Governor Hochul's $419M Budget Cuts in School Aid; Impacts on Rural Schools

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Governor Kathy Hochul's recent budget proposal would cut $419 million dollars from school aid, and affect nearly 700 school districts in NY, many of them rural. The Foundation Aid program was supposed to even out the allocation of funding to help districts in greater need in rural areas.

Central New York schools like Oriskany, Frankfort, Camden, and Whitesboro will be losing hundreds of thousands of dollars with this budget proposal.

Some districts, such as Oriskany Central School, which will be looking at a 9.7% reduction, said they will be looking at staff and program cuts due to the loss of funding.

At this point, it is still a proposal, and legislators and school superintendents will be meeting to discuss the need for greater funding.