State Budget Gives Schools $29.1 Billion in Aid

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, many school districts began bracing for cuts in state foundation aid, with New York looking at significant budget deficits as a result of the crisis.

This week, New York State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., announced that the 2021-22 state budget will include $29.1 billion in public school funding, increasing state support for school districts statewide by $3.1 billion, or 12 percent, over the 2020-21 school year.

According to Mr. Thiele, the 2021 budget increases foundation aid by $1.4 billion for a total of $19.8 billion. This would be a full one-third of what will be provided to schools statewide over the next three years as a part of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity obligation, for a total of $4.2 billion. This funding commitment will fully phase in foundation aid over the course of three years, with school districts receiving at least 60 percent of their foundation aid funding for the 2021-22 school year.

“In the 1st Assembly District, this is especially impactful in the Riverhead Central School District and the Hampton Bays School District, which have been extremely underfunded and have remained below 50 percent for full implementation of Foundation Aid in the past,” Mr. Thiele said in a press release.

All school districts in the 1st Assembly district are receiving an increase in funding.

On the South Fork, the East Hampton School District will see an increase of $344,281 in total state aid, an increase of 10.7 percent. The Amagansett School District will see an increase of $28,150, or 7.2 percent; Springs School will get a bump of $519,835, a 40-percent increase in state aid, with Sag Harbor set to receive $129,035 more in state funding, a 7.5 percent increase. The Montauk School will see an increase of $157,250, a 20.1-percent increase, with the Riverhead School District expected to get a $14 million increase in aid, a 42-percent increase. Shelter Island will see an increase of $40,408, a 6.43-increase in state funding, with Westhampton Beach expected to get $186,580, or a 7.8 percent increase in funding over the 2020-21 school year. Quogue is set to see a $35,531, or 9.7-percent increase in state aid; Hampton Bays will have its funding increased by $2.7 million, a 43-percent increase, and Southampton is expected to receive a $329,258 increase in state aid, a bump of 11.75 percent.

In other school related budget news, Mr. Thiele also announced that the state budget includes $175,000 to continue the South Fork Behavioral Health Initiative, and an additional $175,000 for the North Fork Coalition for Behavioral Health.

The initiatives are a collaborative effort between school districts, Family Service League, Stony Brook Southampton, Stony Brook Eastern Long Island, and Stony Brook University Hospitals, local governments and other local service agencies, to address a lack of mental health services on the East End and a rise in suicides in school age children.

This public-private collaboration has resulted in significant reductions in local school district use of Stony Brook Hospital’s Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program (CPEP). The first phase of these initiatives focused specifically on providing crisis work, locally, rather than the traditional means of students being transported great distances by police.

“We still have a long way to go to provide the full range of help and services needed on the East End to treat mental illness. These programs have shown tremendous success toward meeting the mental health needs that exist in our communities,” Assemblyman Thiele said. “The COVID-19 pandemic has unfortunately compounded the mental health struggles faced by many New Yorkers and has underlined the need for the accessible programs to address the mental health consequences of this crisis. I am pleased that the state funds were approved to continue these programs and build upon prior success.”