Record state aid cuts for LI schools

Long Island schools face record cuts in state-aid dollars -- reductions that will mean painful choices between fewer student services and higher property taxes.

In Albany, state lawmakers Wednesday night worked out final details of a package that cuts about $1.2 billion in education aid statewide, down from $1.5 billion originally sought by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

Even with the aid's partial restoration, the Island's schools stand to lose more than $110 million next year -- and possibly more than $200 million, depending on how reductions are calculated. That's on top of $81.3 million in losses this year.

The full extent of next year's cuts was unclear late Wednesday night because of a change in accounting. In releasing the new aid figures, lawmakers removed more than $89 million in federal jobs money received this year by the Island's schools. Cuomo had included those figures in his calculations.

This had the effect of making next year's state-aid reductions appear far smaller than those Cuomo had proposed. Lawmakers contended Wednesday night that the accounting change was fair, because the federal jobs money was a "one-shot" infusion not meant to be renewed next year.

In any case, the decline in aid two years running means local educators are confronting their grimmest financial prospects in 20 years.

"We appreciate anything the legislature can do to ease the impact on kids," said Tom Rogers, superintendent of the regional Nassau Board of Cooperative Educational Services. "But at the same time, we recognize that the amount they'll be able to restore will pale in comparison to the amount that was cut."

At recent budget forums across the Island, residents have debated potential cuts in services ranging from full-day kindergartens to college-level course electives. Higher taxes are looming, too. A recent survey by the State School Boards Association found that 30 percent of superintendents responding statewide expected rate increases of at least 4 percent -- nearly double the inflation rate.

Mounting financial pressures were underlined Tuesday night in Deer Park, where about 70 parents jammed a school board meeting to protest the potential closing of a local day care center. The private Little Scholars center currently rents space in one of the district's vacant elementary schools.

Parents say the center provides crucial supervision for their children, starting at 6:30 a.m. when many commute to work. They add that the potential closing threatens to disrupt their schedules.

"It's very nerve-racking," said Carl Brown, a father of two, who works in Manhattan.

School officials said no decision has been reached on whether to move the center out of Washington Elementary School. However, officials acknowledge they are considering such action, along with other options for saving money. They also note that Little Scholars has long been in partial arrears on its rent, though the center's owners insist they are doing their best to pay fully.

Frank Wilkinson, the school board's vice president, told parents, "I would like to give you warm and fuzzies, but I can't. We're short of money."