Islip schools propose budget above tax cap to preserve programs

Islip school officials are asking voters to spend above the state tax cap so the district can preserve programs and staffing they say would otherwise be squeezed by rising costs. The proposed 2026-27 budget totals $106,244,004, an increase of $3,798,958 from the prior year, and would raise the property tax levy by 2.85 percent instead of staying within the district’s 2.22 percent allowable cap.

That difference is a real one for homeowners. For a house valued at $600,000, the district estimates the cap would mean about a $204 annual tax increase, while the override proposal would mean about $263 a year, or roughly $5 more per month. Because the budget would exceed the cap, it needs 60 percent approval at the ballot box to pass.

District leaders say the spending plan responds to a gap between revenues and expenses that has widened even after budget trimming. Islip said revenues are up by about $1.6 million, but expenditures are rising by nearly $4.7 million, a disparity it says is being driven largely by factors beyond its control. Superintendent Dennis P. O’Hara, Ed.D., and business office leader Donna Brower, assistant superintendent for business and operations, have said the district reviewed spending, found efficiencies and made strategic adjustments wherever possible.

What remains on the table, the district says, is a budget built to keep current academic and K-12 co-curricular programs intact while continuing mental health support, literacy and math intervention, Universal Pre-K for 135 students, STEAM and environmental education, robotics, the 1:1 device initiative, and AP and college-course offerings. The district has also framed the proposal as necessary to keep school communities safe and inclusive and to maintain support systems students use every day.

The budget vote and board election are scheduled for Tuesday, May 19, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the Islip High School Gymnasium, 2508 Union Boulevard, Islip. The district held budget workshops on March 10, March 31 and April 21, then a public hearing on May 5, as it moved toward a final decision. Islip is the seventh Long Island district to seek a cap override for 2026-27, putting it in a growing group of districts trying to balance inflation, staffing and academic offerings against the tax burden on local homeowners.

The Islip Board of Education, a seven-member body elected to staggered three-year terms, has also been talking with Suffolk County Community College about bringing a college program to Islip High School, a sign that district leaders are still trying to expand opportunity even as they ask taxpayers to shoulder more of the bill.