LI delegation in Albany fights for more state aid
by Carolyn James

There's more money coming from Albany to Long Island's school districts as the New York State Legislature adopted its 2007-08 budget, on time last week. While Gov. Eliot Spitzer's initial proposal called for nominal increases to schools in Nassau and Suffolk, intensive lobbying by Long Island lawmakers drove those initial figures up, with Massapequa slated for a 15.38 percent increase or an additional $1.23 million in aid; Plainedge a 15.45 percent increase or $525,000 more in aid; and Farmingdale a 11.12 percent increase or $939,711 more in aid. Those percentages are without the traditional BOCES and transportation aid districts receive. In total, the budget provides an increase of $1.76 billion in education aid.

"There has never been a better budget for education," Spitzer said. "We are providing ample resources, targeting them where they are needed most and insisting on accountability."

"As far as Long Island was concerned, the Governor's initial budget was horrific," said New York State Assemblyman Joseph Saladino (R-Massapequa). "The only reason things turned out better was because the Long Island delegation, par- ticularly the Republicans, would not stand for the Governor's shortchanging our schools and we really put his feet to the fire."

"The governor has to remember that he's no longer in the Attorney General's office coercing and threatening corporate leaders," said Sen. Owen Johnson, in discussing the fight the Long Island delegation faced to bring more school funding to schools in Nassau and Suffolk. "His job, primarily is to administer the state agencies, recommend a budget and it is up to the legislature to modify and adopt it."

The new funding will be tied to accountability measures. School districts will be receiving large Foundation Aid increases of 10 percent or $15 million. Those districts that have substandard performance will be required to develop a Contract for Excellence. This will commit school officials to ensuring that funds are being spent to produce measurable academic results by having smaller class sizes, increased student time on task, full-day kindergarten, teacher quality initiatives and middle school and high school restructuring.

The FoundationAid formula is targeted primarily to districts most in need, with all districts receiving an increase of at least three percent. In line with the FoundationAid formula, originally proposed by the Governor, the enacted Foundation Aid formula links school funding to the cost of a successful education and allocates state aid in a transparent, equitable and predictable manner, he said.

But the devil, as they say, is in the details, and while equity in state aid distribution has been a focus of state lawmakers for years, with some success, the numbers continue to show disparity. For example, Roosevelt and Wyandanch schools, two of Long Island's poorest districts, received an 8.58 percent and 10.87 percent increase respectively, while the Roslyn School District, a much wealthier district, received a 26 percent increase. And while some of that increase takes into account building and infrastructure improvement reimbursements, those districts struggling, continue to struggle.

"Obviously there is more work to be done to bring equity to the system," said Saladino (R-Massapequa).

The increase brings the total school aid in the state to $19.64 billion with Nassau districts receiving approximately $500 million.

"This budget spends $8.3 billion more than last year's budget with New York City schools and programs receiving the lion's share of increases," said Saladino. "The Long Island Republican delegation fought to get our fair share and we are hoping that the school districts use constraint as they put together their budgets for the coming year so that this additional funding is an opportunity for them to give property tax relief."

But the largest portion of the statewide increase is going to New York City schools which one school superintendent inSuffolk described as the state' s way of "rewarding failure."

"We cannot continue to go to our property owners and ask them to foot the bill," said Mel Noble, superintendent of the West BabylonSchool District. "The state is funding approximately 33 percent of the budget now, down from 40 to 45 percent.

For their part, local school officials said they are doing all they can to reduce costs. "We are working with the county commission to reduce costs through shared services and to consolidate health insurance plans," said Neil Lederer, superintendent of schools in Lindenhurst and president of the Suffolk County Superintendent's Association."W e are not facing a spending issue; we have a revenue issue."

The budget also provides the following:

+a new STAR program cateogry for middle-class taxpayers and increased benefits for seniors. STAR benefits will increase by $1.8 billion or $5.3 percent over the next three years and be available to taxpayers based on income up to $250,000 a year on a sliding scale. Under the change 94 percent of all homeowners inNew York will receive at least some tax relief under the program;

+expanded Child Health Plus for families with incomes of up to 400 pervent of the federal poverty level. This is expected to help some 900,000 uninsured adults and children obtain coverage.

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