The state aid picture for your local school district
Governor Andrew Cuomo’s proposed state budget for next year provides for a boost in state aid to the Riverhead and Shoreham-Wading River school districts.
But, the governor warned, districts will be in danger of losing aid if they don’t adopt a new system of evaluating teachers, as required by the federal government’s Race to the Top initiative, under which the state received $700 million for education efforts.
Governor Cuomo unveiled the budget Tuesday, although, as customary, the Legislature will make changes before a final spending plan is approved. Last February, the governor proposed steep cuts in aid to school districts, as the state tried to close a large deficit in its own budget.
Here’s the state aid picture for local districts:
• Riverhead was slated to lose 16 percent of its state aid, about $2.9 million, in the budget the governor proposed in February 2011.
About $600,000 of that was restored in the final state budget adopted in March.
Under the proposed plan released this week, Riverhead would receive 3.7 percent more in state aid in 2012-13 than this school year. The $17.6 million in aid the governor has slated for Riverhead would comprise about 16 percent of the district’s current $109.6 million budget.
• Shoreham-Wading River is slated to receive 1.39 percent boost in state aid, good for $104,569 more over last year.
• The Southold School District is the only one on the North Fork slated to lose aid in the governor’s proposed budget. It’s expected to get $28,777, or 1.92 percent, less in aid, at just under $1.5 million.
Southold Superintendent David Gamberg said the loss in aid is the result of a lessened demand for services.
Read more about state aid to local districts, including reaction from administrators, in Thursday’s Riverhead News-Review.
