Amityville Memorial High School. The district's fiscal stress level has...

Amityville Memorial High School. The district's fiscal stress level has been downgraded from "significant" to "moderate." Credit: Newsday/Steve Pfost

The Amityville school district's fiscal stress level improved in the 2023-24 school year, going from "significant" to "moderate," according to a report issued Friday by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

The district was among three on Long Island identified in the report as facing varying degrees of fiscal stress. A total of 22 districts statewide were singled out.

One of two systems in the state facing "significant" stress — the highest level of fiscal trouble — is tiny New Suffolk on the Island's North Fork. Residents there voted in March to shut down instruction at their local school and send students to a neighboring district. 

Four districts statewide, including Amityville, were listed as under "moderate" stress. Amityville's school board last year approved layoffs of 47 staff members, including 25 teachers, to fill a $3.6 million budget gap. 

East Meadow in Nassau County was among 16 districts identified as "susceptible" to stress, the state's mildest of the three categories.

The stress level designations were for the school year ending June 30, 2024. The 22 districts identified were an increase from 16 systems the prior year.

'Still on shaky ground'

Gina Talbert, the Amityville superintendent, said in a prepared statement that her district's improved rating reflected recent efforts to build an operating surplus and strengthen its financial standing. Talbert added that she expected that trend to continue. 

"We remain deeply committed to ensuring the financial health of our District while prioritizing the needs of our students and staff," she said. 

Wendy Canestro, a community advocate who criticized the layoffs and was elected to Amityville's school board in May, told Newsday that the district should restore some programs lost in last year's cuts — notably, student field trips. 

"The good news is that we are improving, but it's going to take quite some time to achieve financial stability," Canestro said in a phone interview. "We're still on shaky ground."

New Suffolk's superintendent, Joseph Vasile-Cozzo, did not dispute the comptroller's rating of his district. But he told Newsday that the district was satisfied with its new arrangement, in which all resident children of school age are sent to classes in the nearby Southold system.

New Suffolk had previously operated its own school for prekindergarten through sixth grade, with higher grades attending classes in Southold. The district decided to stop offering its own classes on the grounds that it did not have enough students to maintain a full program.

The district retained its own administration to allow it to negotiate tuition rates. In addition, New Suffolk continues to set its own tax rate, which is low compared to rates in districts further west. 

"We're doing great," Vasile-Cozzo said during a phone interview. "Southold has been terrific."  

In East Meadow, Superintendent Kenneth Rosner described the district's financial condition as good, despite the new stress rating. Rosner, in a prepared statement, attributed the rating to a change in fiscal procedures that requires East Meadow to use short-term borrowing to pay some expenses. The change was prompted by a new schedule of tax payments to the district from Hempstead Town, Rosner said. 

"The district's overall financial operations are in good standing, and we are not art any risk of being fiscally stressed," the schools chief said. 

The state's stress scores are based on multiple factors, including a district's year-end fund balances, operating deficits and reliance on short-term borrowing. DiNapoli noted in a press release Friday that the latest number of stressed districts, while up from the previous year, remains lower than before the pandemic. 

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