Valley Stream school officials: State aid fall short

When Gov. Andrew Cuomo released his preliminary state aid figures for the 2014-15 school year last week, school administrators from Valley Stream were unhappy with what they saw.

All four school districts are set to receive bumps in aid, but not as much as administrators would like. District 30 is expected to receive an additional $728,000 in aid, or 13.02 percent, while the Central High School District and District 24 are each slated to receive increases of less than 1 percent. District 13 would see a jump of $336,000 in aid, or 3.68 percent, under Cuomo’s plan, which has an average increase for districts across the state of 2.92 percent.

District 24’s increase of $47,000, or .88 percent, is problematic for administrators, especially in light of New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s recent announcement that the district is under “moderate financial stress.”

“I would expect the state to give us a little more assistance to overcome some of that,” Assistant Superintendent Dan Onorato said. District 24 would receive $5.36 million under Cuomo’s plan.

Superintendent Dr. Edward Fale said that tough decisions lie ahead for the district, especially if more money from the state doesn’t come. “With the state aid as it’s projected now, we would have to make major cuts in programs,” Fale said. “With an elementary district, there aren’t many programs that you can cut. We run a very lean curricular program as it is now.”

Dr. Bill Heidenreich, superintendent of the Central High School District, summed up his reaction to Cuomo’s proposal in one word: disappointment. The potential $112,000 increase in aid, Heidenreich said, isn’t much. “On a $107 million budget…that’s paltry,” he said.

The district would receive $17.81 million total in aid. In the coming months, Heidenreich said he and district board members would advocate for more.