ITHACA, N.Y. — The Ithaca City School District (ICSD) will receive an increase in the financial contribution it receives from Cornell University, school district leaders announced Tuesday night.
The Ivy League institution is set to contribute a total $700,000 to the public school district this fiscal year, up from the $650,000 initially expected. The contribution increases annually by an additional $50,000 for the first three school years, with smaller increases until 2031.
| Fiscal year | Total annual payment | Increase (from prior) | Percent increase |
| 2025 — 2026 | $700,000 | $50,000 | 7.69% |
| 2026 — 2027 | $750,000 | $50,000 | 7.14% |
| 2027 — 2028 | $800,000 | $50,000 | 6.67% |
| 2028 — 2029 | $824,000 | $24,000 | 3% |
| 2029 — 2030 | $849,000 | $25,000 | 3.03% |
| 2030 — 2031 | $874,000 | $25,000 | 2.94% |
The news comes after the school board passed a resolution last spring directing ICSD leadership to step up lobbying efforts for an increased contribution from Cornell.
The money is considered a voluntary “payment in lieu of taxes.” As a nonprofit institution, Cornell University does not pay property taxes on the majority of its considerable real estate holdings within the school district’s borders.
Roughly three-quarters of the school district’s annual operating budget comes from local property taxes.
Critics have posited that Cornell’s school tax bill, were it to lose its tax-exempt status, would be significantly larger than the sum that it contributes to ICSD, even with the recent increases.
District superintendent Luvelle Brown announced the news as part of a larger budget presentation during the Jan. 13 school board meeting.
Brown said the increase, while “nowhere near what we were asking for initially” was appreciated, particularly given the shaky status of the elite university’s federal funding since the second Trump administration began.
“Their letter stated that with the external and internal pressure they’re facing right now, that’s the best they could do at this time,” Brown said. “But they’re open to ongoing conversation.”
Former ICSD board member Jill Tripp and others have called on the university to increase its contribution from $650,000 to $10 million. Tripp said she felt the sum would better reflect the university’s would-be property tax burden. The proposed figure is well above the $4 million the university contributes to the City of Ithaca.
Other local elected officials and the Ithaca Teachers Association have also called on the university to dramatically increase its contribution to the district, which they said would ease the tax burden for other property owners.
Cornell University officials have shown in the past they are indeed open to revisiting the matter: this is the second time the university has increased its contribution prior to the agreement expiration date.
The university’s original agreement with ICSD, struck in 2021, promised a flat annual contribution of $500,000 until 2026. But in 2023, the university opted to increase its annual contribution to $650,000 — an agreement that was originally set to remain in place until 2031.
Cornell Director of Community Relations Jennifer Tavares said the total increase was worth nearly $900,000 over the next five years.
“We are pleased to renew our support for essential K-12 programs in our community, despite challenging financial circumstances,” Tavares wrote in a statement. “This adjustment, along with our continued in-kind support and educational collaborations, underscores our resolve to partner with the district to strengthen educational outcomes for local students and families.”
Ithaca City School District Board of Education president Sean Eversley Bradwell also noted the parties had discussed additional “in-kind” contributions to the district.
“[Those] contributions include programming, access to labs, various ways in which Cornell University faculty will run programs, an increase or an expectation to be involved with [Ithaca Teachers Association] teachers in the new STEM wing that the school district is building,” Bradwell said.
School district administrators said they are currently in the process of scheduling a series of “collaborative meetings” between educators at the two institutions.
The school district has begun the process of formulating its operating budget and property tax rate for the 2026 – 2027 school year. The budget will then go to voters during annual school board elections in May.
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