_______ Malverne/West HeMpstead ______
HERALD Malverne Mel comes through
50th straight playoff appearance
Nassau casino plan update
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Vol. 30 No. 7
FEBRUARY 9 - 15, 2023
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Historic boost in state aid for school districts aid is projected to increase 29 percent in the 2023-24 school year, one of the largest increasState aid to school districts es on Long Island. across New York will increase “The state promised exactly significantly next year under the right amount of foundation Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposed aid, and we were able to plan budget, released last week. The accordingly,” Lewis said. “We money — a boost of are extremely 10 percent overall appreciative of that over the cur rent foundation aid.” academic year — Lewis added that wo u l d m e e t t h e Malver ne now state’s legal requireplanned to expand ment for funding its its Spanish lanschool districts. guage program to T h e s t at ew i d e sixth-grade stutotal of $34.5 billion dents, and hire a litin school aid is the eracy coach for the highest in the state’s elementary grades. history. “It is imperative loRNA lEWis T h e A s s e m bly that every child Malverne and Senate will hold become a reader budget hearings, superintendent and writer by the a n d l i ke ly o f f e r third grade,” she their own amendsaid. ments, before the April 1 budget Malverne was scheduled to deadline. Hochul’s spending make a public presentation of plan appears headed for adop- its budget at Tuesday’s Board of tion by both houses of the Legis- Education meeting, after the lature, however, since Demo- Herald went to press. crats control both with superIn the Lynbrook district, majorities. which will see a 27 percent Malver ne Superintendent increase in state aid, district Lorna Lewis said she was grate- officials were scrutinizing the ful that the state was finally implications of the jump in meeting its financial obligations funding. Superintendent Melisto the schools. Malverne’s state Continued on page 16
By MARk NolAN mnolan@liherald.com
W
Mark Nolan/Herald
PAtRiciA cANzoNERi-FitzPAtRick iN the Rockville Centre office that will soon be vacated.
Bringing a local-government perspective to Albany politics By MARk NolAN mnolan@liherald.com
Albany politics can be overwhelming to a newcomer, but newly elected State Sen. Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick is focusing on what comes naturally to her — local government and getting to know people. Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick, a Republican, is the new representative of the 9th Senate District, which encompasses Malverne, Lynbrook and several other communities. But she is certainly no newcomer to politics, having previously served as deputy mayor and trustee in Malverne. Her father, Joseph Canzoneri, is a former Malverne mayor.
Among Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick’s top priorities is advocating for local issues by reaching across the aisle to build relationships with Democrats. “I do believe that local government, village governments in particular, are the most efficient forms of government,” Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick said. “It’s as grass-roots as it gets. They typically provide a great number of services at a very reasonable cost.” However, Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick’s first priority is to find a location for her district office. Because of the redistricting of the state’s Senate map, the Rockville Centre office used by Democrat Todd Kaminsky, who retired from Continued on page 11
e are extremely appreciative of that foundation aid.