As we inch closer to the warmer months and the end of the 2025/26 school year, there is perhaps only one thing that Western New Yorkers have spent as much time talking about and discussing more than the Buffalo Sabres historic playoff run, it’s local municipal budgets.
I know that I have to accept, but it’s true. In many parts of Western New York, we pay some of the highest taxes in the Empire State, and a big chunk of that comes from funding our public school system.
Even though kids normally return to school in early September, the actual school year begins on July 1st annually. Now, before things can get going for the new school year, communities and school districts around the nation start their financial planning and hold elections to vote on members of the school board and the next year’s budget in May…