WEST SENECA, N.Y. — As we get closer to school budget votes in mid-May, many local school boards, superintendents, and other district leaders may be under extreme pressure to work out new budgets.
Apparently that's because some say Gov. Kathy Hochul's State Budget Office is changing the funding rules. Some school leaders warn that tax hikes, along with program and job cuts, could be on the horizon unless things change.
During Tuesday's school budget meeting, interim West Seneca Schools superintendent Dr. Jeffery Rabey tried to explain the budget fix they are in due to changes in Albany.
He put it in even starker terms for residents and district taxpayers with his recent news update stating that with the state school funding changes in the governor's new budget plan they are anticipating "difficult decisions" including "potential reductions within the organization." There is also a mention of the possible need to raise property taxes.
So on Thursday 2 On Your Side asked Rabey, is it a realistic possibility that there could be tax increases ultimately?
Rabey said, "2.3 percent or slightly lower."
He points out that is within the mandated property tax cap, which some districts across the state have talked about exceeding if voters would actually accept it.
Rabey said they are also looking at various programs and when asked about possible district job reductions. He would not get specific but said, "We are still in the evaluation process, so I don't want to do any speculation. I have no specificity at this point in time. So what our next steps are, we will take a look at our first draft of the budget at our first meeting in April."
In a January press release the Governor's Office stated: "Since taking office, Governor Hochul has increased school funding by record amounts, a total of $5 Billion over two years. This year, Governor Hochul is proposing $35.3 billion in total School Aid, the highest in New York State's history. The FY 2024 Budget provided a historic $34.5 Billion to New York's schools to help give every student the tools to succeed through a high-quality education."
We also reached out to the New York State School Boards Association and spoke with Government Relations Director Brian Fessler. He framed the situation this way: "Really, it's a complete 180 for a lot of districts in terms of where they are now compared to where they were expecting to be at this point."
The school board's association says the Governor's claims of record increases in school funding of $5 billion over two years is technically correct.
But now changes in the actual funding formula and even the state's inflation assessment has actually left many districts behind in funding. Fessler says state lawmakers are getting the message.
"Both the Senate and the Assembly in both parties in both houses have been pretty consistent in their expression of either opposition or concern to the Governor's school proposal," Fessler said. "So you know, that's encouraging, but there's a lot of work to be done.
"And you know we're not a few million dollars, or even a few tens of millions dollars away, from where we were hoping to be. You know we're almost half a billion dollars away from where statewide we are hoping to be."
He added: "We wanted all that positivity and full funding to continue going into 2025, but unfortunately the Governor's budget proposal for hundreds of districts across the state meaningfully pulls back or takes it a true step back."
Now this school funding situation is compounded with the added issue of the phaseout of federal COVID aid funding, which some districts really banked on coming up in September.
Also factor in extra state mandates like the costs of zero emission bus purchases to replace diesel buses and the need to help students fully recover from learning losses and mental health with COVID school shutdowns. The state has in part tried to help with grant funding for such programs but actual costs may run much higher.