Dear Warrior Nation,
May 20, 2025, is the annual school budget vote and school board trustee election. Over the past three months, the district has presented each component of the budget and has completed revisions to ensure a sound financial future for the 2025-2026 school year and for years to come. This year, the community will vote on:
The proposed General Operating Budget of $60,314,330
The proposed $46,985,000 capital project and property purchase.
The election of one (1) Board of Education Trustee
The voting will take place from noon to 9 p.m. in the Salamanca High School gymnasium.
The proposed budget is a four percent increase from last year does not raise the tax levy- so no tax increase. This means our current tax levy of $250,000 remains the same for the 2025-2026 period, just as it has for several years. Additionally, the proposed capital project will not increase taxes to community members.
Budget- The proposed budget keeps all school programs, including academics, athletics, and community access and events, intact. The district focus on safety and security remains at the forefront and we will continue to provide measures to ensure our students, staff, and community members are safe on campus. The four percent increase is largely due to higher spending on special education and contracted increases in personnel. In Salamanca and across the region and state, there are more special education students, and we need to provide them with necessary services.
Capital Project- The Salamanca community will also vote on a proposed $46,985,000 capital project and property purchase along with the annual school board budget and election. This project will not affect the taxpayers of the Salamanca School District. There will be no tax increase.
One goal of the proposed capital project is to create an early childhood center for children as young as one year old and a reconfiguration of the student population in our schools. We know it is critically important to support young students with education, interventions, and therapies and this early childhood center will serve our youngest community members and add a PreK-3 program. This will involve adding 16 classrooms to Prospect Elementary School. This new space will also help students with special needs who currently travel 30 to 45 minutes to other districts for their education.
Once the Prospect addition is complete, fourth grade students will stay at Prospect Elementary. Seneca Intermediate will become a traditional middle school with students in grade five through eight. Salamanca High School will serve students in grade nine through twelve. This reconfiguration will align our school populations with the New York standards, curriculum, and assessment schedules.
In addition to the new classroom spaces, Prospect Elementary School will get significant upgrades as part of this project to include classroom updates and a new parking and bus loop configuration that will be safer and more efficient.
The Capital Project proposal also includes the purchase of the old Donver site (Kill Buck Road near Route 219) for the construction of a new transportation facility. Moving the transportation facility from the Iroquois campus to this new location will enable the existing transportation facility to be turned into athletic locker rooms, spectator restrooms, and a buildings and grounds facility. This new space will support the renovated track and field, soccer complex, and softball areas at the Iroquois Campus.
The new transportation facility will house all our buses and provide proper maintenance and repair services.
Along with the proposed classroom addition and transportation facility, the proposed project includes important improvements across the district. These include fixing leaking windows, replacing high school bleachers, and updating infrastructure items like heat pumps and boilers. There will also be major upgrades to the student restrooms at Seneca Intermediate.
Salamanca has a proven history of completing successful capital projects that improve the educational, arts, and athletic opportunities of our students. These improvements also greatly improve the access for students and community members to high quality facilities and programs. And once again, they will be done at no additional cost to the taxpayers of Salamanca.
Go Warriors!
Mark Beehler
Superintendent