Local school districts receive increase in state aid for 2012-13

Both public school districts serving Riverhead Town will receive a more than 5 percent increase in state aid this year under the revised school aid numbers in the state budget passed in Albany last week.

The Riverhead School District will receive $17.1 million in aid next school year, a 5.59 percent increase over the current year. Governor Andrew Cuomo’s proposed state budget had included just a 3.88 percent increase in state aid for next year.

Shoreham-Wading River schools saw a much larger percentage jump for next year. Under Governor Cuomo’s plan the district would have received just a 1.39 percent hike in state aid for 2012-13, but it will instead see a 5.38 percent increase under the adopted budget.

SWR will receive just under $8 million in state aid next year, making up about 13 percent of all revenues.

Riverhead’s state aid covers more than 15 percent of the total budget.

The state budget includes a total of approximately $20.4 billion for school aid, including performance grants to reward academic improvement and school district efficiencies. This represents an increase of $805 million in total education spending.

Read more about the state aid numbers in Thursday’s paper.