North Shore Sun

Longwood student council president Robert Hohn speaks out at a rally protesting Gov. David Paterson's proposed cuts to state aid.

Concerned over Governor David Paterson's proposed $1.4 billion state aid reduction to education, a group of school and community leaders met at Longwood High School Thursday to have their voices heard.

"We are one of several events taking place across New York state today to show our support for public education," said Longwood superintendent Allan Gerstenlauer. "The current funding system that we have in place for public education on Long Island and across the state is clearly broken."

Longwood is facing a decrease of nearly $6 million in total school aid it will receive from the state. Middle Country (5.95 percent) and Copiague (3.2 percent) are the only Suffolk County districts facing a larger percentage reduction of state aid from their overall budgets.Eastern Suffolk BOCES CEO Gary Bixhorn called on legislators to take other immediate actions such as looking at ways to bring down the cost of the state's managed Empire health insurance program; passing legislation to allow school districts to more easily share services through BOCES or directly between other districts; and to establish a taxpayer report card that would resemble the requirement of schools to publish annual financial records.

All levels of government should be required to publish the same information, Mr. Bixhorn said. It should be held up to the same level of scrutiny as our schools.If we look back with the campaign for fiscal equity settlement, New York made a promise to the children of this state, said East Islip superintendent Wendell Chu, president of the Suffolk County School Superintendents Association. It committed to reversing the chronic underfunding of schools and providing resources to support the sound basic education. If the executive budget is allowed to stand, New York will be nearly $5 billion short of that promise just made a few short years ago.

Longwood Board of Education president Michael Loguercio said that while Longwood has the benefit of healthy reserve accounts and a fund balance, other districts won't be so fortunate. William Floyd superintendent Paul Casciano said his district is looking at a reduction of approximately 140 jobs, including over 50 teaching positions. He added that the district has the largest foreclosure rate in all of New York state, making a tax hike an impossibility.

Mr. Loguercio agreed that it's the difficult financial spot many residents are in that makes state cuts so troubling.We recognize that the state is in a serious fiscal crisis, but so are the residents of this community, Mr. Loguercio said. We are here by demanding that the state keeps its promise to our children, our residents and our community.

While the utilization of school district reserves has been brought up by the state as a possible solution to cover the loss of aid, Dianne Hettrich, the New York State United Teachers Board of Directors and a 30-year resident of the Longwood School District, said that suggestion can't be sustained in the long-run."

It would be a Band Aid approach, which we've done in many years in the past,"she said.

Ashley Gargulio, Longwood's 2010 senior class president, said she worries that opportunities past generations have had may not be available to her.

"My goal for the future is to return to Longwood as an art teacher," Ms. Gargulio said. "That's just something I've always wanted to do. However, as New York state's current economic strife continues to cause property taxes to skyrocket and impact our education, I can not be too sure Ill be able to turn my dream into a reality."

jennifer@northshoresun.com