Nassau County schools face uncertainty with Gov. Kathy Hochul's state budget

It’s really essential that the state looks at the needs of a variety of school districts in order to help them support the student population.”

George Vasilliou, trustee, Locust Valley Central School District

Since Jan. 16, when Gov. Kathy Hochul unveiled her proposed fiscal year 2025 budget, educators have been focused on state aid for local schools.

The governor’s spending plan includes about $35 billion in state aid next year, an increase of $825 million, or 2.4 percent. It is the largest investment in education in the state’s history.

Nonetheless, many school districts, including Locust Valley and Oyster Bay-East Norwich, are facing cuts in state aid, and efforts to revamp the state’s school funding formula are gaining momentum, with the state Board of Regents taking the lead. The prevailing argument is that the current formula, put in place in 2007, is outdated and distributes funds to schools unfairly.

As the school districts across Long Island and New York grapple with the potential loss in state aid, many administrators find themselves in the middle of this discussion, and in agreement with the Board of Regents, which oversees education policy in the state.

In a statement emailed to the Herald on March 1, the board emphasized its commitment to ensuring that every student in the state has equitable access to a high-quality education, and the importance of figuring economic factors such as poverty levels, regional costs, property values and inflation into the foundation aid formula. Furthermore, it advocated a $1 million study to explore potential changes in that formula.

The purpose of such a study, the board explained, would be to “gain a better understanding of the cost to educate a student in New York state, and how to fairly apportion those costs between state and local funds and provide this information to the Legislature and governor for their consideration.”

But some education officials have raised concerns about the potential impact of changes in school aid calculations, particularly for rural districts. Some fear that such changes, without adequate time for planning and implementation, could further exacerbate challenges faced by schools in small communities, especially amid the drawdown of federal stimulus funding.

“An abrupt change to the school aid calculation, with no accompanying language facilitating regionalization or time for planning and implementing the changes,” the Board of Regents stated, “will have a significant impact on our rural districts and will even further limit opportunities for students in these small communities.”

Despite this concern, the concept of reexamining the current system of state aid is supported by many educators and elected officials, even as they work to prepare for and hopefully mitigate the financial loss they face from the current budget. Oyster Bay-East Norwich is expected to lose over $500,000 in state aid, while Locust Valley is set to lose roughly $800,000.

George Vasilliou, a Board of Education trustee for Locust Valley and the head of the district’s budget and finance committee, explained that while the district does not receive a substantial amount of state aid, the loss will still hit the district hard.

Vasilliou, who worked in the state’s Department of Education for nearly nine years, added that he supported the concept of re-analyzing the state’s school aid system. He explained that there are goals that the state expects districts to hit on their own which are just not feasible, such as the mandate that all schools need to have electric buses by 2030, and that looking at how the system currently works could increase essential support for districts without punishing taxpayers’ wallets.

“I think looking at it makes sense,” Vasilliou said. “It’s really essential that the state looks at the needs of a variety of school districts in order to help them support the student population.”

Dr. Francesco Ianni, the superintendent of Oyster Bay-East Norwich, added that the current system of aid is outdated, including relying on census data from 2000. While he had heard that the governor was considering reducing the cut to aid that districts like his are facing, Ianni said as it stands the current system is not providing schools with the support they need.

“(The state) is using data that is way too old, and we look at that formula and think that it can be readjusted a little bit,” Ianni said. “I think it would be great if they have a formula to give aid that uses accurate, recent data.”