LI schools must be open about big school aid increase

It's easy to be deceived when looking at the new numbers for state aid to schools, particularly in a year like this one, when the hikes are mostly huge as a percentage of prior assistance.

This is the second budget in a three-year stretch where practically every district gets unusually large percentage hikes. The extra money, agreed to last spring under former governor Andrew M. Cuomo, is meant to satisfy a legal ruling that the state has to pay more to provide all students a “sound, basic education.” The end result will be a $4 billion increase in annual state funding, with $1.4 billion extra coming to Long Island schools by the third year.

But nothing guarantees such largesse eternally, or through the next recession.

Residents of some high-wealth districts will be shocked to see their huge percentage increases fail to slow property tax hikes. That is because state aid makes up such a small part of their spending that even a big percentage hike means few actual dollars. Other districts are getting aid jumps so large they should be considering no increases — or even tax cuts.

In the Garden City school district, state aid is up a whopping 31.59%, or $2.2 million. But Garden City was getting just under $2,000 per student from the state before this hike, which adds up to about $600 per student. So while it’s a huge percentage hike in aid, it’s also a drop in the district’s $122 million budget bucket, anchored by a $105 million local property tax levy.

In the adjacent Hempstead school district, the state-aid increase sounds lower, at 18.96%. But the per-student increase is nearly $5,000 a year, increasing state aid per student to about $27,000 annually. Only $76 million of Hempstead’s $247 million budget came from local taxes this year.

An agreement was reached last year to settle a 2014 lawsuit accusing the state of not properly funding education in Schenectady and New York City. The suit was dropped in return for the State Legislature agreeing to fully fund its own Foundation Aid formula, devised after a similar lawsuit in 2007. Districts getting the bulk of this new money need it to educate children who may not speak English, who don’t get enough educational support outside of school, or who need special help. 

However, let's keep in mind the perspective of taxpayers. In a district getting an additional $5,000 per student in state aid, local homeowners and businesses need a break. In districts where the big percentage hikes don’t actually bring much new money, local taxpayers may face tax increases that rankle.

All this new money only increases the need for every district to be entirely transparent on how it spends every dollar and how well each dollar does in buying better educational programs, and outcomes.