LI school districts' building aid restored

ALBANY -- State lawmakers have agreed to restore millions of dollars of construction aid to five Long Island school districts that lost it after missing paperwork deadlines.

The restoration is included in the education budget bill that is expected to pass Friday.

"It's almost all restored," said Assemb. Philip Ramos (D-Brentwood). "We fought hard because this would have destroyed the quality of education in the schools in Central Islip."

The state building aid is reimbursement to the districts -- spread out over 15 or more years -- for money the districts have already spent on capital projects. Districts borrow to pay for construction, so if the aid is canceled, that means the district has to bear the full cost of the projects they built.

The state had canceled $42 million of aid to Central Islip when paperwork due in 2006 came in two years late. The legislation allows it to get $36.6 million of building aid -- the original amount minus the aid it received in the two years before the paperwork was filed and which it has to repay the state. Ramos said repayment can be spread out over 30 years.

The Assembly had sought full restoration of the aid, but Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's proposal to restore most of it was accepted in the final bill.

Greg Hilton, school business official for Rocky Point, which lost $2.4 million, said the restoration was good news.

"We're certainly happy about it and the taxpayers of Rocky Point will be happy about it," Hilton said. The district would still take modest hit because the paperwork, which was handled by a previous superintendent, had been outstanding for one year, he said. He said they didn't have a dollar figure.

Smithtown expects to get $7.5 million restored out of $10.5 million in the original aid.

Oyster Bay-East Norwich did not respond to a query about how much of the $250,000 it lost would be restored. Peter Daly, interim superintendent of schools in Babylon, declined to comment on how much of the $252,357 it had lost would be restored.

With four out of 11 budget bills passed, including three Wednesday, the legislature appeared on track to pass the budget Friday. The bills passed Wednesday cover public protection, transportation, economic development and the merger of state entities. A budget bill to pay the state's debt passed last week.