Middletown School District Passes Budget With High Turnout

MIDDLETOWN, N.Y.—Enlarged City School District of Middletown voters passed a $283.7 million budget with a vote of 787–273 on May 19, with the largest voter turnout since COVID-19.

The 2026–2027 budget is a total of $7.3 million more than the previous year’s budget, about 2.65 percent. The tax levy will increase by 1.99 percent for a total of $76.1 million paid by local taxpayers.

The tax increase for the previous school year’s budget was also 1.99 percent, and for the 2024–2025 school year, it was 1 percent.

The maximum allowable tax increase was 4.87 percent, school district Superintendent Amy Creeden said on May 5, so the adopted levy of 1.99 percent is well below the tax levy limit.

Creeden said at the Board of Education meeting on May 20, “There were just over 1,000 voters, which is one of our highest turnouts, which is really wonderful to celebrate.”

Most increases in the budget came from program expenses, which rose by about $5.1 million. Capital expenses climbed by about $1.4 million, and administrative expenses increased by $742,301.

The majority of the budget, 72.8 percent, will go toward program expenses. Expenditures include regular instruction ($98.5 million), students with disabilities ($49.1 million), benefits ($41.8 million), transportation ($14.1 million), and athletics ($2 million).

The rest of the budget is split at 15.4 percent for capital expenses and 11.8 percent for the administrative budget. Capital expense spending totals $43.8 million, including operations and maintenance ($21.7 million), debt principal and interest repayments ($14.3 million), and benefits ($6.6 million).

The administration expenses total $33.4 million, and the highest allotted spending categories are curriculum ($13 million), finance and central services ($7.8 million), and benefits ($7.2 million).

About three-quarters of the school district’s revenue is from state aid, and the rest is from property taxes. There was an unexpected fall in Foundation Aid, as the school was expecting a 2 percent increase but was instead approved for only a 1 percent increase.

The Foundation Aid formula is used by the state to distribute aid to public schools, and it prioritizes funding high-poverty school districts and schools with more English learners and disabled students.

Creeden said at the Board of Education meeting that thanks to the advocacy of the Middletown school district and many others across the state, approval of an additional 1 percent Foundation Aid will be officially enshrined. Because of the late approval, the money would go into the fund balance that can be used if next year’s aid falls short.

Voted upon along with the budget were three seats on the Board of Education, in which all incumbents were reelected. Board members Edwin Estrada, Curtis Rhett, and Freddie Williams Jr. received 548, 492, and 506 votes, respectively.

The election and budget votes were confirmed by the Board of Education on May 20.

The Middletown school district served about 7,400 students and employed 660 teachers as of the 2024–2025 school year. The district has four elementary schools, two middle schools, and Middletown High School.

Port Jervis School Budget Vote

The Port Jervis City School District passed its school budget with a vote of 533–190. The total budget is $106.2 million, with a total increase of $2.3 million from the 2025–2026 school year and a 2 percent tax levy increase.

About $1.9 million of the additional spending is going into the program budget. Special education was the largest recipient in the category, receiving about $2 million more than last year’s budget and totalling a little more than $24 million. Regular instruction was second, at nearly $20.6 million.

Funding was cut in the pupil activity and transportation categories. Pupil activity was cut by about $80,000 to $1,770,350, and transportation was cut by about half a million dollars to $7,038,600.

The administrative budget increased from $8,875,106 last school year to $9,087,403, about a $200,000 difference. Employee benefits fell by about $110,000 to $2,050,000, and general support and district and building administration rose to $3,673,338 and $3,364,065, respectively.

The capital budget is getting an increase of about $200,000 to $17,410,428, with an increase of about $120,000 in the employee benefits budget, which is now at $2,020,000. Debt service spending increased by about $220,000 to $10,156,468, and operations and maintenance spending dropped by about $270,000 to $5,233,960.

Four candidates ran for three Board of Education positions; Eric Hipsman (530 votes), Catherine Sadaghiani, (451 votes), and Judith Amato (408 votes) won seats. Charles Dunning, with 380 votes, was not elected.