Residents in the Pine Plains Central School District overwhelmingly approved the Board of Education’s revised $40.49 million budget for the 2026-27 school year on Tuesday, June 16.
The revised plan passed by a margin of 643 to 288, a 69% approval rate. Because the amended budget met the allowable 3.39% tax cap, it required only a simple majority to pass.
The revote followed the defeat of the original $40.78 million spending package on May 19. The initial proposal received 51.5% of the vote but needed 60% because it exceeded the district’s tax cap.
“I’m very happy that the community supported passing the budget,” District Superintendent Brian Timm told the Herald. “This was a great turnout for us.”
A total of 931 residents cast ballots on Tuesday, representing roughly 13% of the district’s 7,050 eligible voters. This marked an increase of 41 voters compared to the May 19 vote.
A second budget failure would have triggered a state-mandated contingency budget — freezing the district’s tax levy at current-year levels and forcing nearly $1 million in additional cuts to athletics, clubs, and staffing.
The school board amended the budget on May 26 by cutting three positions: a head school bus driver, a typist, and a dedicated one-to-one nurse assigned to a student. That saved the district $290,569, and brought the tax levy down to the 3.39% limit.
Timm said the cuts are manageable: “It’s never easy, but this is another example of us trying to rightsize the district in order to balance our declining student enrollment.”
The district is considering shuttering at least one of its three schools, primarily due to a 44% drop in student population since 2004. The Building Utilization Advisory Committee, tasked with investigating the educational impact of consolidation, must submit its findings by Sept. 30. “The committee has been working hard and is ahead of schedule with this,” Timm said. “I expect they will be ready with their statement sometime in August, or even sooner.”