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Promising news for Shelter Island School District

JULIE LANE PHOTO Shelter Island School District business official Tim Laube
JULIE LANE PHOTO
Shelter Island School District business official Tim Laube

While Assemblyman Fred Thiele Jr. (I-Sag Harbor) blasted Governor Andrew Cuomo’s school aid proposal, but if the numbers quoted are accurate, Shelter Island would be among the few districts to get an increase in state aid.

Shelter Island received $571,985 for the current school year and is projected to get $598,805 for the 2017-18 school term, representing a 4.69 percent increase above the current year’s state aid.

Typically, the governor’s proposed plan for aid to schools goes to the state legislature where numbers increase. Then there’s a negotiation between the legislative and executive branches that ends up somewhere between what the governor has earmarked and the legislators have asked.

But overall in Mr. Thiele’s legislative district, 14 of schools would see less next year than they received this year, prompting the legislator to call the governor’s $25.6 billion school aid package “totally inadequate.”

“The governor gets a failing grade when it comes to educating our children on eastern Long Island,” Mr. Thiele said.

The governor’s proposal represents only 46 percent of the $2.1 billion the State Board of Regents recommended in state aid, Mr. Thiele said.

Foundation aid is unrestricted aid to districts for school operations and maintenance, but the formula has, since its inception in 2007, failed East End schools because of property values, according to local educators.

“The more the better,” Shelter Island School District business official Tim Laube said about the early news that the district would likely see an increase.

But he noted that it’s early in the process and the numbers will change, so it remains to be seen how much the district will get for next year.

He pointed out that far more money goes from Shelter Island to Albany than comes back to support the local school district.

A lot of Island homes have been passed down through generations and their value has increased, but current owners’ salaries have not grown at the same rate, Mr. Laube said.

“People are home rich but cash poor,” he said about the struggle some have to pay taxes on their properties.

The formula for foundation aid works better upstate than here, Mr. Laube said.

While Shelter Island doesn’t get a lot of state aid, he said he’s relieved to have people like Mr. Thiele and State Senator Kenneth LaValle (R-Port Jefferson) fighting for increases.

Mr. Thiele was among the backers of the 2 percent state imposed tax cap on spending, but he said for it to work, there needed to be adequate state aid to schools and relief from unfunded state mandates.

“The governor’s proposal fails both tests,” Mr. Thiele said. “The legislature must fix this recipe for disaster by providing both additional aid for Long Island and mandate relief.”

While the state has encouraged school districts to develop shared services plans, he hasn’t provided money to foster either school consolidation or shared services, Mr. Thiele said.

“The state legislature will have to work together regardless of geography and political party to provide a real school aid plan that serves all New Yorkers,” Mr. Thiele said. “The governor is not up to the task,” he said.

But another piece of good news came out Monday for Shelter Island that is one of three districts out of 65 to receive money from the state’s “Smart Schools Bond Act” that results in a $57,876 grant for classroom technology. Tuckahoe and Center Moriches also received grant money from the program.

Tuckahoe is expecting $83,826, with $32,026 for school connectivity; $33,327 for classroom technology; and $18,473 for high tech security.

Center Moriches is expecting $1.03 million with $360,000 to be used for school connectivity; $544,558 for classroom technology; and $130,000 for high-tech security.

Another piece of good news for Shelter Island came from Superintendent Leonard Skuggevik today. For the first time, the district has been listed on the Advanced Placement District Honor Roll for expanding opportunities and improving performance of its advanced placement students.

Only 433 districts in the United States and Canada ,and only 25 of those in New York State, have achieved this honor, Mr. Skuggevik said. He credited his faculty, staff and students for the achievement.

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