As the April 1 deadline for the adoption of the state budget approaches, public schools are looking at the numbers and don’t like how they add up.
West Seneca interim Superintendent Jeffery Rabey has already put the community on notice that spending cuts may be in store.
“We’re no different than any other district, quite honestly. We’re all going to be facing the same challenges this year,” Rabey told The Buffalo News.
That’s because the state for the first time this year fully funded the main operating aid for schools, called foundation aid, but would not in the next fiscal year under the governor’s budget.
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposal for next year includes about $420 million less in foundation aid from where it should be, because she changed part of the formula, educators said.
In West Seneca, that translates to about $700,000 less than expected, Rabey said.
Fourteen districts in Erie and Niagara counties would receive less money in foundation aid, what some call the “bread and butter” of school funding, under Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposal.
Pandemic aid also is ending this year.
“We’re disappointed that the governor’s proposal falls hundreds of millions of dollars short of full funding,” Bob Schneider, executive director of New York State School Boards…
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