Valley Stream districts get first look at state aid estimates

Three out of four Valley Stream school districts will be getting an increase in state aid for 2012-13 school year, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposed state budget released last week.

Combined, Districts 13, 30 and the Central High School District will receive about $1.1 million more in aid, if Cuomo’s budget proposal is approved by the Legislature as is. District 24 would lose about $43,000.

“It was better than I thought, especially when I look at what other districts in the state and Nassau County received,” high school Superintendent Dr. Bill Heidenreich said about the governor’s proposal, which would increase aid to his district by more than $800,000. “We were on the high end.”

While total state aid to school districts is increasing 4 percent, a promise Heidenreich said he is pleased that Cuomo kept, the high school district’s aid proposal is even better — a 5 percent hike.

The aid figures released last week include revenue breakdowns for all school districts. Foundation aid, the basic assistance to school districts, remains at the same level as the 2008-09 school year. Other state aid amounts, such as BOCES, transportation and technology, are based on a district’s costs. When all those figures are totaled, the state reduces its aid by making a “Gap Elimination Adjustment” to each district to help close the state’s budget deficit.

The Gap Elimination Adjustment won’t be as drastic for the coming year as it was for the current school year. Valley Stream school officials say they are hopeful for the day when that reduction will no longer be made at all. Heidenreich said that the aid to schools is a reflection on the downturn in the economy and reduced state revenues. “We can’t count on the assistance that we used to get,” he said.

District 13 Superintendent Dr. Adrienne Robb-Fund said the additional state aid will help the district meet the new property tax cap requirements without having to severely cut programs.

“Every little bit helps,” she said. “The increase in state aid, combined with the fact that all of our employees are taking a zero percent increase next year, is helping us as we prepare the budget.”

Next year, in accord with recently settled contracts, members of the teachers and secretaries unions in all four districts will not be getting raises. In addition, the teachers will not be getting their usual longevity-based salary increases.

District 13 would be getting a state aid increase of about $140,000 next year, or 1.64 percent more. District 30 is getting 4 percent more, or about $200,000.

“It’s very positive that there will be some additional support,” District 30 Superintendent Dr. Elaine Kanas said.

Kanas, noting that District 30 has one of the higher tax-levy increases in Nassau County this year, said she doesn’t want next year’s budget to burden taxpayers even further. The additional aid, she said, will help the district build a budget that maintains programs without having to exceed the tax cap. “It can help that much,” she said of the $200,000.

There’s a little more concern in District 24, which is slated to lose money under the governor’s proposal. The reduction is not the result of a direct cut in aid, but the fact that the district has spent less for BOCES services and transportation, costs that are at least partially picked up by state aid.

Superintendent Dr. Edward Fale said that more special education students are now staying in District 24 schools, rather than being sent to BOCES programs. While that change has saved the district money, it is also costing it tens of thousands of dollars in state aid.

Last week, Fale wrote a letter to Assemblyman Brian Curran and state Sen. Dean Skelos, asking them to provide more funding to schools when the Legislature begins its budget debate.

Curran said District 24 is one of three schools in his 14th Assembly District that would lose aid next year under the governor’s proposal. He said the problem is with the formula used to calculate aid to districts, which he said is unfair to Long Island school districts.

Legislative members, Curran said, will fight for their local districts and school officials shouldn’t think these aid numbers are final. “The governor put out his executive proposed budget; this is not the final budget,” Curran said. “The Legislature will take some time to look at it, to evaluate it and to make recommended changes that we see fit.”

Fale noted that the governor’s proposed budget has always been a starting point for school districts, and historically the Legislature has increased aid before adopting the state budget. He said he is hopeful that will be the case this year. “We know we’ve been able to count on them in the past,” he said of local lawmakers, “and we’re hopeful we can count on them again.”