Editor’s note: This letter was provided by the Pelham School District.

Dear Pelham Community,

Just over a week ago, the New York Assembly, Senate and Governor enacted the 2019-20 state budget that allocated additional state aid to our District and included a variety of policy items that were important to the Pelham Public Schools and other districts in our region and state.

You may recall that in March, the Board of Education’s Community Engagement and Advocacy Committee sent an email asking for your help in urging our representatives in Albany to make a number of changes to the initial budget proposal. As it always does, our community responded and it is clear that your letters and your support for public education made a difference.

On balance, the Pelham Public Schools will receive approximately $316,000 in additional aid than what had been previously been projected. The vast majority will come in the form of BOCES Aid and is a result of defeating a proposal to impose a cap on this funding. Notably, the District also received a small increase of about $46,500 in Foundation Aid. Despite the increase, our District still only receives approximately 51% of the Foundation Aid that is due under the current funding formula and we expect to continue our advocacy efforts on this front again next year. The Board of Education is considering options for how to allocate this new funding, ensuring that our own budget continues to benefit our students and provide an excellent educational system.

In addition to rejecting the cap on BOCES and other expense-driven aids, a proposal to change how the state calculates Building Aid was also defeated. This change could have lowered the amount of aid the District receives for the projects included in the 2018 Capital Bond. Thankfully our building aid ratio actually increased slightly using the current calculation structure.

Finally, after several years of advocacy, the state will now allow school districts to establish a Teacher Retirement System reserve. The creation and funding of such a reserve could provide the District flexibility to offset large swings in annual mandated teacher retirement contributions.

Again, we are extremely thankful for your advocacy efforts and support for our District, its teachers, and most importantly, the students of Pelham.

Sincerely,