Education Funding Haves & Have-Nots

ALBANY — Germantown in Columbia County and Shelter Island in Suffolk County are described as tight-knit communities. They have populations hovering just above 2,000 people, according to census data. They are both self-contained school districts composed of a single school.

In terms of state education funding, however, the two districts couldn't be further apart. Under the new budget, Germantown, a rural town across the river from Catskill, saw its education aid increase by 0.6%, a measly amount compared to the 10% average increase statewide.
Shelter Island, a resort town between the forks of Long Island, almost doubled its state aid with an increase of 90.5%, a figure that towers above other districts in the surrounding area and in the rest of the state. New York City, by comparison, is getting a 10% increase, not including new building aid.

"I just pray that that's correct," a member of Shelter Island's school board, Barbara Warren, an adjunct professor at Hofstra University, said in an interview. "I don't believe it until I see the check."

Governor Spitzer has sought to drive more money to poorer districts and less money to wealthier districts, replacing a long-standing, rigid formula that sent the same share of money to New York City, Long Island, and the upstate region regardless of demographic changes.
To get Senate Republicans of Long Island on board the final budget, Mr. Spitzer agreed to supplement his "foundation" formula with new computations and special add-ons that came close to approximating the regional breakdown of funding that had existed for decades. Republicans are not guaranteed those supplements next year, administration officials say.

While on a macro level the distribution of $1.76 billion in new state education money doesn't appear to be dramatically different, the resulting patchwork of formulas, which could fill a blackboard, has had a less predictable effect on the district level, where there are clear winners and losers.

In many cases, it's not evident why one district was more deserving than another. Shelter Island has a higher median household income than Germantown and a lower poverty rate. It also has higher local taxes, which usually translates into more aid.

Superintendents around the state have discovered that despite the change, their districts are at the mercy of a convoluted game of chance.

"Any time there's a major revamping in the state aid formula, generally there are winners and losers," the superintendent of Germantown, Patrick Gabriel, said in an interview. "In our case, the change in the state aid formula resulted in such a clear inequity that we end up being more than just a loser. We have been left out completely."

The only bright spot for the district in this year's budget is a $700,000 pot of capital building money.

Mr. Gabriel said he has written the Spitzer administration to complain about the lack of new funding for the Germantown school, which has a K-12 enrollment of about 700 students, all in one building. He said he's looking forward, however, with a life's-not-fair attitude.

"Here's our reality: This is a school district that's going to provide for the kids in the district one way or another," he said. "We have to play the hand that we were dealt." He said the "irony" of the funding outcome is that Germantown has improved its education performance in recent years.

A major reason Shelter Island won big has to do with a new temporary funding pool that gives "transitional" money to school districts that are losing money and students to nearby charter schools.

The district received $200,000 in transitional aid, an amount equal to almost half of the total school aid it received last year. The district is set to receive $775,000 in aid this year, up from $406,000 the year before.

Ms. Warren said CDCH Charter School in East Hampton has lured away about 10 students from Shelter Island, which has an enrollment of about 270. She described Shelter Island "as close to a private school you can get but still be a public school."

Mr. Gabriel said Germantown took the biggest hit in the Public Excess Cost funding category that is supposed to cover costs of educating students with disabilities. He said he doesn't know why the school did poorly in that area. "I haven't looked at the formula closely," he said.

At first, it seemed that Germantown didn't win the contest for biggest loser, according to data provided by the Spitzer administration. The school aid "runs" show the Clymer district in Chautauqua County is losing state aid by 0.56%.

Thankfully for Clymer, the figure is apparently a mistake. "It didn't make sense," the superintendent, Ralph Wilson, said. He quickly realized that one of the district's number crunchers, who has since retired, mistakenly underestimated its transportation costs in the data supplied to the state. The district should see its aid go up by a more respectable 4%, Mr. Wilson said.