Gov’s school aid plan hits local districts hard

Bellmore-Merrick area school administrators said this week that, yes, their districts could cover proposed state aid cuts with their unrestricted reserve funds and federal stimulus dollars, as proposed recently by Governor Cuomo. But, they quickly noted, doing so could leave them with little to no cash on hand for emergencies, and even jeopardize the districts’ long-term fiscal health.

Moreover, school officials said that in many cases their reserve funds would not come close to covering state-mandated increases in the teachers’ retirement system and rising health insurance premiums for district employees. The Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District, for example, has $3.4 million in unrestricted reserve funds and a little over $1.1 million in federal stimulus money. But it is facing a $2.5 million cut in state aid, and its pension and health increases are expected to surpass $4.1 million in 2011-12. The aid cut combined with rising pension and health costs could leave the district with a $2.1 million deficit to close, even if reserve funds are used.

“The [state aid] cuts were more than we thought,” said Dr. Henry Kiernan, the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District superintendent. “It’s going to be very tough for us.” He added that the district is not currently looking to cut programs, though he said he did not want to give too many details about the budget until the district’s first public hearing on it, which was to take place Wednesday, after press time.

Kiernan added that the Central District could face “cash-flow problems” in an emergency if it were to deplete its reserve funds and not have the money to cover whatever crisis it might face in the future.

Kiernan called the governor’s proposal a “one-shot” that would help the state solve its financial crisis now, but he noted that the state would be unable to depend on districts to make up for state aid cuts with reserve funds in 2012-13 because they would be depleted under the governor’s plan in 2011-12.