Long Beach schools may lose state aid

Gov. Kathy Hochul announced her proposed executive budget for fiscal year 2025 on Jan. 16, revealing, among other things, the aid each school district would be receiving — or losing.

In Nassau County, 10 districts are set to lose some aid funding in the proposed spending plan, including Long Beach, Oceanside, Island Park, Lawrence and Oyster Bay. In Suffolk, 34 districts would see less aid money.

This school year, the Long Beach School District received just over $28 million in total aid. In the governor’s proposed budget, the district would receive just over $25 million in 2024-25, a decrease of $3.3 million, or just under 12 percent. The district’s foundation aid would drop from $19.5 million to just over $15 million.

The governor’s plan includes about $35 billion in total aid for state schools next year, an increase of $825 million, or 2.4 percent increase. It is the largest investment in education in the state’s history.

“The loss of $4.3 million in foundation aid in a single year is devastating for our district, particularly since the cut comes without warning or preparation,” Schools Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Gallagher said. “No district can absorb that level of loss without cuts to programs, which ultimately affect our students. We will be working hard with our state representatives to urge them to seek a reprieve so that we can maintain our student programs, particularly as we continue to recover from the pandemic.”

In a letter to district families sent out on Jan. 24, Gallagher wrote, “A reduction in revenue of this magnitude is really difficult for any district. It means that we will have to make substantial additional cuts in order to stay within the tax levy cap. We wanted to be very transparent right from the beginning about what we are facing. The cuts we must make this year if this reduction in aid goes through are painful: we would need to excess many additional staff (administrators, teachers and non-instructional staff), and reduce many of our valuable programs. To offset the cuts in State aid we would have to make district-wide cuts.”

The cuts, Gallagher said, could potentially eliminate elementary Spanish and health and a second-grade swimming program, and force a reduction in some middle school and high school electives, including business, technology, art and music, athletic and arts programs, Odyssey of the Mind trips and invitational athletic trips. It may also lead to the elimination of some Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams as well as the High School Alternative Program.

The district would, however, receive an increase of just under $700,000 for universal pre-kindergarten, which would give all families who want to enroll their child in a publicly funded pre-K program the chance to do so.

Lido Elementary School unveiled a new full-day pre-K program at a Board of Education meeting last September. The program, known as Wondergarten, was created by Molly Drake, a pre-K teacher, with the intent of collaborating with facilities such as the Long Beach Fire Department, the public library, the Long Island Children’s Museum and the Jones Beach Nature Center.

The school board sent a letter to Hochul on Jan. 23 expressing its concerns about the cuts.

“While we understand the need to make budget adjustments in difficult economic situations, this cut disproportionally affects our district in comparison to neighboring ones, and in fact, to most around the state,” the letter states. “These cuts were proposed with no warning and no ability for the district to plan for such a dramatic cut in revenue. We implore you to reverse this cut, and to phase in any subsequent cuts with more notice and transparency.”

School board Vice President Sam Pinto and Trustee Anne Conway sent another letter the following day, reiterating those concerns and citing some of the challenges that Long Beach has face in recent years. The letter mentioned Hurricane Sandy, in 2012, and how the coronavirus pandemic impacted the students and district.

“We’re going to go through the regular process of presentation to different areas of the budget, and much more carefully than ever before in terms of trying to make up the deficit as best we can,” board President Dennis Ryan said. “We’re encouraging parents, also, to write to the governor.”

On Tuesday the district released a statement on Facebook, urging parents and community members to contact Hochul and other elected officials.

“Under the initial state budget proposal from Governor Hochul, Long Beach Public Schools would lose $4.3 million dollars in foundation aid next year, the same year in which the district’s federal COVID relief funds end,” the release states. “Long Beach would be the recipient of the second highest cut in aid in the entire state. This cut in aid would have a catastrophic effect on district students, resulting in potential program cuts, layoffs to staff, and/or the closing of an elementary school. The district does not want to cut programs for students or increase the burden on taxpayers, so restoration of these cuts is essential.”

The release, which can be found on the district’s Facebook page, includes contact information for elected officials including Hochul, State Sen. Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick and Assemblyman Ari Brown.