School District Predicts State Aid Decrease
By Stephanie Mariel Petrellese

The Garden City School District might see a possible decrease of $427,000 in state aid as administrators prepare for their first public budget session on Monday.

"It's not a pretty sight for Garden City and similar districts," announced Superintendent of Schools Dr. Robert Feirsen at the January 28th Board of Education meeting.

A major reason for the decrease is a change in high tax aid, which will result in an estimated revenue loss of $630,000. "Garden City, like a number of other districts, receives high tax aid," explained Albert Chase, assistant superintendent for business and finance. "The rules were changed under the governor's proposal so that any district whose wealth exceeds 2 1/2 times the state average will not be eligible." Chase also noted that the district will feel the impact of Governor Eliot Spitzer's cut in foundation aid from three to two percent.

Chase explained that the decrease of $427,000 in state aid differs from the $225,000 projected by Newsday because he is including $202,000 in grant money for an experimental pre-K program that the district will not accept. "That is not something that the district expects to run, nor does it have the space to run," he said.

"All in all, it's not a pretty picture," Chase said. "However, the governor's budget is generally not a pretty picture. It rarely is."

Chase expects legislators will make numerous changes to the budget before it is finalized, and hopes the district in the end will break even or see a slight gain. "I think there's a long fight ahead of us up in Albany," Chase said. "Whether or not we will have a budget by April 1 is sort of debatable because of the fact that so many Long Island districts have realized such a substantial loss of income."

The first public budget work session will be held on Monday at 8:15 p.m. in the Garden City High School library. For a complete list of budget sessions, visit www.gardencity.k12.ny.us.