Board of Education Approves $226.6 MILLION SCHOOL BUDGET. 3.5% Tax Increase. Receives $1.5 Million, 11.1% Increase in State Aid. Ponders Lasting Effective Benefit spending of the Additional Aid. Still Short $11 million in Aid State Owes WP (by state’s own formula!) | WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER 3,374,995 VISITS IN ONE YEAR---65,000 VISITS A WEEK BY 985,281 VISITORS

WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey. April 8, 2019:

The White Plains School Budget for 2019-20 was approved by the Board of Education Monday night, calling for $226,588,509 in spending. The budget increases the tax levy 3.44%, the budget from last year sees spending go up 3.66%. The Tax Rate per $1,000 of assessed valuation moves to $672.66 from $644.66 last year, an increase of $28.

Dr. Joseph Ricca told WPCNR the increase in state aid ( he announced Sunday) over the current school year, 2018-19, was 11%, taking a large step towards receiving the White Plains City School District its appropriate state aid share.

Ricca told WPCNR the White Plains district is only receiving 57% of aid it should receive under the state formula. Ricca quantified that:

He said, if the full share the district is entitled to by formula was restored to the school district, the district would receive $11 Million more dollars in state aid a year.

Ricca said the district would use the new $1.5 Million in state aid to fund projects in the district that would serve the district long into the future and not have to be cut, should the aid not materialize in the 20-21 budget the school year after 2019-20.