Editorial: State owes us on-time budgets

For years there has been an inconsistency in the requirements New York State has for its budget, while imposing strict deadlines school districts must meet.

Only for a few years has the state completed its budget in time for districts to know how much aid they may get. That’s a bit like negotiating a mortgage on a house purchase without knowledge of how much income the purchaser has to meet monthly payments.

There’s nothing wrong with the requirement that the state to settle its budget by April 1. Districts would still have several weeks to finalize their own budgets. But typically, by about the third week in April when school districts must adopt their budgets, on which taxpayers vote in the third week in May, it’s guesswork about what income might be coming from the state.

There’s plenty of speculation based on comments from the governor and members of the Legislature. But speculation doesn’t pay the bills. The governor knows the deadline, as do legislators, but the wrangling goes on as more of a political show than a practical means of achieving a sound budget.
What most administrators and Boards of Education are forced to do is to plug in a number on state aid equal or close to what they received for the current school year.

That’s tricky: Get less and you could have trouble paying planned expenses. Get more and you could be facing criticism and even penalties for having too high a fund balance because of money you couldn’t plan to spend without knowing if you definitely would be able to pay for incurred expenses.

Everyone complains about the late budgets, but no one suggests holding state officials to established deadlines.

“Greater predictability in the state funding process would benefit districts, taxpayers and students alike,” said Shelter Island Superintendent Brian Doelger. “Just as municipalities and school districts are required to meet strict budget deadlines, the state should be held to a similar timeline.”

We couldn’t have said it better.