LI schools could bear brunt of state aid cuts

ALBANY - Almost four years ago, Long Island's Republican state senators forced a new Democratic governor to give the region more education dollars than he had proposed in order to get the state budget passed on time.

Next year, experts said, a similar power dynamic is likely to exist between incoming Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Senate, now that the GOP has won back control of the upper chamber and Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) is poised to become majority leader.

However, there is one big difference between the scenarios: New York's finances and economy have deteriorated substantially since 2007, making it unlikely that more money can be found for schools.

Faced with a budget deficit that tops $9 billion, Cuomo is expected to propose cutting education aid by at least $1 billion, with the largest reductions to affluent school districts in Nassau, Suffolk and elsewhere. He also wants to rein in sky-high property taxes by limiting annual increases from districts and other local governments to no more than 2 percent - thereby restricting their ability to make up for less state aid and forcing them to look to program and staff cuts to compensate.

This sets Cuomo on a collision course with lawmakers and their powerful patron, the New York State United Teachers union, experts say.

"School aid is always a battleground, but never more so than next year," said Elizabeth Lynam, director of state studies for the nonpartisan Citizens Budget Commission. "Schools really are facing large reductions because the federal stimulus money runs out and the state has a huge budget gap."

Lynam and others noted that billions of dollars from Washington in the past two years largely insulated school districts from budget cuts instituted by Gov. David A. Paterson after the worst economic downturn in 70 years. Federal dollars made up for the first declines in state aid to education in modern memory.

Still, school aid totals $24.3 billion in this year's $135-billion budget and will account for $26.6 billion of next year's $144-billion budget, if Cuomo and the legislature make no changes in spending requirements, according to estimates from Paterson's budget office.

Lynam said, "There's no way the state can balance its budget without addressing school aid."

Cuomo has yet to detail his plans, except to say that student achievement should be far higher than it is.

"We are No. 1 in spending in the nation and No. 40 in terms of performance," he said in the gubernatorial debate at Hofstra University in October. "We have to get the costs down, but we also have to get the performance up."

Cuomo wants schools to compete for state aid along the lines of the federal Race to the Top grants. He endorses charter schools and hopes public schools will experiment more with curriculum.

He has indicated he would steer aid reductions to affluent schools. "Districts with the greatest educational need and the least ability to locally fund education must not bear the full brunt of any school aid cuts," his New NY Agenda states.

He also has signaled he would limit state reimbursements for school building projects and transportation, and encourage districts to consolidate and to share on a regional basis purchasing and other services.

Tax cap would hurt districts, critics say

But none of those proposals has attracted the criticism unleashed against his property tax cap initiative.

Opponents forecast teacher layoffs and an end to music and art classes and extracurricular activities because the 2 percent cap will "handcuff" districts' ability to cope with less state aid and soaring costs for employee salaries, health care and retirement benefits.

If the tax cap were implemented, Timothy G. Kremer of the school boards association estimated districts as a group could raise only $229 million annually to pay increases of more than $1 billion per year in personnel costs over the next four years. On Long Island, districts could raise only $97.7 million annually to cover expense hikes of $345.5 million per year over the same period.

Backers of the tax cap disagreed, saying it would serve as a catalyst to reopen labor contracts so districts can lower pension payments and boost employee contributions for health care. Cap supporters also want the legislature to remove costly state requirements on school building projects and automatic wage increases for unionized workers, among others.

"A cap would put intense added pressure on the governor and legislature to deal with state mandates that drive up costs," said E.J. McMahon of the conservative Empire Center for New York State Policy.

NYSUT has vowed to fight the tax cap and school aid cuts, seeking help from lawmakers who depend on the union's campaign cash and get-out-the-vote operation at election time. "I expect good people in the Assembly and Senate to push back" on aid cuts and the cap, said NYSUT president Richard Iannuzzi, a former teacher in Central Islip.

LI lawmakers expect cuts in school aid

Still, area lawmakers predicted last week the tax cap would eventually be adopted in some form in conjunction with mandate relief. They also expect a cut in aid to education.

Assemb. Fred Thiele Jr. (I-Sag Harbor), a member of the education committee, said, "The legislature will attempt to restore aid cut by the governor, but I think it will be very hard to get back to the same level of school aid as this year."

Sen. John Flanagan of East Northport, the top Republican on the education committee, agreed, saying he wants to work with Cuomo to reduce costly state regulations on schools and adopt a tax cap.

However, Flanagan said he and the area's other senators, known as the Long Island Nine, will not permit the region to be shortchanged in school aid as it was for the past two years when Democrats controlled the Senate.

"I have no intention of seeing that happen again nor do any of my colleagues," he said. "If you cut Long Island disproportionally, if you pick a fight, we will fight."