Hauppauge To Lose $50K in State Aid Under Executive Budget

Although Hauppauge Public Schools may take a slight hit in state aid under Gov. Andrew Cuomo's proposed 2012-2013 budget announced on Tuesday, the district may actually receive nearly $313,000 more to educate its students.

Under the proposed budget, Hauppauge school district will receive its share - $11,538,014 - of the state education funding, although the final sum is subject to change as the governor and state legislators negotiate on the fine details of the state budget over the upcoming months.

Hauppauge school officials estimated they were next year as the new 2 percent tax levy takes effect. This calculation was based on the district receiving a slight or marginal increase in state aid.

If the governor's proposed budget goes through as is, Hauppauge school officials will now have to figure out how to deal with 0.45 percent decrease in overall state aid. While it is less than the $11.6 million than district received for the current year, it offers more money for the education of students, and less to help pay off its debt service.

"While we welcome the Governor's drive to improve student achievement and reform the unsustainable pension system, his plan fails to address current costs for schools such as Tri-Borough and does not provide immediate relief from the long list of unfunded mandates," said James Stucchio, assistant superintendent of business and operations, in a statement.

This year, Hauppauge took at $1.4 million cut to foundational aid and state funds that are designated for educational expenses including technology, software, textbooks, transportation and more. However, the district received an additional $1.3 million in building incentives, aimed at helping the district pay off the used to build the new music wing of Hauppauge Middle School and make renovations.

Under the proposed budget for 2012-13, Hauppauge's funding breakdown would look very different. The district will receive $312,977 more, an increase of 3.64 percent, in foundational aid and funds to educate its students. Yet, Hauppauge will lose roughly $350,000 in building incentive aid.

Cuomo has reported that an additional $250 million will be available next year to school districts statewide through a competitive process.

How exactly this could influence the 2012-13 school budget process and its possible impact on Hauppauge students are yet to be determined.

Last year, Cuomo had from Hauppauge Public Schools, although in the end i. The district overall saw $523,757 more in state aid than in 2010-11.