School funding freeze: NYS summer programs safe but concerns remain, state says
Students in grades 6-8 in the Levittown School District making bracelets for Reason2Smile, during a summer reading program at Jonas E. Salk Middle School in Levittown, summer 2019. Credit: Kerin L. Slattery
New York public school summer programs are carrying on after the Trump administration refused to hand over more than $6 billion for education programming, slated for such purposes as summer enrichment, adult literacy and after-school projects, state officials said last week.
The state Department of Education said in a July 2 memo that the summer programming would not be affected by the funding freeze and could continue as arranged. The department did not respond to a request this Tuesday on whether other programs funded federally would also be affected.
"New York’s public schools are funded through Aug. 31, 2025, pursuant to a Continuing Resolution adopted by Congress," according to the memo, which was forwarded to Newsday from the department. "Therefore, New York’s summer programs are unaffected by this delay and may proceed as scheduled."
Still, the Trump administration’s move has left some Long Island school district leaders uneasy as to the programming’s future while the U.S. Education Department reviews spending.
And now, despite the continuance of certain summer programs, some within the Long Island education community are advising school districts move with caution in their budgeting for the upcoming year and to contact their congressional representatives about the need for funding.
Long Island school districts get an average of 5% to 10% of their budgets from federal funding, Newsday previously reported, citing Bob Vecchio, executive director at the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association.
"We're paying close attention to future funding from the federal government, because any cuts to federal funding will impact most of the impoverished communities that rely on the funding the most," Vecchio said in a Tuesday phone interview.
He added that the money held back by the Trump administration is needed to help districts fund federal mandates without shifting the burden to local taxpayers. Vecchio advised school districts to move forward cautiously in the budgeting.
At the Hampton Bays schools, summer school and programming began this week as usual, according to Superintendent Lars Clemensen.
But he said in a phone interview that worry about funding freezes remains because schools use the congressionally appropriated funding to make "commitments to kids and families and staff" for programming to meet their districts' goals.
In the meantime, Clemensen, a past president of the New York State Council of School Superintendents, counsels that school districts who use this funding should be more conservative with how they spend, given the funding uncertainties of the freeze and the passage of the recent budget bill.
"But I think what we're learning in 2025 is that we have to proceed with caution ... in all these respects," said Clemensen.
Newsday's Mercedes Hamilton, Maura McDermott and AP contributed to this story
Tiffany Cusaac-Smith is a general assignment reporter for Newsday. She previously worked at USA TODAY and is an alum of Howard University.
