As budget season begins for school districts across the state, local administrators are evaluating how much of the $27.7 billion in state aid they can expect.
The figures from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposed budget show a year-to-year funding increase of $956 million, or 3.6 percent, according to documents released by the Department of Education. Most districts in Southold and Riverhead Towns are expected to see varying levels of increases. READ
The Greenport School District is depending on state aid to keep its proposed 2018-19 budget under the tax cap.
The proposed budget is currently at a $325,000 shortfall, Superintendent David Gamberg said. READ
Governor Cuomo giving his State of the State address the Empire State Plaza Convention Center in Albany Jan. 21. (Credit: Courtesy Flickr photo)
New York State’s adopted budget for 2015-16 includes increases in school aid for all of the districts in Riverhead and Southold towns.
The budget increases school aid by 6.2 percent statewide. (more…)
Southold School District Superintendent David Gamberg. (Credit: Jen Nuzzo, file)
Southold School District Superintendent David Gamberg is criticizing Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s plan to ratchet up the importance of student performance on state assessments when it comes to teacher evaluations.
He said it could devastate the faculty and, thus, the students of Southold.
The governor has proposed a teacher rating system that would base 50 percent of an instructor’s evaluation on student performance on state tests — an increase from the current 20 percent.
“If this plan were to become law, I will provide the board with direct, accurate evidence of [the teachers] who will get swept up — that should not get swept up — in this metric to the detriment of the students of Southold,” Mr. Gamberg said. “I think it would be the highest irresponsibility for our school district to just sit by and allow it to happen.”
COURTESY PHOTO | Gov. Andrew Cuomo presenting his 2014-15 executive budget to the Legislature on Tuesday in Albany.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposed $137.2 billion spending plan includes a nearly 2 percent increase in aid for local school districts, according to his 2014-15 executive budget released last Tuesday. (more…)
JENNIFER GUSTAVSON FILE PHOTO | The Oysterponds Superintendent Dick Malone said Tuesday the state has approved the district’s APPR plan.
The New York State Education Department has confirmed it approved the Oysterponds Elementary School District’s teacher evaluation plan on Tuesday — 12 days after the district missed a state-imposed deadline.
Although the district’s annual professional performance review plan, known as APPR, has been approved, state officials said Oysterponds will still be penalized for filing late.
It remains unclear how much Oysterponds is in danger of losing. State officials have declined to specify an amount and have said a school district’s annual change in state aid can vary throughout the year based on claims they’ve submitted and individual districts will have more information on what their total claims will be at the end of the year.
Oysterponds Superintendent Dick Malone said Tuesday that although he couldn’t confirm how much the district will lose for missing the Jan. 17 deadline, he described the amount as “no significant loss” because the district was never “entitled to that portion” anyway.
“It was my understanding it was some additional state aid that we did not qualify for,” he said. “There was a rumor that we were losing our regular state aid, but that isn’t true. We’ve gotten our major state aid payments already and there’s no reason to believe we’re not going to get the balance.”
The Oysterponds school district in Orient, one of the smallest schools in the state, is the only district on Long Island that failed to submit teacher evaluation plans on time. The other six school districts across New York slated to lose state aid for missing the deadline include New York City, Harrison, Hamburg, Pine Plains and Fallsburg.
As of September, the district has about 85 students enrolled in its pre-kindergarten through grade six program and sends 88 secondary students to Greenport.
NYS EXECUTIVE CHAMBER COURTESY PHOTO | Governor Andrew Cuomo in Albany earlier this month.
While education aid is increasing 3 percent across the state in Governor Andrew Cuomo’s proposed 2013-14 budget, total aid to all districts in Southold Town is decreasing.
The cuts come in a year where state aid proposals for the two Riverhead Town school districts will increase by more than 5.5 percent.
At just over 20 percent, Oysterponds stands to lose the most in the preliminary state aid proposal, figures which almost always increase when the final budget is adopted.
Below is a list of how much each local school district is currently slated to receive and the percentage decrease that number would represent. Check out tomorrow’s issue of The Suffolk Times for reaction from school officials and local legislators.
Southold
$1,397,952, down 11.99 percent
Greenport
$1,123,353, down 0.87 percent
Mattituck-Cutchogue
$2,216,902, down 10.05 percent
Oysterponds
$245,085, down 20.10 percent
New Suffolk
n/a
Editor’s Note: These figures include aid received for building projects. Some published reports do not include building aid numbers.