School leaders concerned about state aid projections

State aid figures released last week by Gov. Andrew Cuomo following his State of the State address have caused concern among community leaders in the East Meadow School District. Administrators and local elected officials say the district needs additional financial support to keep the 2016-17 school budget from creating a heavy tax burden for residents.

Cuomo’s proposal calls for the district to receive $41.4 million from the state next year. Noting that East Meadow received $41.8 million this year, Superintendent Leon Campo said that he is concerned that administrators and the Board of Education will have less financial support in 2016-17, since it’s likely that New York school districts will face a tax cap that allows for almost no spending increase, if any at all.

The so-called 2 percent tax cap actually limits tax levy increases to approximately 2 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is smaller. For most of last year, Campo explained, inflation rates dropped, which is likely to reduce next year’s levy increase as well.

A tax cap approaching zero percent would allow school districts to raise virtually no additional money through taxes, despite rising costs. And after the district pierced the tax cap this year by adding a full-day kindergarten program, Campo said, officials are committed to crafting a budget that falls below the cap.
“These preliminary numbers are very bad,” he said. “The East Meadow schools will be in a very, very tough position.”

However, State Assemblyman Tom McKevitt, a Republican from East Meadow, said that the figures are somewhat misleading. In the current state budget, the district received a one-time bonus payment from the state of more than $1.6 million to help it convert to full-day kindergarten. Without this special payment in 2016-17, McKevitt said, next year’s state aid is actually a net increase of more than $1 million.

“When you look at the initial numbers, you see a negative and wonder if East Meadow is being cheated,” he said. “The answer is no. No other school district in Nassau County got that full-day kindergarten conversion money this year.”