Editorial

It’s time to restore full state aid to schools

Posted

In his State of the State address on Jan. 13, Gov. Andrew Cuomo promised to end the Gap Elimination Adjustment that school districts across the state have been subject to by 2017-18. That’s a major step in the right direction, but we’d like to see aid fully restored this year.

The Gap Elimination Adjustment was implemented for the 2009-10 school year. To help close a large budget deficit, the state cut $1.5 billion from education spending. Since then, the state has been reducing the amount of money it has taken away from districts. But districts across the state — and especially here on Long Island — are still short hundreds of millions of dollars thanks to the GEA.

State Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan promised to eliminate the GEA this year, saying in his opening remarks at the Senate’s first session of the year on Jan. 7 that there would be no budget until it was eliminated. This promise could not come at a better time for school districts. Any time is a good time for more state aid, but this year, thanks to a rate of inflation that’s approaching zero, districts are likely to face a tax levy cap hovering around that number as well — meaning they won’t be able to raise taxes.

While that may sound like a win for taxpayers, it means that with rising costs in the form of salaries, health care, retirement contributions and more, districts will be stuck with the same budgets in 2016-17 that they have this year. To eliminate their own budget gaps, districts could be forced to make some painful cuts.

Ending the GEA this year would help mitigate that pain for many districts. It’s just a political promise at this point. Residents need to write to their state representatives and demand that the GEA come to an end now.