State admits $12 million funding mistake

The state Education Department said Friday that it shortchanged most school districts in New York when distributing federal funding for teacher training last year, and gave charter schools more than their share.

The department blamed “and error in the calculation process” when implementing the new Title II, Part A federal funding formula and said the 278 overfunded schools will have their allocations revised downward for the next five years as a result.

The 687 underfunded districts, including many in the Mid-Hudson Valley, will receive what they are owed, the department said.

The state said $12 million too much went to the charter schools, and $12 million too little went to public school districts.

Most of the underfunded districts will get all of their missing 2017-18 money in the 2018-19 school year, along with that year’s funding, the Education Department said. A handful will receive the 2017-18 payments over a two-year period, and the New York City school system, which was shorted about $7 million, will be repaid over four years.

Mid-Hudson Valley school districts and the extra amounts they will receive in 2018-19 are as follows, according to the state.

• Catskill, $79,695.

• Ellenville, $95,479.

• Germantown, $19,736.

• Highland, $72,794.

• Hyde Park, 126,733.

• Kingston, $332,499.

• New Paltz, $64,473.

• Onteora, $68,212.

• Pine Plains, $33,448.

• Red Hook, $43,013.

• Rhinebeck, $31,151.

• Rondout Valley, $106,447.

• Saugerties, $106,329.

• Wallkill, $103,827.

For the complete state list, go to bit.ly/2KndvVO.