Local schools stripped of state aid
State budget cuts are deep at Longwood, Mount Sinai
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Governor David Paterson cut state aid to education by $1.1 billion in his proposed 2010-11 budget, which was unveiled last week. Longwood and Mount Sinai would be hit harder than most any other Suffolk school districts, but both superintendents say they are in a good position to take the hit.
The Longwood and Mount Sinai school districts would lose 2.93 percent and 2.84 percent of their respective total budgets under the governor's proposed spending plan.
For Longwood that means a decrease of nearly $6 million in total school aid it will receive from the state. Only Middle Country (5.95 percent) and Copiague (3.2 percent) would see a greater percentage of state aid reduced from their overall budgets.
Longwood superintendent Allan Gerstenlauer said the district is in the early stages of figuring out how to cover the potential $6 million state aid gap, but will focus a lot of its efforts now toward trying to convince state legislators to look for ways to restore some of what the governor has proposed cutting.
"We're trying to influence our legislators in any way they can to provide assistance," Dr. Gerstenlauer said.
Should those funds not be restored, the superintendent said one option would be to dip into district reserves to close the gap, but he warned that reserves cannot be used to make up the full $6 million.
Mount Sinai, meanwhile, would lose the fifth highest percentage of its overall budget of all Suffolk districts, losing about $1.5 million. That marks a 10 percent reduction from the current school year.
But superintendent Anthony Bonasera said negotiations with the district's unions have already led to a $1.4 million reduction in expenses for next school year, so he's confident the district can quickly close the gap.
"That's pretty much put us at square one," the superintendent said.
Dr. Bonasera also said the district is in the early stages of putting together its budget for 2010-11, and he's optimistic that spending will not increase and possibly even decrease.
Should the State Legislature restore any of the aid the governor has proposed cutting, "we'd come out a little ahead," Dr. Bonasara said.
Longwood and Mount Sinai aren't the only local districts impacted by the cuts. Rocky Point also stands to lose about $1.5 million in state aid, amounting to 2.3 percent of its total budget.
Miller Place and Shoreham-Wading River will see a much less dramatic reduction in state aid than the other three local schools, with both districts seeing less than $1 million stripped from their usual state aid packages.
How the state determined how much each district would lose remains a mystery to administrators.
"We're trying to figure that out," said Dr. Bonasera, who added that BOCES provides a service to determine those calculations for districts. "We're yet to get that answer.
"The whole system's so convoluted."
Dr. Gerstenlauer also questioned the process, saying he believes there's already a basic flaw in the foundation formula that impacts Longwood -- which he said relies more heavily on state aid than many other districts -- more than neighboring schools.
"So when you reduce the amount of aid we're already receiving, it puts us in a hole that makes it even more challenging for districts like [us]," the superintendent said.
gparpan@northshoresun.com
How much state aid is your district losing?
Longwood
$5.98 million
Miller Place
$701,192
Mount Sinai
$1.53 million
Rocky Point
$1.47 million
Shoreham-Wading River
$507,006
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