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Mostly Cloudy State delays school aid payments
No cuts yet, but officials concerned for next year
Valley Stream school officials say their districts will be able to cope with the recent withholding of school aid by Gov. David Paterson, but are concerned there could be deep cuts next year.
Paterson, citing a “cash-flow crunch,” has ordered $750 million in reductions in scheduled December payments to help keep the current-year budget balanced.The reductions include withholding about $16.4 million in state aid to Long Island schools.
The Valley Stream Central High School District had about $100,000, or 10 percent, of its December state aid payment withheld. Superintendent Dr. Marc Bernstein said that it is only a deferral of the payment and the district is still expecting to receive that money in the future.
“If it becomes a cut,” he said, “then we will have to absorb it. It will affect our fund balance but not our operation of the 09-10 school year.” Bernstein added that it is his belief that legislative action would be required for anything beyond delaying a state aid payment.
District 13 did not receive about $36,500 of its December payment. The withholding in District 24 was about $16,670 and District 30 will be waiting on about $28,000.
“We can handle the reduction in revenue for now,” District 13 Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Lison said. “We’ll have to see in January when the bills come in. We have to meet payroll which is a huge piece.”
Lison said the district has about $1.6 million in its unreserved fund balance. That money, she said, can be used for emergency expenses, unanticipated revenue reductions and variances in cash flow. “A million-six will carry us for a while,” she said, “but you hate to use all of your fund balance for that.”
A coalition of state education associations have filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of the governor’s action to delay state aid payments. Those groups include the New York State United Teachers, New York State School Boards Association, New York State Council of School Superintendents and the School Administrators Association of New York State.
