The Port Washington Board of Education is calling on local elected officials for increased state aid as it prepares the budget for the 2021-22 school year.
The district’s Legislative Task Force facilitated meetings with state Sen. Anna Kaplan (D-Great Neck) and Assemblywoman Gina Sillitti (D-Manorhaven) earlier in the year, school board Trustee and task force member Julie Epstein said at the board’s March 2 meeting.
“We are stressing that we need to have that information sooner rather than later so that we can budget accordingly,” Epstein said. “So we are currently as a board doing that work, and we will continue to advocate and continue to ask for that so that we are not caught in the position that we were caught in last year.”
Epstein added that a meeting with U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) is coming for the task force, and the district said in a later statement that a meeting with Nassau County Legislator Delia DeRiggi-Whitton (D-Glen Cove) was also coming.
“As a district, we are committed to fighting for our students, our leaders of tomorrow, to provide the educational opportunities and experiences that they deserve – they should not have to bear the brunt of our state’s struggle to balance its budget,” Michael Hynes, superintendent of schools, said in the statement. “We are grateful to have the support of our local officials as we continue this fight.”
The district said that several aspects of the 2021-22 proposed budget were discussed with officials, including the amount of foundation aid remaining unchanged from last year, and reimbursable expenses being categorized under “services aid,” which may leave the district with a shortfall for those expenses in the future. The task force also submitted close to 2,500 community signatures via a Change.org petition asking that the district receive a “fair share” of funding.
“We are stressing that we need to have that information sooner rather than later so that we can budget accordingly,” Epstein said at the meeting. “We will continue to advocate and continue to ask for that so that we are not caught in the position that we were caught in last year. Now granted, I don’t know if it’s going to make the guidance come any faster. But at least as a board, we’re asking that question and we’re making it well known around the state of New York that Port Washington wants guidance. Now. We don’t want it in August or September when it’s too late. And we would love it now, because we can budget accordingly.”
