Slight Increase in State Aid for Port Washington Schools

The State Department of Education released its preliminary district aid estimates for 2013-14 this week. A total of $20.81 billion was recommended statewide, a year-to-year funding increase of $610.30 million or 3.02 percent.

Port Washington Public Schools will receive a .22 percent increase in state aid from last year, a $14,709 increase. For the 2012-13 year the district received $6,828,124. For the 2013-14 academic year, it is estimated to receive $6,842,833.

As the district looks to setting a 2013-14 budget, it currently faces a shortfall of $4.5 million, said Mary Callahan, the assistant superintendent for business, at Tuesday’s school board presentation. That presentation included a historical overview of district costs, and is available online, as is a webcast of Tuesday's meeting.

An official budget presentation will be held the school board meeting at Schreiber High School on Feb. 5, when it hopes to be able to plug in new information into the tax levy formula from entities including the Teachers’ Retirement System and Nassau County.

Meanwhile, the school board is looking at officially increasing class, and ways to bring in new sources of revenue for the district.

“The financial realties are something we have to face,” said School Board President Karen Sloan. Encouraging feedback via email on the budget, she added that she hoped to “arrive at something as a community that we can all support.”