Did You Know? Facts and Figures About Long Island, Part II

More: Did You Know?

Today’s Topic: Enrollment Shares are Important in computing aid.  Take a  look at these numbers!

Enrollment Shares on Long Island - 2012 – 2013:

Nassau          203,683 students     7.5% of total state
Suffolk           251,406 students     9.3% of total state
LI Total          455,089 students    16.8% of total state

• Currently, Nassau receives aid amounting to $4,099 per student.  If our aid share matched our enrollment share, the new amount per pupil would be $7,514 per child, amounting to an 83% increase.
• Key Terms for Your Understanding: Two basic aid categories supply state aid on Long Island:
  • Formula Aids – Driven by wealth and needs; Discretion is derived locally on how money is spent.
  • Expense Driven Aids (expenditure thresholds with strings attached on spending)
    • Categorical aid and grants – examples include textbook, software, hardware aids
    • Reimbursement aid – examples include building, transportation, BOCES and special education.
• Formula and Expense Driven Aids as a Percent of Total Aid:
  Of total aid received, Nassau receives 17.9% in formula aid and 82.1% in expense aids.  This means that 82% of the aid is tied to funding that is not discretionary.  If we incorporated Suffolk, Long Island would have 71.8% of funds tied to expense aids and 28.2% of funds attached to formula aids.  Note that this is not the case throughout the state.  Long Island’s aids’ receipts are severely imbalanced with the rest of the State!
• The Governor has distributed $550 million in state aid, but still retains roughly $300 million for use in “competitive grant funding,” not designated, but may possibly include:
  • Three grant programs outside of the normal course of funding schools
    • Pre-Kindergarten for high needs districts ($25 million)
    • Additional time to extend school day or school year (20 million)
    • Social and health benefits for schools (competitive) 

How Do We Get More State Aid to Long Island?

What You Can Do:

• Enlist Long Island’s nine senators' support through letter writing, phone calls and face-to-face conversations.  Tell them that we want more aid to match the quantity of students educated on Long Island.  12% is not enough when we educate 17% of the students.
• Participate in upcoming Board of Education meetings.
• Enroll in NYSUT’s MAC application to easily send faxes to your legislators.  NYSUT is 600,000 strong – We need to put a face on that number.

**********

Your voice is needed in assisting our communities, our students, our teachers. 

**********