binghamton city school district

Just under 97% of school districts across New York state successfully passed their budgets. Preliminary results show voters in Broome and Tioga counties overwhelmingly approved their local budgets and propositions.

According to preliminary results, around 90 percent of Binghamton voters approved the capital project, which would involve extensive asbestos abatement, a new two-story classroom wing, and improvements to outdoor play spaces at Theodore Roosevelt Elementary School.

This school year, students will line up each morning and receive a pouch to lock away their phones, AirPods and smartwatches. At the end of each day, they will get the pouch unlocked before they leave school.

The Binghamton City School District's 2024-25 budget outlines more than $150 million in spending, an increase of 5.3 percent compared to last year. In Vestal, residents will vote on a $90 million budget with a taxy levy of 1.77 percent, which district officials say is one of the lowest in the region.

A provision in New York's newly passed state budget will allow Theodore Roosevelt Elementary School on Binghamton's North Side to apply for 10 years worth of funding to make the necessary repairs.

The future of Roosevelt Elementary on Binghamton’s North Side has been uncertain for years. That's in part because the school needs costly repairs and asbestos abatement. New York lawmakers passed legislation that could help the school request more state aid. But Governor Kathy Hochul has yet to sign it.

Last year, the school district said it would renovate one of its most economically disadvantaged elementary schools. An initial request for funding fell through last week.

“Reading more about what happened with that just really angered me. Watching the board meeting on Tuesday, seeing all the board members—just one Black person on there.”

“Whether you find yourself agreeing or disagreeing with the conversations taking place in the book, they are conversations that are happening in our communities and should not be ignored."

“Before this whole thing, I thought I would’ve thrown my life in front of kids to save them. Now it’s like asking us to go in and risk our lives.”