Riverhead, NY: "Growing cost of SPED"-$4,070,412, accounting for 55% of overall budget increase

Mar 20, 2026, Riverhead Local:  Special education drives Riverhead school budget increase

Riverhead school officials on Tuesday offered a closer look at what is driving the proposed 2026-27 budget, with Interim Assistant Superintendent for Business Marianne Cartisano saying special education costs account for more than half of the spending increase in the district’s $218.88 million plan.

Cartisano’s presentation to the Board of Education, given during the board’s Tuesday night meeting at the middle school, was the second of three budget discussions and focused on the expenditure side of the proposed budget. It is a plan that would increase spending by $7,445,500, or 3.52%, while staying within the district’s 2.91% tax levy cap.

The sharpest takeaway from the presentation was the growing cost of special education. Cartisano said increases in special education services and special education transportation total $4,070,412, accounting for 55% of the overall budget increase.

She said the district is facing increases in mandated services, rising enrollment and more out-of-district placements driven in part by a lack of in-district space. Under Superintendent Bob Hagan, she said, the district is focused on expanding its ability to educate more students on campus, including incoming kindergarten students and, when appropriate, some students now placed at BOCES. . . .