Schools
New Hyde Park-Garden City Board of Ed Voices Frustrations with State Aid Cuts
The lowest budget increase in seven years raises concerns about education
With the added pressure from New York State to reduce the budget, members of the board of education were concerned that their budget would negatively affect education in the school district due to cuts.
“The reality of it is that you pay what get for,” said board Vice President Joseph Bongiorno of the proposed budget during Monday evening's budget work session. “If you don’t invest in education, you’re going to get a much weaker product. Education is as important as anything."
Despite pressure from the state, the board’s current budget proposal calls for one outdoor program for fifth and sixth graders to be the lone program cut to meet budget requirements.
Find out what's happening in New Hyde Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
“The budget-to-budget increase is at 2.97 percent, which is the lowest in the past seven years,” said Superintendent . According to Katulak, the proposed budget was lowered from a 3.13 percent increase from the previous year. This year's budget was significantly impacted by a cut in state aid.
“Normally, we’re accustomed to sizable increases in state aid,” explained Assistant Superintendent for Business Michael Frank. “The state is giving us more expenses, taking away aid and on both sides of the equation, it’s affecting tax levy. It’s not good."
