Once again, the South Colonie Central School District is facing the potential of a budget gap as it begins looking at its 2015-16 fiscal year.
The reasons are the same as they have been for the last several years. The district must present a budget that does not exceed the state’s 4 percent property tax cap, and the state is unlikely to restore the amount of aid the district needs to bridge the gap. It’s a catch-22 that is being repeated in school districts across New York.
Adding to the ambiguity is the delay in Governor Andrew Cuomo’s State of the State address and budget proposal — one that was created by the passing of his father, former Governor Mario Cuomo. The delay means there will be no hard state aid figures for districts to work with until late January. That may not seem like a big deal, but it is because districts like South Colonie won’t know how much they might have to cut from their budgets until they’re well into the process of creating them.
South Colonie handled the budget gap last year by cutting transportation costs and eliminating a teaching position in the physical education department. It will be interesting to see how it handles any potential budget gap this time around, as it tries to maintain services and staffing levels. Perhaps with the decrease in the amount of pension contributions the district will be making, there will be enough savings to avoid cutting staff this time around, which would be a positive step.
Still, we would love to see the state make a bigger effort to fund education not only in South Colonie, but also across the board. The state has held the fiscal line for several years as it’s been climbing out of its own budget deficit. But now that the economy has improved and there is a budget surplus, we feel it’s time state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli begins restoring aid to every school district so ones like South Colonie can better maintain the services they provide to the community. It’s only fair, especially after school districts did what was requested of them and learned to operate within the constraints they dealt with.
South Colonie isn’t counting on that, though. It’s moving forward with the belief there will still be a budget gap for the 2015-16 fiscal year. Hopefully this time, the cuts will be small and far less painful than last year.
