Shelter Island School superintendent on State aid: More funding a strong possibility

Shelter Island school officials are looking at projections of State aid for the 2025-26 school year that are better than what had been earmarked.

The latest numbers for the district’s State aid are 5.44% higher, according to Superintendent Brian Doelger, Ed.D. What that means in actual dollars and cents if projections hold is Shelter Island will see $36,552 more for the next school year than it does this year.

During negotiations last year, there was general agreement the formula for school aid needed to be fixed with strong support from Long Island politicians who have argued the formula for Foundation Aid — the basic level of financial aid from the state to local districts adopted in 2007 — is based on out-of-date data.

Among the factors that have changed are enrollment; the number of parents sending children to schools outside home districts, for which the home districts have to pay some costs; and a judgment that many school districts have higher fund balances than allowed by the State.

New York State allows an unassigned fund balance to be 4% higher than the following year’s budget put forth for voter approval in May. But as small districts like Shelter Island have pointed out, there’s a big difference in what 4% amounts to for a small district whose overall budget is low compared with a large district, which could amass several million dollars in an unassigned funds.

Shelter Island was disciplined by the State for several years for maintaining an unassigned fund balance higher than allowed. But the district fund created specific assigned funds to deal with major spending that would otherwise result in new budget votes for sudden spikes in a single year.

One such major expense was paying to upgrade its aged septic systems to state-of-the-art I/A septics without having to spike taxes in a single year. Similarly, planned upgrades to install new security equipment at the school, in line with recommendations from police, couldn’t be undertaken without the repair fund. The changes are necessary to keep students and staff safe from violent intruders, Building and Grounds Director Mike Dunning said.

REGIONALIZATION

Several months ago, the State Education Department put forth a plan for “rationalizing” some courses. What it could have meant was sending students to neighboring schools the State deemed were more advanced in teaching certain courses.

The concern was intrusion into a district’s own ability to upgrade its programs in those areas, disruptions in schedules, and potential costs associated with a mandate. Assistant Superintendent Jennifer Rylott advised the Board of Education months ago to adopt a “wait and see” approach to the State proposal. It wasn’t being implemented immediately, so it was worth delaying any decision to see how a program might be rolled out.

It now turns  out not to be mandated by the state, but offered as an option to districts that could benefit from finding a way to implement some shared courses with schools that were stronger in specific educational areas. How that might work for some isn’t necessarily uprooting its student to take those courses in another district. It could, for example, be achieved by staff determining what the districts showing more progress are doing that could allow local teachers to adapt in their own districts.

Mr. Doelger said the Board of Education discussed the option of not participating in the program now that it is no longer mandated. “We decided to remain in it and constantly reassess as we go,” the superintendent said. “It would be better to have a seat at the table rather than opting out before we see the potential benefits.”

He noted the district can always reverse the decision and opt out if given reason to take that action.