Lindy Schools Receive Small Bump in State Aid

New York State's newly enacted 2013-14 budget includes updated state aid figures that how Lindenhurst Schools will be getting an increase over initial aid projections.

Figures received on Thursday by Patch show the School District will be receiving an additional $316,000 in state aid over what was originally proposed by Governor Andrew Cuomo in January - which were noted by Superintendent Richard Nathan in his initial 2013-14 budget presentation to the community to be an additional $1.2 million.

The District’s total state aid for the 2013-14 school year will be $46,890,774 million. That figure is up by a total of $1,519,447 over the 2012-13 school year budget.

However, school officials have stated in the past couple of years - despite whatever bumps they've received from the passage of the NYS budget in the past - education aid overall for the District has decreased.

Nathan noted in his initial 2013-14 budget presentation to the community that in 2010-11 the District lost $3.5 million in state aid and in 2011-12 it lost $3.1 million.

And in a letter posted on the Lindy Schools website outlining the challenges the District's facing this budget season he said, "The anticipated state aid in 2013-14 is still approximately $3 million less than the 2009-10 state aid. In 2009-10 state aid represented 37 percent of our funding; in 2012-13 state aid is only 32 percent of our funding, with the difference being forced to be made up by our local taxpayers."

Here's a look at the NYS education aid numbers for Lindenhurst:

• New School Aid Total (March 28): $46,890,774
• Original School Aid Total (January 22): $46,574,738
• 2012-13 School Aid Total: $45,371,327
• 2011-12 School Aid Total: $42,957,737

Next up is the Lindenhurst Board of Education's monthly business meeting on Wednesday, April 3, at 8 p.m. at the McKenna Administration Building as usual.

However, the next big 2013-14 budget workshop meeting is April 8 at 7 p.m. at the Lindenhurst High School, and it focuses on personnel and special education.

That traditionally draws a large number of teachers, and Nathan said at the March 20 community forum, before last week's Spring Break, that's where any personnel cuts - including teachers - would be revealed.

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