Governor's Aid Plan Would Co$t M'burgh, Schoharie

By David Avitabile

SCHOHARIE VALLEY - In the recent past, local school districts would see a sizable increase in state aid in the governor's initial proposal. Not so this year.

All 673 school districts in New York are slated to receive less “foundation aid” than expected under Governor Kathy Hochul’s executive budget. Worse than that for local districts, about half of those districts, many in rural areas, are projected to receive sharp cuts in the critical foundation aid from what they were allotted last year, some by as much as 48 percent.

The cuts in foundation would both hurt Middleburgh and Schoharie schools. The reduction in foundation aid at MCS could be 9.01 percent, the third worst in Schoharie County, and 1.58 percent at SCS.

Both MCS and SCS superintendents argued that these cuts would hurt the districts.

"In Governor Hochul's proposed budget Schoharie would see a cut in funding by 1.58 percent or $133,851," Schoharie School Superintendent David Blanchard said.

"We receive over half of our revenue from state aid. This has the potential to be disastrous for educational outcomes in small rural districts like Schoharie. Our other revenue source comes from local taxes which are held to the 2 percent tax cap. We generally expect expenses to increase 3 percent year over year. Given increased costs and inflation, this will be a very difficult budget for our school district.

"There is further concern when looking beyond the proposed budget as many local districts were held flat in state aid this current year. Thus the trends we are watching have to be addressed through the legislature and Governor's office.

"As a district we will work through the issues presented to build a budget that is fair to taxpayers while doing our best to maintain quality programs.

MCS Superintendent Mark Place noted that "the big news has been the change in the Save-Harmless provision. This provision, which has been in place for more than the past five decades, guaranteed that no district would receive less foundation aid than they did in the prior year. The result of this change is a historic shift of resources away from small, rural school districts.

"If the Governor's proposal is adopted by the legislature without modification, MCS would receive 9.01 percent less foundation aid next year. Our neighboring districts are being hit hard as well, and our collective loss of nearly $3.5 million in foundation aid is untenable.

"On Friday, the superintendents of the Capital District met with legislators, and the restoration of Save-Harmless is the top priority for both sides of the aisle. The legislators were united in their opposition to the changes in Save-Harmless that have been proposed by the Governor."

Mr. Place added, "At MCS we are going to move forward with the budget priorities I shared at the last board meeting on January 10, 'Advancing Our Vision.' However, because there are no guarantees, the district will be preparing multiple scenarios for the Board's consideration over the next few weeks so that we can pivot as needed while the legislative process plays out."

Under the Governor's current education spending plan, local schools would all be hit:

* Jefferson, down from $2.71 million to $1.9 million, a drop of 29.94 percent.

* Gilboa-Conesville: $2.71 million to $2.07 million, a decrease of 23.61 percent.

* Middleburgh: $8.51 million to $7.74 million, a decrease of $766,431 or 9.01 percent.

* Berne-Knox: $7.07 million to $6.45 million, a decrease of 8.83 percent.

* Sharon Springs: $4.039 million to $3.84 million, a drop of 4.92 percent.

* Duanesburg: $5.34 million to $5.15 million, a decrease of 3.53 percent.

* Schoharie: $8.44 million to $8.307 million, a drop $133,241, of 1.58 percent.

* Cobleskill-Richmondville: $16.27 million to $16.13 million, a decrease of .82 percent.

In local schools, the drop is from $55.087 million to $51,591 million, a drop of $3.496 million, or 6.35 percent.

Since unveiling her proposal, Governor Hochul has noted it was “never an expectation that those (school aid) increases would be sustained at those levels...When you don’t keep historic increases in place every year, it is not a cut.”