The Register-Star published an article today about Governor Kathy Hochul's proposed budget and its possible impact on state funding to public schools: "Proposed state budget sees $6.3 million funding decrease for Columbia County Schools." For readers in the Hudson City School District, here's the relevant information: The budget as it is currently proposed would reduce state funding to HCSD by 10.5 percent, from $26.8 million to $24 million. If this should happen, it will be interesting to see how HCSD deals with a decrease of $2.8 million in its budget, which for the current school year is $54.5 million. COPYRIGHT 2024 CAROLE OSTERINK
Typical state budget season jockeying no doubt. We'll see how good our local state legislators are in this game of tug-of-war, especially in an election year. If it does end up falling short, with a school district that has one of the highest per pupil costs in the state (and country), I'm sure they can find the difference in the couch cushions. And by that I mean the many redundant administrators that we've accumulated while the student population decreased. I will say though that the current board seems to be the most budget minded one in while, so we'll have to wait and see.
ReplyDeleteNot sure who Union Jack is, but he's probably right that our local legislators can pull something off on restoring state funding. And he's not too far off about the per pupil costs and "many redundant" administrators. But he's way off in calling the current BOE "budget minded." The redundant administrators is one hint of its budget blindness, which includes how it spends our money educating our children. It made a terrible hire of a superintendent, who ransacked the district before quitting in less than a year on the job. No apology, much less an explanation of how much the chaos she created cost us (and our kids). --peter meyer
ReplyDeleteHa! Well, I just mean more "budget minded" in recent times since last year was the first year they didn't automatically raise taxes in a long time.
DeleteIt doesn't seem that long ago when budget was $42,000,000, maybe 10 years ago?
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