In addition, nearly all districts will get grants from the federal American Rescue Plan that are not part of their budgets but that can be targeted at a range of priorities. Districts are looking at very different increases in state aid, and various levels of federal stimulus cash, depending on numerous factors, including student poverty rates and how much they've been shortchanged state aid until now. Richard Del Moro, superintendent of the Middletown school district, told the school board last month that his district’s proposed 0% increase in the tax levy “is the direct result of the increased aid we received from the state of New York.” But he would make no guarantees about the future: “I cannot promise that each and every year there will be a 0% increase, or no increase, on the taxes. But this year, we are able to do it.”