Lansing schools spending plan signifies 2.86% increase 

Editor’s note: This story was written on April 20, before New York state lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul finalized the state’s budget. The state budget will ultimately determine how much Lansing Central School District receives in state financial aid. 

Lansing Central School District (LCSD) voters will decide on an approximately $39.7 million 2025-2026 budget at the district’s budget vote May 20.

The new spending plan signifies an increase of about $1.1 million, or 2.86%, from last year’s budget. The district estimates levying almost $24.9 million from taxes for the budget, with an additional amount of approximately $65,639 coming in from PILOTs, or payments in lieu of taxes. The estimated tax rate based on these projections would be $3,584.54 on a $200,000 home, or a rate of $17.92 per thousand in assessed property values.

LCSD Superintendent Chris Pettograsso and Assistant Superintendent of Business Administration Kathryn Heath presented the most up-to-date projections for the next school year at a Lansing Town Board meeting on April 16. 

According to a PowerPoint presentation on the district’s website, LCSD’s budget includes reductions to the following positions in the district:

• A teacher
• Reduction of an 8:1:1 classroom at Lansing Middle School. These are classrooms with no more than eight students per class, with a full-time special education teacher and one full-time paraprofessional. These classrooms serve students whose management needs are severe and chronic, requiring intensive, constant supervision, a significant degree of individualized attention, intervention and intensive behavior management as well as additional adult support, according to the United Federation of Teachers website.
• A fifth-grade teacher
• A teaching assistant
• A school monitor
• A groundskeeper
• Materials, supplies and equipment
• Conferences
• Field trips
• Cutbacks to curriculum writing
• A multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) teaching assistant, who helps with the implementation of student support and intervention programs

Heath said that the district always looks to prioritize student programming when it comes to potential cuts to the budget.

“We look to keep those reductions as far away from student programming as possible,” Heath said. “We want to make sure we are maintaining what our students are used to having to experience, while being fiscally responsible at the same time. Those are the areas we look at to the best extent possible. We are still going through that process to identify reductions.” 

Superintendent Pettograsso said that the district also fears the loss of potential federal funding through grants. President Donald Trump’s administration last month looked to dissolve the U.S. Department of Education, which could imperil grants for schools across the nation, according to a report from National Public Radio. 

“That is weighing on us,” Pettograsso said. “We are not really sure where that will land.”

Heath said that the district gets approximately $800,000 in grants from the federal government. 

“That is a significant shift that would impact our budget,” Pettograsso said.

Much of the district’s revenue every year comes from state aid, found in the New York state budget. At the moment, the district expects to receive almost $12.5 million in state funding, but that figure is not finalized, as the state budget has not been approved by Albany lawmakers.

The state budget is due on April 1 but is never negotiated on time by the leaders in the State Legislature and the governor. Typically, the budget includes several pieces of legislation and policy initiatives on top of the state’s spending plan, which is ultimately the catalyst for these delays. 

This year, Gov. Hochul has said that she won’t ratify a budget that doesn’t include her policy priorities, which include reforms to the state’s discovery and involuntary commitment laws.

“I’m unwilling to sign a budget without serious reforms on discovery and involuntary commitment,” Hochul said in an interview on April 11, according to a report from The Poughkeepsie Journal. 

The district expects to have the board of education vote on the proposed budget April 23. Budget newsletters would be sent shortly thereafter to district residents.

Lansing at Large appears every week in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com. Contact Eddie Velazquez at edvel37@gmail.com or on X (formerly Twitter): @ezvelazquez.

In brief:

Town of Lansing residents will have a chance to comment on Local Law #2 of 2025, dealing with flood damage protection, at a public hearing on May 21 at 6:30 p.m.

The town posted the following on its website: “The local law that proposes to amend Town Code Chapter 142, Flood Damage Protection to provide for flood damage prevention, management and permitting. The proposed local law can be obtained from the Town Clerk or from the Town’s website, and at the time and place of such hearing the Town Board will take statements, testimony, and evidence from all persons interested in the subjects thereof and concerning the same, and all residents of the Town and the general public are invited to attend this public hearing. Interested parties may also submit written comments addressed to the Lansing Town Clerk, 29 Auburn Road, Lansing, NY 14882. Individuals with visual, hearing, or other impairments or disabilities that require or request assistance should contact Town Clerk Deborah Munson at the Town of Lansing, (607) 533-4142 at least 48 hours prior to the time of the Public Hearing.”

A draft of the law can be found here: