Three Village Schools May Lose $853K in State Aid

Three Village could lose about $853,000 in state aid for the 2012-13 school year, widening the gap between a rollover budget and the tax levy increase allowed under the new tax cap legislation.

State funding projections released last week showed the district would receive $34,983,270 in state aid – compared if Gov. Andrew Cuomo's proposed budget is adopted by the state legislature by April 1.

The loss threatens to make even tougher what the administration has described as a difficult budget season. In an interview on Monday, Jeff Carlson, the district's assistant superintendent for business services, said "the whole scenario is not good."

"In a year where we’re looking at a tax cap, to begin the budget planning with a reduction in state aid makes it that much harder," Carlson said.

With the loss of approximately $853,000, the gap between a "rollover budget" – meaning maintaining the same level of staffing and funding for programs and services, while staying inside the 2 percent tax levy increase enacted by the state legislature – now grows to around $9.5 million. At the district's Jan. 10 school board meeting, Carlson presented preliminary numbers that pegged the gap at $9.3 million and included a projection of an increase of half a million dollars in state aid.

However, at this point in the year, the state aid numbers are far from certain.

"The governor's budget proposal is the low amount to use," Carlson said. "It just about always goes up from that. The thing is, how much does it go up? I don’t expect it to go up much."

The projected decrease puts Three Village's state funding back to approximately the level it was at during the 2008-09 school year. Three Village saw increases in state aid from 2006-07 through 2010-11.

State Aid to the Three Village Central School District

2011-12

2012-13 (projected)