In a unanimous decision, the Locust Valley Central School District opted out of the state regionalization initiative at Monday’s board meeting.
“We have been very vocal in the fight against the New York State regionalization plan,” said Board of Education President Lauren Themis.
The state regionalization plan aims to bridge gaps between districts through collaboration and shared resources. Elected officials and community members have said the initiative is a threat to local control.
On Dec. 9, the Board of Regents clarified that participation in the initiative is voluntary if districts vote to opt out by Jan. 15.
“We will be opting out, hopefully as a board, and giving that directive to our superintendent of schools,” Themis said before the vote.
The board’s decision to withdraw from the state program was unanimous.
Themis said the district is one of 20 in current litigation with the state over the initiative.
The Locust Valley school district previously released a statement with Oyster Bay-East Norwich, Cold Spring Harbor and Massepequea schools in opposition to the plan.
Attorney Nicholas Rigano said the state’s order violates the New York State Constitution and education laws.
“Through regionalization, the Education Department will necessarily blur district lines and intrude on each of these aspects of communities for which it has no legislative delegation to do so,” he said.
Rigano said the initiative violates Education Law 3202, among others.
“Fundamentally, regionalization will allow non-resident students to attend school or use the facilities/resources of districts,” he said.
If implemented, regionalization would allow non-resident students to access school facilities without paying tuition, he said.
Locust Valley will not participate in the initiative. Themis said the community will receive updates as they arise.
The Board of Education also discussed the 2025-2026 budget, which may be affected by recent state aid studies.
The current budget is approximately $96 million, which is an almost $2.5 million increase from the previous year.
Assistant Superintendent of Business Karen Horoszewski said a majority of district funds go towards staff salaries and benefits.
Over 91%, which is approximately $88 million, is paid for by the resident tax levy, Horoszewski said. Almost 6% of the budget comes from state aid.
Horoszewski said last year the district was at risk of losing almost $800,000 of Foundation Aid, a source of state funding. The district did not ultimately lose its funding, she said.
Horoszewski said the Foundation Aid formula was designed to provide equitable funding to districts based on factors like district need, enrollment, and community wealth.
She said last year, Locust Valley received over $2.8 million in Foundation Aid.
With the current Foundation Aid formula, the district should receive approximately $1.1 million from the state, according to Horoszweski.
Locust Valley is classified as a “Save Harmless” district, however, which ensures a district does not receive less state aid than it did in the previous year.
In a recent aid study, there was a proposal to phase out Save Harmless funding, Horosweski said. If this provision is eliminated, the district would lose about $1.7 million, she said.
“We’re really concerned right now about the Save Harmless,” Horosweski said.
“Unfortunately, their recommendations, which we believe are in line with what we’ve seen coming down from Albany, do not favor districts like ours,” Themis said.
She said the district has been “prudent” with its finances in recent years.
The district reserve had $21.6 million as of the end of the 2023-2024 school year, Horoszewski said.
She said in January the board will present an initial budget overview and plans will be sent to the state comptroller in March. The community will vote on the budget in May, she said.
Horoszewski said student enrollment is a factor that the state considers when calculating aid.
Superintendent Kristen Turnow said the district’s current enrollment is 1,827, which includes 370 disabled students, 99 students with learning accommodations, 400 economically disadvantaged students and 84 English language learners.
The number of economically disadvantaged students in the district has “certainly been increasing,” Turnow said.
Currently, 22% of the students enrolled are economically disadvantaged, she said.
Turnow said it’s important to consider enrollment data when budgeting for the district.
“These are our children,” she said. “These are the people we represent.”
