By: JOSEPH KELLARD
The decrease, however, would not be as significant as it appeared on paper, Price said, in part because there was "some foul-up on paperwork in Albany," and because of some recent developments in Island Park's district.
Price indicated that the district's base aid in the proposed budget generally remained the same. However, he explained, changes in areas of expenditure or reimbursement aid -- specifically excess private costs and BOCES aid -- that indicate how much a district has spent, will be the major indicators of the district's decreased aid.
In 2003-04, Island Park received $46,065 for excess private costs; Pataki's projected proposal for this item in 2004-05 is $2,275. Island Park received $349,053 for BOCES last year, and $217,243 is the projected aid for 2004-05.
"The base aid is staying about the same, which is what I expected," Price said. "The expenditure aid has always fluctuated depending on the money spent in a given year, so if you had a bubble, it's reflected in that."
This year Island Park has three fewer children in private school special education, the cost of which is reflected in excess private costs.
BOCES aid decreased because the district is spending less in this area, after being reimbursed last year for a major technology project that involved several upgrades, such as installing high-speed lines and general rewiring.
"Decreases in these areas are just a given," Price said. "We have nothing to debate there."
Asked about the general aid package the state has proposed for Island Park, Price said simply, "Are we thrilled? No. We would like to see more."
Since Governor Pataki took office in 1994, annual school aid has increased 48 percent, which raised New York's school spending per pupil to the highest in the nation. In 2002-03, New York's spending of $11,515 per pupil was 47 percent above the national average of $7,829.
About the paperwork "foul-up" in the state Education Department, Price said that Island Park sent its data regarding summer tuition, but "for whatever reason [the state] did not have the 10-month tuition for these children. When you send forms to the state, if the kids were in a summer program you do from July and August, and then the forms for September through June are separate. For whatever reason, it appears at this point all they had was the July and August deals, and not the other ones. But this has been straightened out."
Price said that he won't know what the final numbers will be until "I see another run. I know it's still going to be less, but not nearly as dramatic."
The state Education Department did not return calls for a request to comment about its alleged mishandling of the district's data.
