Wednesday, June 18, 2025
The Wantagh Board of Education has adopted an estimated $94.7 million spending plan for 2025-26, which aims to enhance educational programs, maintain class sizes, support building improvements and introduce new high school courses, all without cutting existing offerings, according to district officials.
The budget, roughly $3 million larger than the current spending plan, was finalized at the board’s April 3 meeting. The tax levy will total around $68.9 million, an increase of $1.9 million, or 2.89 percent, which falls below the district’s tax cap.
The budget was the focus of four development meetings in March and April, during which Superintendent John McNamara outlined its primary goals. Those include continuing to provide educational opportunities for students, expanding course offerings, and funding capital improvement projects.
“We’re not looking to cut any programs or remove anything,” McNamara said at a budget forum on April 1. “We’re really able to support everything that is currently existing and are really looking to expand.”
State aid, according to McNamara, will total around $22.8 million, which will help offset some of the budget’s expenses. The driving force of the spending plan, he said, is staffing. The proposed cost of salaries and benefits is roughly $71.7 million, accounting for about 75 percent of total expenditures.
One highlight is several new course offerings for 2025-26, including an expansion of elementary and special education programs, along with the introduction of high school classes such as broadcasting, interior and exterior construction, cybersecurity — which leads to an industry standard certification — as well as new theater electives and an EMT certification night course.
Also new for next year will be Year Three of the Science Research Academy, a four-year program at Wantagh High School in which students have the opportunity to conduct original research and compete in science competitions. Launched in 2023 with 18 freshmen, the program has rapidly expanded, McNamara noted, and its enrollment has grown each year.
“That program continues to expand,” he said of the academy. “We anticipate having over 60 students in that program next year, which is really exciting.”
According to Anthony Cedrone, the district’s assistant superintendent for business, a separate proposition on the ballot calls for using about $2.1 million from the district’s capital reserve, a fund set aside for major building projects and repairs, for several initiatives. These include a roof replacement in the main section of Wantagh Elementary, ceiling replacements at the middle and high schools, lighting upgrades in the high school auditorium, and districtwide security camera and related network upgrades and replacements.
In addition, about $300,000 of the budget will be allocated for projects such as creating a construction course space at the high school, districtwide gym floor recoating, sanding and recoating the north gym floor at the high school, creating a life skills space at the high school, replacing flagpoles across the district, renovating the high school teacher’s workspace, and various other smaller projects.
“The budget, in its entirety, really does continue to offer terrific opportunities for all of the students,” Cedrone said, “and really strengthens and adds to the programs that we have, so we really think it’s a good budget.”
The public vote on the plan, and the school board election, will take place at Wantagh, Forest Lake and Mandalay elementary schools from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on May 20. For more information, go to wantaghschools.org.
