FOR RELEASE: May 21, 2025
New York voters approved 96.6% of proposed school district budgets on Tuesday, May 20, according to preliminary results compiled by the New York State School Boards Association (NYSSBA).
"We congratulate school districts who saw their budgets pass and thank the public for their strong support of our public schools," said NYSSBA Executive Director Robert S. Schneider. "New York voters understand the importance of their local schools and want to see them adequately funded. School boards take seriously their duty to craft spending plans that serve students while being affordable to taxpayers. That was reflected in Tuesday’s results."
Despite increasing costs, school districts were able to limit their tax levy increases to an average of 2.61% statewide while holding their proposed spending increases to 3.66%.
NYSSBA gathered results for the 674 districts statewide that hold budget votes. A total of 651 school district budgets were approved by voters, while 23 were defeated, which represents a 96.6% approval rate. Where budgets were defeated, school districts may again put a budget before voters on June 17.
Statewide, 42 districts sought approval to override their property tax caps this year, meaning their proposed budgets needed a 60% "supermajority" approval to pass. Of those seeking an override, 25 budgets passed and 17 failed, a 59.5% approval rate. Since the tax cap was introduced in 2012, about two-thirds of budgets requiring an override have been approved on the first try. "Achieving 60 percent support is no easy feat," said Schneider.
For the 632 districts whose budgets were within the tax cap and needed support from only a majority of voters for budget passage, 626, or 99.1% passed on the first try.
Also on Tuesday, voters selected candidates to fill school board seats. Preliminary data indicate that from the 664 reporting districts, 64% of winning candidates are incumbents and 36% are new electees. NYSSBA will provide a more in-depth analysis of school board elections once more data is available.