Connor Patton
Days after addressing her priorities for the state in her State of the State Address, Gov. Kathy Hochul released the 2025-2026 Executive Budget, which recommends a 4.75 percent increase in school aid—but not every district will see large funding increases.
One of the major changes in the school aid budget is a reform of how one of the main funding drivers, foundation aid, is calculated. Foundation aid supports lower-income districts by giving aid based on the local ability to pay along with student needs and how much spending already goes into a certain district. Hochul’s proposed changes would estimate a district’s needs by using more updated poverty data rather than the current 2000 Census poverty rate.
“We’re replacing a 20-year-old poverty metrics data with current census data to more accurately determine student need. This will ensure that state dollars go to the students who need them the most,” Hochul said.
Across the South Shore, schools vary in how much aid the state plans to provide for the upcoming school year. Some of the categories state aid helps fund include BOCES, universal pre-K programs, technology, software, library, and textbook assistance, along with building and transportation funding.
South Country School District is one of the few districts in Suffolk County that will face a decrease in its school aid allocation, with a decrease of around 1.13 percent. The roughly $650,000 decrease in school aid mostly comes from a decrease in building aid, which will be halved from $3,308,677 to $1,499,197 next school year. Transportation aid will also decrease from $6,081,369 to $5,775,887.
“As a Hold Harmless district, South Country received only a two percent increase in foundation aid. Given that our funding remained flat last year despite rising inflation and the increasing cost of living, this adjustment falls far short of what is needed,” said South Country Schools superintendent Antonio Santana. “As this is an initial proposal, we will continue advocating for a more substantial increase that better reflects current economic realities and the growing needs of our district.”
However, other aid categories including BOCES, library and textbook services, and universal pre-K, will increase in the district. Officials from South Country School District didn’t respond for comment on decreases in aid.
School aid to Bay Shore School District will increase by .45 percent, from $79,635,001 to $79,993,314. In Islip School District, aid will be slightly higher with a 2.3 percent increase from $29,687,356 to $30,371,240. And at East Islip School District, school aid will increase 1.99 percent from $41,328,457 to $42,149,192.
Connetquot School District will have one of Suffolk’s highest school aid increases with a 4.83 percent proposed aid increase from $56,857,739 to $59,602,726. Sayville School District will increase school aid 2.21 percent from $28,640,638 to $29,274,349. And Bayport-Blue Point School District will increase school aid by 3.9 percent from $17,648,732 to $18,337,763.
Patchogue-Medford School District will see a .23 percent increase in its school aid from $99,353,022 to $99,581,709. William Floyd will increase its school aid budget by 2.91 percent from $226,697,993 to $233,305,157, with a nearly $3 million raise in transportation funding.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here