Governor Seeks State Aid Reduction
The Huntington School District would see its state aid reduced by more than $315,000 in the next fiscal year if Governor David Paterson’s budget proposal for 2010/11 becomes law.
Mr. Paterson released his budget last week. He is seeking a huge reduction in state aid to New York’s more than 700 public school districts to help close a yawning budget gap estimated at $7.4 billion.
Upon receipt of the state aid proposal, David H. Grackin, Huntington’s assistant superintendent for finance and management services, conducted an analysis comparing the current year’s aid to Mr. Paterson’s proposal.
“In our budget development process for 2009/10, we used the legislative budge of $12,262,003,” Mr. Grackin explained. “After analyzing the Governor’s proposal, the state aid that he projects in his executive budget for 2010/11 would be $11,946,576, a difference of $315,427.”
Huntington’s current allotment of $421,200 for Universal Pre-K education would be unaffected by the reduction. Those funds are not included in the district’s general fund aid, instead being recorded in a special aid fund. Mr. Paterson’s proposal provides Huntington with the same level of Universal Pre-K funding next year as it currently enjoys.
Mr. Grackin also said the district had “received the balance of state aid and STAR payments that we were slated to receive in December.” Mr. Paterson had withheld those monies, stating at the time he was doing so to prevent the state from running out of cash to pay its bills.
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