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HCS State Aid Picture Better

Fri, Apr 01, 2011

Good news out of Albany for HCS? Sort of. Loss of state aid reduced by $90,000.

For only the fourth time since 1983, the New York Legislature passed a budget before the April 1 deadline,

The even better news is that in doing so, they approved the restoration of some of the  aid to schools cut by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. It appears HCS' loss in state aid will be $90,000 less than originally planned for the 2011-2012 budget.

HCS Business Manager Matt Crumb said the district received word from Albany today of the restored aid. He said its implications for the budget remains to be seen.

Still, HCS, like most other districts in the state, had its aid cut considerably while at the same time wrestling with increasing costs. The district continues to work on the budget, with a proposed spending plan to be in place by the end of April The vote on it comes in May.

The $132.5 billion budget was passed late Wednesday. It includes a 2 percent spending cut.

School aid was one of the major points of contention until an agreement was reached on how to divide the $230 million in education spending that was restored to the budget. Under that agreement, New York City schools get $51 million, Long Island schools get $45 million and upstate schools will get $134 million. The statewide cut in aid to schools is still $697 million, the largest ever.

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