Established in 2007, foundation aid is the largest form of state funding for school districts across New York. Unlike other state education aid, foundation aid is much more flexible. This kind of aid is based on general enrollment in the school district, as well as the general wealth of the district, unlike other aid that requires specific claims for reimbursement.This aid is used to meet the unique, district-specific issues the students and teachers of a district could run into. Foundation aid is crucial to the development and continued success of schools across New York.

Year after year, there has been a consistent increase in foundation aid for schools across New York. Unfortunately, in Governor Hochul’s 2024-25 Executive Budget Proposal, significant changes were attempted in order to cut costs. Her proposal would have cut foundation aid for 337 out of 676 (50%) of the schools across the state. Schools could have been forced to lay off teachers, reduce school programming and increase class sizes. This is not the place to cut costs. Investing in the schools of New York is an investment in the future.

In our district, we would have seen a $19.2 million increase in foundation aid. However, 14 school districts would have seen a decrease in the amount of foundation aid they received. Although total foundation aid increased within our district, it would not have been distributed properly, and many districts would have suffered from these changes. This would have crippled small school districts across our counties.

Fortunately, there was bipartisan opposition to this proposal by Governor Hochul. Members from both sides of the aisle understand the damage that would be done to schools if foundation aid is removed. Unfortunately, because the state budget is continuously delayed and unfinalized, school districts were relying on the estimates shown in Governor Hochul’s executive budget proposal to finalize their yearly budgets. Without a finalized state budget, schools struggle to understand how much foundation aid they are truly going to receive.

Thankfully, foundation aid was secured in this year’s budget. School aid should not be a leveraging tool for political ideologies to wage war on one another. This is an issue that cannot be politicized; the future of our children is unquestionable.