Over the last few years, Gov. Kathy Hochul has brought school funding up to record levels in New York state by fully funding the primary school aid formula that funds schools. 

But according to education stakeholders, under her 2.4% increase this year, many school districts will see a decrease in their aid allotment, which may result in drastic reductions to student programming and opportunities. The reason? Inflation is at 4.1%. 

“If you do the math, we have a deficit,” Executive Director of the Statewide School Finance Consortium Dr. Rick Timbs told Capital Tonight. 

According to Timbs’ analysis, 337 school districts across the state will see their aid cut by $167 million if the governor’s executive budget is adopted. 

“So, you have districts that are rural, small districts, some suburban districts, whereby hundreds of thousands dollars, sometimes millions of dollars are being subtracted from their state aid payments,” he said. “There’s a great deal of dissatisfaction.”

The education budget hearing is scheduled for Feb. 1.