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The state's recently passed budget includes a large amount of funding for state schools, impacting local school districts and students in the community.
Gov. Kathy Hochul announced "historic education funding" for the 2024 budget. Included in the state's budget is $34.5 billion in total School Aid for 2024, marking a record level of funding for the state. Chautauqua County schools received a combined additional $30,687,272 in state aid, or roughly 14.69% when compared to the 2022-23 school year which also came with record state aid increases.
"All New Yorkers deserve access to a high-quality education, from prekindergarten through their college graduation," Hochul said. "Thanks to the help of Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins and Speaker Heastie, this unprecedented level of transformational investments will open new doors for more students to build a brighter future for themselves and gain the skills needed for the jobs of the future."
The state's budget includes $24 billion in Foundation Aid for state school districts, marking a $2.6 billion increase from last year's budget. With the increase in the budget, the state will fully fund Foundation Aid for the first time.
In addition to the increase in Foundation Aid, the state's budget includes $150 million for expanding prekindergarten to 20,000 children throughout the state, $134 million to expand students' access to free meals at school, $20 million for Early College High School and Pathways in Technology Early College High School funding that will allow students to earn college credits while in high school, $2.4 billion in SUNY and CUNY capital project funding, $500 million in matching fund contributions for endowments of SUNY's four university centers and $381 million in additional operating support for SUNY and CUNY schools.
IMPACT ON JAMESTOWN
PUBLIC SCHOOLS
The increase in Foundation Aid is expected to have a major impact on several school districts in Chautauqua County, including the Jamestown Public Schools District.
Brittnay Spry, JPS director of finance and budget, said the school district is seeing a "significant impact" with the increase in Foundation Aid.
"Our district is receiving about a 16% increase in our Foundation Aid," she said. "If you look at last year's budget and this year's budget, we've created a significant number of positions. I think last year, it was 25 and this year, we're somewhere around 20, creating new positions, so this increase in Foundation Aid has allowed us to create positions that address learning loss following COVID-19 and be able to address our kids' needs in literacy and math and social and emotional needs. It's really been impactful for the district."
Spry said the increased investment is "incredibly important" to JPS because it is something the district has needed for years. Looking at the history of Foundation Aid, Spry said the Jamestown Public Schools District has been "historically underfunded." With the recent increase in funding, she said the district has been able to expand and maintain the programming that has been introduced in the past two school budgets.
Asked about the state's increase in funding for prekindergarten, Spry explained that the school district will not see an increase in "UPK funding" this year. While Spry said the district has discussed ways to potentially expand it, she said the district has "met the criteria" and the current level of funding.
The state budget's increase for expanding school meals for students will also not have an affect on JPS. As a community eligible school, students are already eligible for free breakfast and lunch at JPS.
"That will remain the same, but it's great news for other school districts in New York," Spry said.
Although the school may not be receiving additional funding for prekindergarten or school meals, Spry said the increase in Foundation Aid will allow the district to "maintain programming and operations" in ways that the school has not been able to do "previously."
"It has allowed us to keep up with inflation and contractual increases," she said. "Because our increase in Foundation Aid was over 10%, we had to put together a Foundation Aid plan. It's the new positions, its inflation, its contractual obligations and then just general operational things related to running a school district."
The increase in Foundation Aid will also allow JPS to invest in capital improvement projects. This year, with the additional funding for the general budget provided by Foundation Aid, the district is transferring $2.2 million from its general fund to its capital improvement fund.
The money allocated for the capital improvement fund will allow the district to replace its heating system at Persell Middle School, renovate the nurse's office and open another school-based health center at Washington Middle School and work on the tracks at both Persell and Washington.
Additionally, Spry said the school district is engaging in a "capital outlay," which will include the replacement of a scoreboard at Strider Fields, the replacement of a sign in front of Jefferson Middle School with a new electric sign and updating and adding exterior lighting at Jefferson.
"It helps to drive our mission of keeping kids warm, safe and dry," she said. "At Persell, replacing the heat obviously keeps kids warm. Opening a school-based health center over at Washington, allows kids to receive medical attention at school and keeps them safe and healthy. The exterior lighting, replacing it with LED lighting and adding some exterior lighting will keep people safe in the parking lots. Also, really exciting replacing the scoreboard, being able to improve Strider Fields and maintain our facilities and make people want to come and compete here."
Spry explained that the school's Foundation Aid plan outlines each of these improvements and additions. She added that the school district is grateful for the state's increase in Foundation Aid and addressing the district's history of being underfunded.
"Being able to create positions that will have a direct impact on our students in literacy, math, social and emotional well-being is really great for the district," she said.
Aid Increases Throughout The County
The smallest aid increases in The Post-Journal's readership area were 3% bumps in Cassadaga Valley ($381,166), Chautauqua Lake ($139,854), Clymer ($128,505), Panama ($208,552) and Ripley ($143,519). Bemus Point saw a 4.5% increase of $166,231, Forestville received $247,310 more (4.83%) and Pine Valley ($575,036 received a 6.92% increase in aid.
The rest of the county's schools saw aid increases of more than 10%. Those include:
¯ Brocton, an $876,372 (10.61%) increase
¯ Dunkirk, a $5,211,579 (19.37%) increase
¯ Falconer, an ($3,287,203 (26.83%) increase
¯ Fredonia, a $2,082,856 (20.99%) increase
¯ Frewsburg, a $1,605,142 (17.31%) increase
¯ Sherman, an $805,581 (14.26%) increase
¯ Silver Creek, a $1,777,205 (14.56%) increase
¯ Southwestern, a $2,285,487 (25.30%) increase
¯ Westfield, a $1,607,515 (14.69%) increase.