State Aid Increases for Babylon, West Babylon in New Draft

The Babylon and West Babylon School Districts are set to see an increase in state aid under a revised state budget plan released to the public yesterday.

Under the revised plan, the Babylon School District will see a $429,908 increase, or 6.65 percent, from the previous year's total, bringing the district a grand total of $7,438,428 in aid to the budget.

The West Babylon School District will also see an increase of $981,826, or 4.07 percent up from the 2012-2013 school year. West Babylon's total expected state aid for the 2013-2014 school year is now expected to be $27,266,407.

Babylon's increases from the previous draft by Governor Andrew Cuomo came from the "high tax aid" portion of the budget, which was increased over $400,000 from the original draft. West Babylon's increases similarly saw its major increases in "high cost/excess costs," jumping almost $500,000 from the previous draft.

Babylon School District was originally set for a major setback in state aid, seeing a loss of over $99,000, or 1.54 percent down from the 2012-2013 school year's figures. The loss had left the district looking at a higher tax levy to maintain the school's education and extracurricular programs. During a presentation on March 11, the school board expected only a modest increase of around three percent following a state aid revision.

West Babylon School District was not scheduled to lose any aid, but in fact gain from the original draft. The previous estimates put their aid at over $851,000, or 3.6 percent higher from the previous year.