BCSD superintendent proposes $160.9M budget for 2025-26

BEDFORD, N.Y. - The 2025-26 budget for the Bedford Central School District would remain essentially level with 2024-25 spending – and would even trim the amount the district's taxes might otherwise increase next year.

Those were the two key takeaways from the presentation given by Superintendent Rob Glass at the Wednesday, March 26 meeting of the district’s Board of Education. His budget anticipated expenses totaling $160,965,500, a $5.14 million increase over 2024-25.

“The priorities we have used in developing this year's budget are about keeping our programs moving forward, sustaining our programs, building our programs, maintaining continuity, and gradually increasing the capacity of our programs,” said Glass. “And we want to maintain good staffing ratios across all sectors of our school system.”

In his presentation, Glass noted that enrollment and class and grade sections have, overall, remained relatively stable, with 3,450 students expected this fall. In addition, the district’s financial reserves – which are key to enabling the school system to cope with unexpected expenses – have grown by approximately $7 million over the past five years. 

Key among this, the district’s seven schools face significant capital maintenance and improvement. The list includes playground refurbishment, upgrades to alarms and PA systems, smoke detectors, school roofing, and landscaping upgrades, among other items.

Glass first presented a preliminary budget design on March 12, which was discussed and alternatives proposed by board trustees at the March 19 meeting. His final budget proposal was subject to additional discussion and possible alterations at the Board’s April 9 meeting, with a board vote on the final budget set for April 23. It will go before district voters on May 20, on the same day that they will also vote for the slate of trustees.

Glass introduced Linda Carlin, the district’s new interim assistant superintendent for business and operations. Carlin has had extensive experience in a variety of district-level roles in Westchester, most recently in a similar role at the Elmsford Union Free School District.

Glass described this year’s budget as continuing a “right-sizing” process, which will enable the district to begin the next year in a stable position. 

Elementary school “sections” will remain almost level in 2025-26; this term refers to the number of classes in each grade. Mount Kisco Elementary School will be the exception, with the addition of two sections there to meet anticipated enrollment levels. One Kindergarten section will be added, and another at the third-grade level. 

“Our Instruction Department has been working with our librarians, our principals, and our staff on an initiative called Full Steam Ahead – to be able to think about digital fluency standards and STEM related skills in our elementary students,” Glass said. “So, when they get to middle school, with a robust step program, and our high school, they'll be able to take off and do even greater things.”

Among the new initiatives in next year’s budget are a special-education study, which will take place at all district schools; and a dual-language study. The latter will focus on Mount Kisco Elementary School, which has the district’s largest concentration of students whose primary language at home is not English. The district will also reinstate the position of assistant principal at Fox Lane High School, which was eliminated several years ago.

Trustee Betsy Sharma asked whether any plans were in effect for an additional Kindergarten section at West Patent Elementary School. “We would need to add another section if we went up six more students [at West Patent],” Sharma said.

Glass said there would be two ways to handle such a need. One would be to add a contingency amount in the budget to account for this additional spot. If unused, it would just remain in the district’s coffers as unspent funds. Alternatively, the district could identify other parts of the budget from which to take funds, to create such a cushion. 

In one such instance, Mount Kisco usually has five kindergarten sections, but in some years has had just four. This would provide room to add a section at West Patent if necessary, he said. He said a surer answer wouldn’t be until just before the school year begins.

The Superintendent and his team are also proposing a switch from a four-day to a five-day rotation for special subjects (art, music, and physical education). Currently, elementary students participate in specials every day, but it rotates on a four-day cycle. For instance, for one Monday-to-Friday week, they would start their week with physical education on Monday, art on Tuesday, physical ed again on Wednesday, music on Thursday, and physical ed again on Friday. 

The next week would begin with art on Monday, then physical ed on Tuesday, music on Wednesday, physical ed on Thursday, and art again on Friday. By contrast, a five-day rotation would remain the same for the entire year. Students would have physical education three times, art for one day, and music for one day.