By Nicole Falco
Such is the case, school officials say, with Governor George Pataki's annual budget message last week in which significant increases in state aid for Valley Stream's four school districts were missing.
Like districts throughout Long Island and the state, the aid proposed by Pataki for the 2002-2003 school year is essentially "flat" when compared with the state aid the districts received for the current school year.
"The fact that state aid is flat is in effect a decrease because operating costs continue to rise," said Dr. Edward Fale, District 24's superintendent of schools.
While struggling to maintain quality academic programs for the benefit of the children enrolled in Valley Stream's school districts, the four districts have to face rising salaries and double-digit increases in health insurance and transportation costs. In District 24 alone, health insurance costs for employees have increased about 15 percent, according to Fale.
By the numbers
According to the proposed numbers released last week, Valley Stream Central High School District will receive just over $8.6 million in state aid for 2002-2003, which is a 1.9 percent increase over last year's numbers. Valley Stream Union Free School District 13 is slated to receive just over $6.4 million or a 0.9 percent increase. District 30 is scheduled to receive slightly more than $2.8 million or a two percent increase. District 24 is expected to receive a 7.2 percent decrease in state aid for 2002-2003 or $2 million. Dr. Fale said the district expected a decrease because last year they had received a "one shot bullet aid for full-day kindergarten conversion."
Conservative budgeting
"Basically, we have the same amount of state aid that we had in 1999-2000," said Margaret Daugherty, District 13's superintendent of schools. "The real challenge is to put together a budget for the upcoming year...we will be budgeting very conservatively until the state budget is adopted in April."
Many districts will be conservative when figuring out their budget for the upcoming school year. Dr. Ronald D. Valenti, Central High School District superintendent of schools, will be using state aid numbers from the 2000-2001 school year when he submits his budget proposal next month.
"Fifteen cents of every dollar we spend comes from the state...10 years ago 20 cents on the dollar came from the state," Valenti said.
While none of the districts expects to have to cut any of the programs they currently offer, "It's going to hit a lot of districts hard. It hit us hard," said Helen DeSilva, assistant superintendent of Business for District 30. "We struggle to maintain the programs we currently offer while trying to deliver the same quality of education for the children."
One highlight in the governor's proposal, according to Valenti, is that individual districts will now have more freedom in how to spend the state aid.
"One positive thing is having greater flexibility with the [state aid]. Having flexibility is appropriate for fulfilling the needs of each district," Valenti said.
