School officials: State spent stimulus early

Federal stimulus money allowed Bellmore-Merrick school districts to patch holes in their budgets caused by state aid cuts last spring, but that may not be the case entirely this year. In December, the cash-strapped state used part of its 2010-11 federal stimulus money to prevent midyear reductions in state aid for education in the current school year, said Matt Anderson, a state Budget Office spokesman.

When Gov. David Paterson called for a special session of the Legislature in November, he asked for across-the-board cuts in the state budget, but the Legislature balked. Instead, of the nearly $1.12 billion in federal funding allotted for the schools in 2010-11, $391 million was moved into the 2009-10 budget. The Legislature reached its decision in December on the final day of the four-week special session.

Assemblyman Dave McDonough, a Republican from North Merrick, said the decision to take an advance on the federal stimulus money came as part of a $2.7 billion deficit reduction plan proposed by the governor on Dec. 2.

The stimulus money "was used when it was needed," McDonough said. "You were borrowing from tomorrow to pay for today."

Though the state wound up having to reduce its aid allocations in December, the cuts to education could have been larger if the 2010-11 federal dollars were not used, Anderson said.

"The governor has proposed a $1.1 billion year-to-year reduction in education funding," he said. "We believe that is a manageable reduction that won't impact educational quality or property taxpayers."

Anderson said Long Island school districts have unrestricted reserves that state officials believe can be used to fill gaps in their budgets. The state will also begin to allow districts to tap into their restricted reserve accounts. To do so, districts will need to receive approval from the state comptroller's office.

All five Bellmore-Merrick area school districts are just starting to work on their budgets for the 2010-11 school year, and local officials said they first heard that the state had already used part of its 2010-11 federal money last week.

Jay Breakstone, the Bellmore Board of Education vice president, said at a Jan 19. meeting that he had only recently heard of the state's early use of the stimulus money. The state "has promised to make it up," Breakstone said, but he remains skeptical.

About 65 percent of the original stimulus money is available for 2010-2011 school budgets. And, while local districts are just becoming aware of the fact that less federal stimulus money will come their way next year, they do not yet know how it will affect their budget planning.

North Bellmore Superintendent Arnold Goldstein said his district received about $940,000 in federal stimulus money this school year. "We stand to get about $316,000, $317,000 [in 2010-11], but it doesn't seem to us to be in addition to what we normally get," he said. "It seems like it's in lieu of what the state would send, so in other words, it's a way of supplementing so we don't get a cut this year."

Cynthia Strait Régal, the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District’s assistant superintendent for business, said, "Everything is so up in the air at this point. I don't see how they can totally make us whole, but I'm hoping that it certainly isn't as bad as what we're seeing right now."

North Merrick Superintendent David Feller noted that with less federal money, schools could be left "cutting programs or raising taxes to a level our community would find unacceptable. We'd be in between a rock and a hard place."

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Proposed aid cuts

for Bellmore-Merrick

Last week, Gov. David Paterson released his proposed reductions in state aid for education in 2010-2011.

Bellmore Elementary School District

Proposed cut: $479,487

Percentage change from 2009-10: -11.96%

Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District

Proposed cut: $2,177,815

Percentage change: -11.41%

Merrick Elementary School District

Proposed cut: $545,147

Percentage change: -10.63%

North Bellmore Elementary School District

Proposed cut: $906,975

Percentage change: -7.96%

North Merrick Elementary School District

Proposed cut: $381,757

Percentage change: -6.05%