Port Jeff School District Receives a Bit More in State Aid

received $94,800 more from New York State than it did last year, according to Sean Leister, the school’s assistant superintendent for business.

The budget was drafted with the assumption of getting $64,000 more than last year according to Governor Cuomo’s proposed budget but when the final draft was approved the district saw almost $31,000 more than it expected. The final amount the district received was $3,055,913. According to Leister, only $75,600 is specifically earmarked to go to the universal pre-K program.

While the increase is significant dollar wise as a part of the it’s not going to change anything about the budget as presented.

“Every little bit helps,” said Leister. “But it’s not going to have a profound effect on education programs.”

The prime mover of state aid given to districts is based on two factors: enrollment and wealth. According to Leister, the wealth of a district is determined through the census and more importantly, the percentage of children enrolled in free and reduced lunch programs.

Port Jefferson’s bigger share of state aid should be typical of most Long Island school districts. of almost $400,000 in state aid this year.

“Every school should have received an increase in varying amounts,” Leister said.