Sweet Home Source Magazine
Sweet Home Source Current Edition
(Budget 2026)
Message from Dr. Michael V. Ginestre, Superintendent of Schools and the Board of Education:
Dear Sweet Home Community,
On behalf of the Board of Education and the entire District, we are pleased to present the proposed 2026-2027 Sweet Home Central School District annual budget to our community. This has been a challenging year in terms of preparing a budget that meets the needs of our students while remaining fiscally responsible to our valued taxpayers. Inflationary pressures and unfunded mandates on the expense side of the budget continue to outpace our revenues. However, we are confident that the budget presented in this newsletter continues to advance our mission of “Every Student, One Community, Ready for the Future.”
The proposed 2026-2027 Sweet Home Central School budget totals $108,608,147, representing a 2.87 percent increase from the 2025-2026 school year. This increase is primarily driven by inflationary pressures in the areas of special education, transportation, utilities, health care costs, and building operations. Despite these challenges, the budget fully supports our Strategic Plan; the continued implementation of new curriculum in literacy, math, and science; and the social and emotional needs of our students.
This was not an easy budget season. The process to build our budget begins in January when the Governor releases the first draft of the Executive Budget proposal, which includes state aid projections. In that proposal, we learned that the District would receive only a 1.5 percent increase in Foundation Aid, significantly less than the increase we have received during the past four budget cycles. This equated to $417,000, a modest increase that does not keep pace with inflationary pressures in areas noted above. Combined with the limitations of the New York State tax cap, the District faced a $2.5 million budget deficit heading into next year.
Over the past three months, we have worked together nearly every day to identify savings to close this deficit, as required by state law. First, we are working to control high-cost out-of-district tuition expenditures at the elementary level by opening two new exceptional classrooms in the District. Additionally, we will be hiring our own occupational therapists and physical therapists, as agency fees have risen to a point where it is now fiscally responsible to employ these professionals directly.
Further adjustments in curriculum and instruction, BOCES participation, summer school programming, technology purchases, and operational expenses allowed us to close $1.9 million of the $2.5 million deficit, without significant impacts to student programming.
To close the remaining gap, we examined enrollment numbers across the District and made recommendations for consolidation. Through attrition resulting from retirements, the District will absorb 2.2 faculty positions while consolidating four elementary sections. These important steps mean we will not have to lay off any employee, which was a major goal of the Board of Education and the District administration.
We must credit our district and building administrators for the countless hours they devoted to ensuring that this budget plan minimizes impacts on programming while retaining every employee for the 2026-2027 school year.
Of course, Foundation Aid is just one revenue source at Sweet Home. Our tax levy allows the District to provide the resources necessary to meet our mission and vision. This budget includes a 3.3 percent increase in the tax levy, which brings us to the tax cap limit and enables the District to purchase 10 buses to maintain a reliable and safe transportation fleet. This increase generates approximately $1.8 million in additional revenue, allowing us to close the remaining budget gap.
We encourage all residents to participate in our vote on May 19, 2026, at the Vergils Community Center at the District Office, 1901 Sweet Home Road in Amherst. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. that day. In addition to the budget vote, the community will also elect one Board of Education member, as the term of Peter Bellanti expires at the end of this school year. Please come out and vote on May 19.
As always, we thank the Sweet Home community for its unwavering support of our schools. Our community values education, and we take tremendous pride in working together to ensure our students receive the best possible education in a safe and supportive environment. We often say “the world is in our corridors,” and the support we provide to our highly diverse school community is made possible because of you. Together, we make “Every Student, One Community, Ready for the Future” a reality at Sweet Home.
Sincerely,
Dr. Michael V. Ginestre
Superintendent of Schools
and Board of Education President Peter Bellanti, Vice President Brian Laible, members Danyelle Anthon, Amy Battaglia, Marianne Jasen, Scott Johnson, and Dirk Rabenold.
