Money Talks - State Aid & Long Range Financial Planning

March 14, 2025

• John Brucato, Assistant Superintendent of Finance & Operations, Briarcliff Manor UFSD 
• Dr. Ron Clamser, Jr., Assistant Superintendent for Business, Putnam Northern Westchester BOCES

As we return to the Money Talks webinar series in Education Finance, we want to thank local business officials, John Brucato and Ron Clamser, Jr. for providing a board level perspective on changes to state aid and adopting a long term financial plan.

What is State Aid and what changes are in the works?

• Foundation Aid (the primary source of aid for schools) has lots of inter-connected pieces that make it hard to predict a district’s aid, as any piece of the formula will change the outcome.
• The Rockefeller Institute studied how Foundation Aid works, and the Governor has accepted a few of their recommended changes, and the legislative one-house budgets have included additional recommendations.

How do you optimize long range planning for your school district?

• Planning anything beyond five years is increasingly speculative, so 3-5 years is the optimal time frame to plan for.
• Forecasting models exist to aid in long range planning.
• One helpful tool is to simulate “what if” scenarios to help evaluate and plan programs and to prepare for contract negotiations.
• Looking ahead helps you foresee what will need to be addressed, such as potential changes to the Foundation Aid Formula, the future of district demographics, and changing student needs.
• Being able to model potential scenarios allows for a range of options to be considered, especially when you don’t have clarity on some basic assumptions and when planning for projects that take years from conception to execution.
• The school business official should not do this work independently but should lead the team of district leadership through the process.
• If the district has developed a strategic plan, the financial plan should reflect on and support the priorities of the district.

Click below for the full presentation.