Twelve Cattaraugus County school districts share $11.8 million in increased education aid in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposed $216 billion budget.
Hochul, in her first budget as governor, proposed state aid of $221.8 million for county schools including a $9.3 million increase in foundation aid to $149.2 million.
The school districts would share $3.4 million in Universal Pre-K funding, $23.1 million for BOCES aid, up $2.3 million; $13.9 million in transportation aid and $26 million in building and reorganization aid.
State legislators will take the governor’s proposed school aid spending and see how it affects the schools in their districts. They will also rely on input from school boards on how it affects them. The Senate and Assembly often add funding on top of what the governor proposes.
The Olean City School District was the biggest beneficiary of the $9.3 million in increased foundation aid for county districts in the governor’s budget, nearly $2.2 million. That is included in Olean’s $2.6 million increase — an 11.2% increase over 2020-21 — to $30.9 million in total state aid. BOCES aid would go up by nearly $500,000 to $3.3 million.
Other districts with large increases in foundation aid include: Allegany-Limestone, up $1,076,944 or 10.3% increase to $11.4 million; Portville, up $1.3 million or 14.6% to $10.7 million; Salamanca, up $997,475 or 6.2% to $17 million, and Yorkshire/Pioneer, up $1.6 million or 5.8% to $29.1 million.
The smallest increase in foundation aid in the county were proposed for the Ellicottville and West Valley school districts. Ellicottville would get an $88,871 increase or 3% to $3 million, while West Valley would get a $1034,746 increase or 3% to $3.5 million.
School districts, their total aid and percent increase include:
