (D) preliminary budget for 2025. The district was originally allocated a gain of $769,125 in state aid, but the amount will not be certain until the plan is approved by the New York State Legislature by April 1.
There will be several budget workshops and hearings leading to the annual budget vote on May 21. The first workshop will be on March 12 and will review the tax cap and revenue.
The board also met for an executive meeting, where the members consulted with their attorney regarding the ongoing case, Jane Doe v. Hauppauge Union Free School District. This case was one of the many initiated against Long Island school districts via the New York Child Victims Act, which expanded the statute of limitations and permits victims of crimes committed on them as children to file a lawsuit until their 55th birthday.
Murphy announced several upcoming charity events including a fundraising contest with West Islip school district to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project on April 4 and a Hoop for Heroes event at Hauppauge High School on April 5.
