Brittnay Spry, Jamestown Public Schools assistant superintendent of finance and operations, talks to Jamestown Public Schools Board of Education members Tuesday about the proposed 2025-2026 budget. P-J photo by Michael Zabrodsky

There will be no tax increase in the Jamestown Public Schools District proposed 2025-2026 budget.

Brittnay Spry, assistant superintendent of finance and operations told school board members Tuesday that the new spending plan also will add 14 new positions – 12 reading teachers and two elementary art teachers.

“So there are two themes that are a part of this budget that should sound pretty familiar from the past couple of years as well,” Spry said. “The first being that there is no tax increase to our community here in Jamestown, as well as taking all of our money, funneling it into our buildings so that the impact is directly on our students. It’s through them, it’s in their classrooms, it’s in the buildings, it’s outside, in the playgrounds and all things that impact our kids directly.”

The balanced $115,658,398 spending plan also will have an increase of $6.5 million in New York State Foundation aid as well as an increase in building aid. Overall revenues, Spry said, increase to about $10 million. With American Rescue Plan Act funds, the district will retain 81 positions. The budget also calls for the purchase of six school buses.

The proposed JPS budget is broken down into three categories – capital, administrative, and program.

The proposed capital portion is $23,467,786 which includes capital outlay of $100,000 for playground upgrades at Lincoln Elementary School as well as $450,000 for a heating project at Persell Middle School.

The proposed administrative portion is $12,365,817 which includes one assistant principal at Jamestown High School and seven district-wide instructional coaches.

The proposed program portion is $79,824,795 and it includes the addition of the reading teachers, the art teachers, and the purchase of six new school buses.

“I know there are other districts around the state who are struggling to continue with those (reading) positions, but I’m proud to say that that’s not us,” Spry said. “We’ve done a lot of work. We’ve planned ahead, and we’ve been able to create and maintain those positions, as well as there are six buses that are a part of this program budget (portion), which are part of our standard replacement schedule.”

Board President Paul Abbott said there is a lot of work that goes into preparing a budget, and board members have limited opportunities to publicly discuss the whole or parts of the budget.

“I certainly appreciate all the work, and it’s a lot easier going through this process in the last few years than it has been in the past,” Abbott said.

Superintendent Dr. Kevin Whitaker said the focus of the budget is to keep tax increases at zero while providing as much support as possible to students and teachers.

“There are also classroom teaching positions, like leading teachers and art teachers, so that we can repair what may have been lost over the course of the past 15 years, but also provide students with the support that they need,” Whitaker noted.

Whitaker said, for example, since the 1990s the district’s reading scores have not been good, where many students were at a Level 1.

“So now that we have a viable reading program, and we’re seeing some success there, we want to increase the access of those teachers to kids so that they do as well as they can in our reading assessments,” Whitaker noted.

District residents will be able to go to the polls on May 20 to vote on the proposed budget. Voters also will see on the ballot a proposition to create a Capital Improvements Reserve Fund for up to $10 Million, and a proposition to create a district maintenance and repair reserve fund.