By JIMMY LAWTON

Although most St. Lawrence County schools will see an increase in aid next year, some St. Lawrence County representatives and school superintendents say the proposal leaves many unanswered questions.

Massena Central School District Superintendent Patrick Brady, who formerly served in the same position in Potsdam, and Assemblywoman Addie J. Russell D-Theresa say they are pleased with some aspects of the governor’s proposal, but have some major areas of concern.

“The Governor has pledged an increase of $2.1 billion for our schools over the next two years,” Russell said.

“The devil is in the details. Unfortunately, the executive budget proposal once again fails to adequately fund the state’s Foundation Aid formula or close the Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA) for average needs districts, driving our schools further down the road to fiscal and educational insolvency.

Community Schools Aid

One of the mysteries presented by in governor’s budget is the new community school’s aid. Brady says he believes the concept of the funding centers on making schools acting as community centers that provide adult activities, health clinics and other community oriented services. But, in his speech the governor made no mention of the funding that appeared in the state school aid predications.

“Unfortunately it’s being counted as part of our total aid package, but we don’t know how it can be used,” he said.

For Brady that means a large portion of his district’s funding, about $272,000 in new aid, can’t be used in early budget preparations.

“We have to wait until we know more before we can decide how we are going to allocate it,” he said.

Of course, the governor’s budget is often quite different from the final budget. Brady said he and other superintendents will be reaching out to legislators with hopes of bringing in more Foundation Aid.

This type of aid is less restricted than many types of aid school’s receive. Traditionally the final budget includes more aid than the governor’s proposal. Brady says he hopes that happens this year, because the governor’s allocations fall far short of needs for most schools.

“The governor wants to invest $991 million on schools. That’s about $1.4 billion, less than half, of what the board of regents asked for,” he said.

Brady said the governor’s tone was much improved from last year and he was glad to see that schools would not be placed in a competition to receive aid.

Russell says she also has many questions about the Community School Aid, but she believes the funding is intended for low income and under performing school districts.

“I believe the governor’s proposal is targeting funding to schools that are not meeting state targets in terms of achievement. That’s been a problem in the past, under-funded schools often have lower achievement scores,” she said.

Unfortunately Russell is also in the dark about what restrictions might be attached to the funding. She said she intends to find out and present details once they become available.

Gap Elimination Adjustment

For many schools, this year will mark the end of a long standing budget gimmick that denied schools aid they had been previously been entitled to. The measure was known as the Gap Elimination Adjustment.

Eliminating the GEA is something Canton, Potsdam and many other schools district’s throughout the North Country have been calling for since it was enacted in 2010.

The GEA was established as part of the 2010 budget to help close New York’s then-$10 billion budget deficit. Under the legislation, a portion of the state’s revenue shortfall is split among all school districts throughout the state and subtracted from school district aid. The GEA has been heavily criticized by local school districts which have struggled to make ends meet in recent years.

However the GEA has been chipped away at over the past six years and for most high-needs districts, it will be eliminated completely.

Brady says that while this is good news, for most districts in St. Lawrence County it will not have a significant impact.

“The reality is, for most of the county’s school districts, it won’t make much difference,” he said.

In Massena, the GEA restoration will bring about $6,000 to the school.

“For those district’s it’s really just a drop in the bucket at this point. We are glad to see it go, but the impact is very small,” he said.

That isn’t true for all schools. Canton and Potsdam, which are average needs school districts will see about $200,000 restored to their budgets and continue to carry a GEA balance next year.

Russell says she hopes to see the GEA eliminated for all schools this year.

“In my district alone, the budget proposal leaves schools with $1.1 million owed due to the GEA, which has not been restored. We need to target the GEA restoration in this year’s budget to average needs districts. It is the right thing to do for North Country schools,” she said.

Russell acknowledged that the GEA elimination would do little to help the high needs districts this year, but said it is very important to districts like Canton, that are considered average needs schools, but tend not to have the tax-based that many schools that share that designation.

“I feel it’s schools like Canton that have borne the brunt of the problems with school aid related to the GEA,” she said.

Nice, But Low Impact

Brady said the governor’s call for a $200 tax break for teachers who spend their own money on school supplies is nice, but will do little for educators in general.

“It’s nice that he is recognizing teachers for the commitment they make by offering a small tax break to them. It’s not real significant, but it’s nice,” he said.

The governor also called for a major investment in pre-k programs, but Brady said he believes the majority of that funding will go toward low-income urban school districts. Brady said those districts are likely in need of the funding, but expected the pre-k allocations for St. Lawrence County schools would be minor.

“The governor was less strident toward teachers and school’s this year. He had a better tone, but he didn’t come out with significant programmatic changes,” he said. “Hopefully our representatives will be looking at our school’s needs as they prepare the final budget.”

Russell said she intends to put forward revisions that will have a stronger impact on North Country Schools.

“I will keep fighting for our students who continue to be shortchanged. There will need to be significant revisions to the way school aid is divided up. That is what we will be focusing on over the next few weeks.“

Traditionally, the legislature has been successful in increasing school aid in the final budget.

“I definitely expect that we as a legislature will get more funding for our schools,” she said.

Addie says she would like to see that $991 million investment raised to the board of regents suggestion of 2.3 billion, but added that it might be a stretch to achieve.

“I’m hopeful we can get there, but there is only so much money we can move around in the budget,” she said. “However, we have an obligation and I hope everyone understands that investing in our kids’ education is paramount to making a strong economy and vibrant community.