By Jonathan Cronin
School districts in the Five Towns received good news last week when the governor released a budget plan which shows substantial increases in proposed state aid, returning schools to pre-1990 levels of funding.
Throughout the 1990s, local school districts were fuming about diminishing state aid, complaining that the districts were being short-changed because they are considered wealthy. In his recent state-of-the-state message, Governor George Pataki said he plans to revamp the complicated and archaic formula which determines the amount of state aid each school district receives.
Local school districts will be appropriated an average of $5 million in state aid, an average increase of about $1 million.
As part of Pataki's 2001-2002 budget plan, Lawrence Public Schools will receive a proposed $6.8 million in state aid, a 5.5 percent increase over the previous year. Hewlett-Woodmere is slated to receive a proposed $4.3 million in state assistance, up 4 percent.
Richard Braverman, Hewlett-Woodmere school board president, said the district has not received that much state aid since the late 1980s.
In 1989, he said, the district received around $4.5 million in state aid, when the district was managing a $45 million budget. A fiscal crunch arrived the following year and 50 percent of the state's cuts were absorbed by five of the state's wealthiest counties: Nassau, Suffolk, Rockland, Orange and Westchester. Hewlett-Woodmere's state aid then dipped to $3.2 million.
Braverman said he agrees with Pataki that the formula is outdated and almost impossible to understand. "In any redistribution of state aid, it would be the so-called wealthy districts who will see their aid cut," he said.
The state legislature, he said, should implement a measure that states a school district could not receive less funding than the previous year. In recent months a New York City organization brought a lawsuit against the state, suing for more state aid funding for city schools. As a result, a supreme court judge ordered an extra $1 billion be given to city schools. The judge also said in his ruling that the formula for state aid was unfair and gave the state until September to come up with something better.
Pataki has decided to appeal the ruling, arguing that this sort of decision-making should be left to the state legislature, not to a judge.
"They [the state] decide what everyone will get and work backwards plugging numbers into the formula," Braverman said of the formula.
He added that the formula does not take into account regional costs to the school district, which is the difference that proves to be unfair. Nassau County residents pay more in income and property taxes, which is why Nassau school districts get less state aid. The state does not take into account Nassau's higher cost of living.
State Comptroller Carl McCall, who has been fighting to change the formula, said the distribution of state aid is more complex every year. About 40 different aid and grant categories are calculated to determine how much state assistance each school district is given.
McCall said he "supports the idea of appointing an independent panel of experts to analyze the state's options for responding to the [supreme] court decision and helping to clarify and focus the debate."
Janet McCauley, Lawrence's assistant superintendent for business, said district officials are very pleased that their state aid was increased from last year, but they still need more. "It's never enough," she said. Because Lawrence is such a wealthy district, the district receives no state aid to upgrade its buildings, she said. To bring up the amount of state aid they receive, they are very aggressive in signing up economically disadvantaged students for free and reduced lunches, she said.
She said that she supports the idea of revamping the formula. "Obviously we want equity for all students." She added that she would like to see the state pay for extra help for the new state assessments and testing requirements, as well as extra help for students on the weekends.
Dr. Paul Kelleher, Lawrence superintendent, said "I think the whole system for funding public education in New York is antiquated, unfair and problematic."
He said that states across the country are awash in big surpluses because of the economic boom. He said that local districts are burdened with higher property taxes and therefore less state aid. Kelleher believes more state money should be used for education. Overall, the percentage of state money earmarked to aid schools is relatively small, he added.
