District Contact Information

Daniel T. Connor
Superintendent

227 Main Street
Goshen, NY 10924
(845) 615-6720

Central School District

District news

Goshen to see loss in state aid under Governor’s proposed budget

February 3, 2012 - Governor Andrew Cuomo’s executive budget proposal for the 2012-13 fiscal year includes an $805 million increase in educational aid for New York school’s – an increase of 4.1 percent over the current year.

However, this increase does not equate to all school districts in the state receiving a 4 percent increase in state aid for next year.

Approximately $290 million of the promised aid can be considered a true increase in state aid for our public schools. The rest of the $805 million increase will be divided into competitive incentive grants for schools through an undetermined process ($250 million) as well as expenditure-driven aids, such as transportation, building and BOCES aid ($265 million).

What does this mean for Goshen Schools?

Based on the Governor’s proposal, the projected state aid after adjustments slated for Goshen Schools is approximately $10.9 million – an increase of about $214,000 or 1.98 percent over the district’s current budget revenues for state aid. But the projected increase in aid for our district is not as cut and dry as it may appear.

Federal funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, known as the Education Jobs Fund
(EJF), will end this year. The district’s loss in EJF monies – or $634,341 – was not included in the projected state aid figure. Losing these funds turns what appears to be an approximate $214,000 gain in state aid into an approximate $420,000 loss in aid over the current year.

In addition, the Governor is also proposing that school district’s pick up part of the county’s preschool special education costs. At this time, the formula for figuring out this amount is unclear; however, this places an additional expense onto districts and would be deducted from the promised state aid amount.

“The loss of the Education Jobs Funding coupled with the possible expense of preschool special education provides a funding cliff for our schools,” said Assistant Superintendent for Business Robert Miller. “The district is in the midst of budget planning for 2012-13 and will continue to refine its projects in the coming weeks; however, the Governor’s proposal confirms that this will be another tough year for our schools.”