News At the TUFSD meeting on 4/24/25 the School Board adopted a budget that spends less than it did last year while improving the educational opportunities for our children.
Dan on the Budget
When I first ran for the Tuxedo Union Free School District Board of Education, I promised to put students first—and I have. The 2025–2026 budget reflects that commitment. It’s a student-centered plan that delivers stronger academics, exciting new programs, and better instruction—all while cutting the overall budget.
Attached is a statement I gave at the April 9th Budget Presentation meeting. I believe it provides context to the slides available on our web site.
Best Regards,
Dan Castricone TUFSD Board of Education President
The 2025–2026 budget was developed with two clear goals: fiscal responsibility and enhanced support for students. This is a student-centered plan that invests in instruction while remaining deeply mindful of our responsibility to taxpayers.
How did we get here?
We arrived at this budget through close collaboration with school leadership. Together, we monitored spending, eliminated excess costs, and realigned staffing and resources to create greater instructional opportunities without increasing the financial burden. This process wasn’t just about cost-cutting—it was about being strategic with every dollar.
We are pleased to share that this year, we’re implementing a phonics program for elementary students. Foundational reading instruction has not always been consistent in the past. With the introduction of Fundations, students will now receive systematic and proven early literacy support. This program will be fully in place before the end of the current school year and is funded in the budget.
Additionally, we’re choosing and launching a new English Language Arts curriculum at GGM, set to begin in September 2025. This program will be implemented across all grade levels and supported by longer instructional blocks for both ELA and math, made possible through creative scheduling. Teacher training will begin this summer to ensure a smooth rollout.
The Board of Education and school leadership have worked hard to listen to the community and reflect its priorities—while staying within the limits of what’s financially prudent.
At GGM, we’re proud to announce that foreign language instruction will be introduced in the primary grades. This was achieved by adjusting the rotation and frequency of special area classes. The program will start with Spanish instruction, backed by strong research showing that younger students acquire language skills more effectively.
Our team of STEM-certified teachers will continue to integrate science, technology, engineering, and math throughout the curriculum.
At GFB, students will see exciting new course offerings that are both engaging and practical. Highlights include: •
“Your Finances, Your Future” – A class focused on financial literacy and real-world money management. •
“Cultures of the World” – Exploring how geography, language, art, and history shape global societies.
“Crime & Punishment” – A dive into the criminal justice system using project-based learning.
“Sports in Statistics” – Teaching data analysis through real-world applications in athletics.
We’re also expanding our music department. This will allow high school students to take Advanced Placement Music through STAC for college credit and provide additional lesson opportunities.
What makes this budget remarkable is that it comes in under last year’s total—a rare achievement in today’s economic climate, even after funding increases in wages, insurance, and materials.
Importantly, this budget uses far less from our fund balance. Last year, under different leadership, we had to use $750,000 from reserves, effectively exhausting them. This year, we are using only a small amount. We are striving not to use the $1.25 million we recently received from the Tuxedo Reserve for ordinary expenses but instead preserve it for future program enhancements and facility improvements.
We’re also proud of how we’ve opened our schools to the community—with events like CPR training, tech help for seniors, and open gym nights for basketball and volleyball. This is your school district, and we want it to be a place of learning and connection—not just during the day, but year-round and after-hours.
This budget was built to reflect student needs, community values, and fiscal stewardship. Many of you may be aware that our school was placed on the state’s fiscally stressed list. This year, for the first time in the last three years, we will not run at a deficit.
Even after the extra expenses we incurred in bringing in an acting Superintendent to support our school while Mr. White was out, we will be returning funds into our fund balance.
We confidently look forward to having this budget and our finances reviewed and being removed from that list. On behalf of the Board and our leadership team, I thank you for your engagement.
Property Tax Report Card (Note our fund balance is restored to a full 4% ($604,054) from the .24% (36,601) in the last budget. We are well under the tax cap )
Certain member of the community are criticizing the board for following the state established timeline for the budget and vote.
timeline-school-board-election-2025.pdf
School boards must: "Districts must transmit “property tax report card” to SED by the end of the next business day following its approval by the school board, but not later than the 24th day before the budget vote. (The 24th day before the Budget Vote falls on Saturday, April 26th. Therefore, best practice would be to transmit the real property tax report card to SED by Friday, April 25, 2025.
In English, that means the school Board must adopt the budget by April 24th and send the tax report card to the state by the 25th.
"May 6-13 - Board must hold a public hearing on the budget (7-14 days before vote)."
In English, yes, the board must hold a public hearing after it has already adopted the budget. Yes, it is dumb. It is not nefarious, deceptive or lack transparency. Decisions on staffing were being made up until the 11th hour. Specifics on that cannot be discussed with the public until decisions are final and the employees are notified.
