Ravally: District Working To ‘Lessen Impact’ Of State Aid Reduction For FY2023 Budget

Preliminary budget set for March 17 vote.

School officials are working on how to absorb a $33,000 reduction in state aid without it having an adverse impact on programs and services.

The district is slated to receive $15,621,841 in state aid for FY 2023, according to figures released by the state earlier this month.

The Board of Education will vote on the District’s preliminary $204 million budget at its March 17 meeting.

An April 28 public hearing has been scheduled for the budget.

The district’s share of K-12 aid is $33,049 less than it received in FY 2022.

Other state aid the District is receiving includes $5,672,994 in equalization aid, $1,634,154 in transportation aid, $6,733,247 in special education aid and $1,581,466 in security aid.

In addition, the District will receive $7,765,640 in preschool aid.

The District’s preliminary $203,871,228 total budget – a 6.2 percent increase over FY 2022’s figure – is powered by a $158,195,280 tax levy, up 1.5 percent from 2022.

The preliminary budget’s general fund of $175,779,330 is up 2.1 percent from the FY 2022 figure, and the general fund’s $150,903,948 tax levy represents a 1.9 percent increase from FY 2022.

In a written statement, schools Superintendent John Ravally said a cut in state aid “is always concerning and obviously presents challenges since it has a direct impact on the district’s ability to offset increases in district expenses.”

“With that said, the Board of Education will work with district administrators to lessen the impact of the loss and make sure it leverages all other available funding sources to ensure essential programs are preserved for our students,” Ravally wrote.

Ravally wrote that the state aid cut will not impact the school tax rate because “State Aid is an independent revenue source. The only impact is on appropriations.”

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