Clamor for Cash

Local school officials feared doom and gloom and the worst case scenario was presented Tuesday by Governor David Paterson in his 2010-2011 budget message to members of the New York State Legislature.

School aid was ravaged by $46 million in Westchester, by $21.5 million in Dutchess, and by more than a whopping $5 million for Putnam’s seven school districts.

The Mahopac District, Putnam’s largest, received the heaviest reduction in state aid—$1.7 million or down by 5.7 percent.

The Carmel School District is slated to lose $1.1 million or a 4.8 percent reduction. The Brewster School District ,which is the county’s third largest public school system, took a $1.4 million hit in state aid, down by 9.6 percent.

The North Salem School District’s state aid reduction totaled $300,000 or down by 13 percent under the governor’s proposal.

On the western side of the county, the Putnam Valley District has been slated to lose $560,000 or 7.24 percent while the Haldane and Garrison Districts— the county’s two smallest—also received drastic reductions—$298,000 for Haldane or 12 percent, and $89,000 or an 11 percent reduction for Garrison.

Mahopac Superintendent Thomas Manko described the governor’s cuts as a “doomsday scenario. We all know that members of the legislature must now react. The lawmakers in Albany realize how fiscal conditions will dictate the quality of instruction. The bottom line: We are all waiting for the legislature’s response.”

Brewster Superintendent Dr. Jane Sandbank told the Courier her district was “beginning to understand what the numbers say. The numbers tell a frightening story and all of us in the Hudson Valley have been hit hard due to the loss of state revenues resulting from last year’s Wall Street downturn.”

Dr. Sandbank forecast the “2010- 2011 school year will not be business as usual.”

Meanwhile State Senator Vincent Leibell cautioned the public the numbers released on Tuesday were the “governor’s proposal. My colleagues and I will be working with these numbers over the next few months in an attempt to find other places where assets and money can be drawn.”

Leibell begged school officials “not to panic. Clearly we have experienced a national, worldwide, and local recession. We also must realize in order to compete in the future with other states and other countries, education will be the key. Ways must be found to ensure that education is provided to our young people in an effective and efficient way.”

Assemblyman Greg Ball criticized the governor’s budget as being reckless: “It’s time to cut taxes and fees on small business while drastically reducing the size of government at every level and at the same time kick-start the economy by working with the private sector.”

Ball charged the governor’s answer to the state’s morass was to “hit New Yorkers where it hurts most—education, healthcare, homes, and ultimately higher property taxes.”

The executive director of the NYS School Boards Association sympathized with the governor for “being caught between a rock and a hard place.”

Timothy Kremer called the fiscal implications of the proposed budget “devastating for school districts which are highly dependent on state aid and have limited reserves with little room to cut. Programs will be jeopardized.”

“For New York to remain the Empire State and develop economically by creating new jobs, introducing new technologies and other innovations, we will need a highly trained educated workforce,” Kremer said. “Public education is and must forever be the state’s number one priority.”