Syosset voters say yes to $143.8M upgrade to aging school facilities

Syosset's school district will launch major renovations on its 10 buildings in the summer of 2026 under a project approved by voters this week and expected to take about five years to complete, local officials have announced. 

The $143.8 million initiative, one of the largest of its type on Long Island, will focus on upgrades of aging schools and expansions to accommodate a growing student population, officials add. 

Syosset's Facilities Improvement Bond, approved in voting Tuesday, was divided into two parts. Proposition 1, totaling $110.5 million, passed 1,175 to 883. Proposition 2, totaling $33.2 million, passed 1,073 to 969. 

Project costs to individual taxpayers will be $211 annually per $10,000 paid in school taxes for Proposition 1, and $76 for each $10,000 for Proposition 2 — an overall rise of $287 per $10,000 in taxes, according to schools Superintendent Tom Rogers. 

Rogers posted a message on the district's website thanking residents for their support.

"This will allow the District to manage its enrollment growth in safe, inviting and accommodating spaces that will serve our students and our community well into the future," the schools chief stated. 

Following an announcement of the vote Tuesday night, applause from Syosset's nine board members who had met to review results reverberated through the auditorium of South Woods Middle School.

"The Board of Education spent a year crafting the plan and put a lot of thought into it, and it reflected a lot of community input," board President Carol Cheng said through a district spokesperson.   

The first proposition will provide for structural maintenance and improvements to the district's buildings, most of which were built in the 1950s and ’60s, Rogers said.

Proposition 1 includes $26 million to replace portable classrooms, $11.4 million for a new gym at the high school, and $4.6 million to create a location for centralized guidance counseling and increased space for robotics training, officials said. 

Proposition 2 will help accommodate Syosset's expanded enrollment, officials said. Projects include a new $8.5 million gym at Robbins Lane Elementary School, a $7.8 million gym at Baylis Elementary School and a $6.5 million gym at Walt Whitman Elementary School. 

Limited work such as repointing of masonry could begin earlier under the plan, while the district obtains state permits for larger-scale construction and repairs. 

District representatives said Syosset's enrollment has grown by about 720 students, or 10%, in the past decade, to a total of 7,200, and that the high school population will increase by another 10%, to 2,558, by 2030. 

Rogers said Syosset is making up for projects that were delayed for decades, and also taking advantage of favorable state reimbursement rates, which are decreasing. This could mean that the same work, if done in the future, might get less state reimbursement, the schools chief added.