This year’s state budget is a boost for the school budget in New Paltz, one that allows administrators and board members more time to adapt to the reality that enrollment in the district has been declining in recent years. In a rare show of defiance, state legislators rejected Governor Cuomo’s proposal of skimming money off the top of federal aid destined for schools and instead passed a spending plan that’s intended to actually pay all the money that lawmakers have been shorting to schools during Cuomo’s reign. Trustees received updates on the state and fate of the district at their first meeting in person in over a year, on April 21.
According to Angela Urbina-Medina, the superintendent, there won’t need to be any program cuts in the next school year and there will also be money to pave the “road to recovery” for students in the form of academic intervention, as well as additional social and emotional supports. These are challenges faced coast to coast by schoolchildren, Urbina-Medina stressed. This will include summer programs through BOCES and hiring an additional social worker. The money will also be used to pay for the additional equipment and protocols needed to comply with current rules, such as the continuing practice of “deep cleaning” in the buildings.
There are a lot of children failing right now. Urbina-Medina shared statistics from secondary students: 105 kids in middle school are failing at least one subject, while in the high school 75 students are failing one class and 77 are missing the mark in two or more courses.
School officials continue to maintain a bus fleet rather than contracting with any private company, and three buses need to be replaced in the coming school year. In recent years, the question of bus replacement has sometimes been separated from the full school budget on the ballot, suggesting that this is seen as a contentious issue which could sway whether the budget gets passed or not. That was done under the prior superintendent and business administrator and is not a tactic being employed this time around.
Work on the wellness center in the high school will also be completed.
Perhaps the most important impact of the state budget is that foundation aid — the core form of money from Albany — is being slowly restored. Past budgets have kept the level of aid the same on paper, but the amount actually delivered was shorted to balance the books in Albany. Now there is a commitment to bring that money back up to its official level over the course of three years. Sharifa Carbon, the assistant superintendent for business, explained that foundation aid will be funded at 60% this year. It remains to be seen if politicians will keep to that promise, but board trustees appear hopeful that they will.
Urbina-Medina stressed that school leaders are nevertheless “not in a position to go on a spending spree.” Carbon agreed and ticked off a number of fiscal pressures: in addition to the impacts of the pandemic, there are continuing capital and safety improvements needed in all the buildings, special education expenses are on the rise and enrollment has been falling. It’s unclear how that trend will shape up in the future, however, as the number of students in Duzine — the youngest in the district — is projected for an increase next year, while all the other schools will have a lower number of students. It’s possible that the latest flight of New York City residents to this area during the pandemic will result in a reversal of the trend, but Carbon told trustees that planning for a smaller district is the prudent move.
Join the family! 
