Long Island school districts will get more than $270 million in additional state aid for the 2025-26 academic year — up nearly 5.4% from the current year — as part of a state budget that will provide a growing share of the region’s education funding.

The financial package for Nassau and Suffolk counties, totaling nearly $5.3 billion, represents a $42 million increase from Gov. Kathy Hochul’s original budget proposal in January. John Hildebrand and Michael R. Ebert report in NEWSDAY that in addition to extra money for school operations, new legislation agreed to by the governor and legislative leaders would also provide for free school meals for all students statewide. Another agreement would impose a bell-to-bell ban on students’ use of smartphones starting in September.

Albany lawmakers passed the state budget, which included a school-aid package totaling more than $37 billion statewide, last night. The latest district-by-district figures were posted on the Assembly's website late Wednesday night, and include all money distributed to schools via numerical formulas. They do not include competitive grants.

Budget approval came more than 30 days late. The state's legal deadline was April 1.

Hochul has defended the extra time spent on budget negotiations, saying that “good things take time.” For example, the governor cited the budget's inclusion of expanded family tax credits covering an estimated 355,000 children on Long Island alone.

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Both houses of the New York State legislature passed Gov. Kathy Hochul’s $254 billion state budget package last night following days of debate and over a month delay past the April 1 deadline. Regional school leaders said that the state’s tardiness made it harder for districts to do their own budget planning, because they didn’t know exactly how much state funding would be available next year.

Under state rules, districts were required this year to complete budget proposals by April 25. Public voting on those plans is scheduled for May 20. John Hildebrand and Michael R. Ebert report in NEWSDAY that out of Long Island's 124 districts, 108 will receive expanded aid under Albany's posted plan. Most districts will see modest gains.

"We are grateful that the budget has finally been approved," said Robert Vecchio, executive director of the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association.

Vecchio added that his organization would advocate in the future for a return to on-time state budgets, so that schools have "all the information they need to meet state required deadlines."

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This evening, a class of 7 honorees will be inducted to the Southampton High School Wall of Distinction which recognizes and celebrates alumni, coaches, teachers, administrators and teams who have had a positive impact on the district and community at large.

Founded in 2014, the 2025 Southampton Wall of Distinction inductees are:

• Bruno “David” Dull
• Kara Romanosky Williams
• Terry Stubelek
• Judy Johnson
• Kathleen Masterson
• Herm Lamison
• The S.H.S. 1982 field hockey championship team

This evening’s event is free and open to the public.

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The traffic experiment conducted for two weeks by Southampton Town and Suffolk County concluded on Friday, May 2, with what Southampton Highway Superintendent Charlie McArdle described as “the best day yet” in terms of the smoothness with which afternoon traffic flowed into and through the County Road 39 corridor between Water Mill and Sunrise Highway. Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that in the wake of the experiment McArdle said he expects the Town of Southampton will make a formal pitch to Suffolk County to find a way to adopt permanent changes to traffic patterns, possibly through restriping portions of road to mimic the effects of the two-week pilot program. Suffolk County engineers are still compiling data collected during the 10 days of the experiment, but observational evidence showed that on most of the days the stoplights were turned off and roadway patterns were changed, traffic flowed much smoother and much quickly out of Southampton to Sunrise Highway — which, in turn, meant fewer vehicles used residential back roads and Southampton Village to bypass the crawling traffic on County Road 39. The design of the program focused on bypassing the stoplights on County Road 39 and Montauk Highway — five in all — to eliminate traffic on the main roads having to stop to allow cars coming off side streets to cross or enter the roadway. McArdle and other town officials have acknowledged that the costs of the recent experiment would be cost-prohibitive in the long term unless some way could be found to reduce the manpower needed. The Town of Southampton and Suffolk County will begin analyzing details of how the program worked and ways it could be brought back, either seasonally or on a permanent basis.

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Long Islanders were surprised, but enthused, about the election of the first American pope, Robert Francis Prevost. Some Catholics saw Prevost, now known as Pope Leo XIV, as a centrist and progressive on Catholic social teachings. Many said they hope he continues Pope Francis' legacy of compassion for the poor and marginalized.

As reported in NEWSDAY, Bishop John Barres, head of the Diocese of Rockville Centre and its 1.4 million Long Island Catholics said he was ecstatic.

“We saw palpable excitement in St. Peter’s Square. And then Pope Leo the 14th walked out,” Barres said. “The entrance of any pope onto the balcony for the first time, you do get a beautiful sense of how the Holy Spirit works.”

The Rev. Frank Pizzarelli, founder of Hope House Ministries in Port Jefferson, said the new pope is "an Augustinian priest who's known for his humility, for his kindness, his directness and his love of the poor. I think he will walk his own chorus but in the spirit of Pope Francis, and hopefully lead us in an even more inclusive way."

Maribel Gomez, president of the Long Island Hispanic Bar Association, said she hopes Prevost’s time in Peru will enhance people’s understanding of the issues immigrants in this country face.

“It's our hope that his experience in Peru … brings a sense of some inclusivity and compassion," Gomez said regarding the newly elected Roman Catholic pontiff – Pope Leo XIV.

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Jamesport Meeting House invites you to celebrate Mother’s Day this Sunday with music at a beautiful Sunday afternoon concert at 4 p.m. in the Jamesport Meeting House. The Jamesport Meeting House Chorus has an awesome concert planned, starting with the contemplative Alleluia by Phillip Hayes plus much more including a sing-along of Peter, Paul and Mary favorites: If I had a Hammer, Leaving on a Jet Plane, 500 Miles, Blowin’ in the Wind, and This Land is Your Land. A donation of $20 at the door is suggested but not required.

The Jamesport Meeting House, erected in 1731, is the oldest public structure on the East End of Long Island. The Meeting House is prized for its superb acoustics as well as its historic significance.

That’s this Sunday at 4pm in the Jamesport Meeting House.

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Seven out of 36 Long Island water districts had at least one "forever chemical" above the new federal limit, including the SUFFOLK COUNTY WATER AUTHORITY, according to a Newsday analysis of federal data. The figure is an annual average of multiple samples. The limits were established by the Biden administration and are being challenged in court by PFAS manufacturers and trade groups. Environmental health experts have said budget cuts planned by the Trump administration could make it impossible to enforce the limits. Since those samples were taken, all the water district managers who responded to Newsday's question said they've added treatment systems. At the Suffolk County Water Authority, for example, a sample taken in 2023 at the Station Road wellfield had 17.4 parts per trillion of PFOS, more than 4 times the federal limit.

All three wells at that site now have granular activated carbon systems — the most recent were installed just last month, according to Jeff Szabo, CEO of the water authority.

Tracy Tullis and Anastasia Valeeva report in NEWSDAY that some other wells in the SCWA district are due to have treatment systems installed in the future.

"We're very confident we'll be fully compliant long before 2029," Szabo said.

Water suppliers, many of which are installing treatment systems, have until 2029 to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency’s new rule about the six “forever” chemicals, so these results don’t yet amount to a violation.

But the drinking water standards are being challenged in court from a lawsuit filed by chemical manufacturers and water providers, which could render that deadline irrelevant. The Trump administration is weighing whether to defend the limits and must respond to the lawsuit by Monday.

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