Assemblyman Thiele: Assembly Budget Proposal Increases School Aid, Fully Phases in Foundation Aid Over 3 Years
Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr. today announced that he helped pass the Assembly’s 2021-22 state budget proposal that includes $29.5 billion funding to General Support for Public Schools (GSPS), an increase of $3.1 billion or 12 percent over the 2020-21 School Year (SY).
The proposed budget also increases Foundation Aid by $1.4 billion and fully phases Foundation Aid in over three years. As part of this increase, the Assembly’s plan would provide that school districts receive at least 60 percent of their Foundation Aid funding for SY 2021-22. Foundation Aid would be funded for a total of $19.8 billion. In the 1st Assembly District, this is especially impactful in the Riverhead Central School District and the Hampton Bays School District, which have been extremely underfunded and have remained below 50% for full implementation of Foundation Aid. Under the Assembly spending plan, Riverhead CSD would receive a total of $29,980,888 in Foundation Aid (an increase of $12,762,123) and Hampton Bays would receive a total of $6,115,329 (an increase of $1,969,147).
In addition to state funding, New York has received over $12 billion in federal funding to address pandemic related education costs, including but not limited to remediating learning loss, ensuring that school facilities are properly equipped to keep students and staff safe, purchasing supplies to sanitize and clean facilities, purchasing education technology, providing mental health services and support, and addressing the needs of low-income students, students with disabilities, English language learners, migrant students, students experiencing homelessness, and children in foster care.[1]
Assemblyman Thiele stated, “While a year of the COVID-19 pandemic has affected us all, it’s been especially difficult for our students, parents and teachers. The Assembly has always made it an utmost priority to invest in our schools and will continue to do so. I am proud to support this budget proposal, which provides essential funding to our school districts here on the East End and across the state.”