NYS Aid To BCS Drops By $1.2 Million

by David Flint
Governor Cuomo’s budget submitted to the State Legislature last week would cut State aid to the Berlin Central School District by $1.2 million. That’s a drop in funding of 13%. Interim Superintendent Brian Howard warned at the last School Board meeting that the proposed cut would be severe. He thought it might even be as high as last year’s slashing of $634,000. As it turns out, Cuomo is thinking bigger.
Complicating matters further is the fact that the State Senate last week with bipartisan support passed a tax cap bill that restricts school districts from raising taxes by more than 2% or the inflation rate, whichever is lower. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is expected to submit a tax cap bill in the Assembly as well. If tax cap becomes law, it won’t affect school budgets until next year but given the same circumstances then, Berlin would have to make up about a million dollars from program and/or staff cutbacks.
Interim Schools Superintendent Brian Howard said he and Interim Business Manager William Burke are already busy analyzing all the facts and figures in Berlin’s budget and the Governor’s proposal and trying to figure out the best way to deal with it. On first glance it seemed to him that some of the assumptions the Governor was making about the District may not be correct. But he is not optimistic and believes that the Governor’s projected State aid will probably not change by much. This, he said, will make for some tough decisions.
Howard believes that a district with the income levels and needs that Berlin has should not be cut so much. He had said at the Board meeting that Berlin’s poverty level would probably mean it would not be hit as hard as more wealthy suburban districts. But there seems to be no rhyme or reason about some of the cuts. Hoosick Falls stands to be cut about the same as Berlin. New Lebanon will be cut by only 7%. But a wealthier district such as East Greenbush, for example, gets cut by the same rate as Berlin. South Colonie is cut 11%, Bethlehem 10% and Guilderland and Voorheesville 9%. Howard said he would be contacting State Senate and Assembly representatives to get their take on this.
“We will do a complete analysis of everything in the budget and then we’ll know the picture better,” Howard said. “But it looks like the cuts will be substantial.”