Clarkstown Schools Get $1.4M in New Federal Aid

Clarkstown school officials learned today the district is getting an infusion of $1.4 million from the federal government through the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act signed by President Barack Obama two weeks ago.

Schools Superintendent Margaret Keller-Cogan said she is recommending the school board put the money aside for the 2011-2012 budget, when the district is facing the loss of $5 million in federal aid with the end of economic stimulus programs.

However, school board president Phillip DeGaetano today said he wants to use the money immediately so the district can restore teaching and teaching assistant positions Clarkstown has eliminated as budget-cutting measures. DeGaetano said the money could help the district provide classroom services to boost test scores.

"I am not happy with our test scores," said DeGaetano. "If we can use the money right away, I say we should put it to work helping use raise those test scores and bringing back the type of quality education Clarkstown is used to."

U.S. Rep. Nita Lowey, D-Rockland and Westchester, alerted Clarkstown school officials Tuesday that they would be seeing a significant amount of money from the new program and Keller-Cogan received written notice from the federal government today.

"Tight state and local budgets throughout our region have made federal assistance critical to maintain the high-quality education our children deserve," said Lowey, whose district includes the Clarkstown and North Rockland school districts.  "I am pleased Congress passed and President Obama signed into law legislation creating a $10 billion Education Jobs Fund, which will keep 8,200 teachers in New York classrooms, including right here in Rockland County."

The new funding comes at the same time that New York has been awarded about $700 million in federal education funding through the "Race to the Top" program. However, Keller-Cogan said the funds in this program are being allocated based on a district's economic need, and she anticipates Clarkstown will only see about $200,000 from Race to the Top funds.

Keller-Cogan said the $1.4 million coming to Clarkstown through the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act will not lead to a reduction in other aid to the district. She said aid figures for Clarkstown show that Clarkstown is now expecting a total of $28.4 million, up from the previously anticipated $27 million.

At a meeting today at Clarkstown Central School District headquarters in New City that included Lowey, Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee, D-Suffern, Assemblyman Kenneth Zebrowski, D-New City, and Rockland County Legislature Chairwoman Harriet Cornell, D-West Nyack, school officials discussed the impact of the new funding. Keller-Cogan said she will formally recommend to the school board that the new $1.4 million be banked for the next school year.

Keller-Cogan said that with the end of federal economic stimulus funds for education, Clarkstown faces a 4 percent tax increase just to cover the $5 million the district will no longer be receiving. For the 2010-2011 school year, Clarkstown continued its cost-cutting efforts to keep the school tax increase at about 2 percent. Those cuts included an overhaul of the district's athletic programs, with the elimination of freshman level sports, the combination of some high school teams — such as high school ice hockey — and combination of teams at Felix Festa Middle School. The cutbacks included a reduction in the number of assistant coaches hired by the district.

DeGaetano agreed the district faces financial challenges in the next budget, but he said he believes the district has an immediate need to bolster educational efforts in the classroom that will show results on state-mandated standardized tests.

DeGaetano said he was disappointed in July when the latest scores for English and math proficiency tests were published. Scores throughout the state plummeted because the state Education Department created new testing categories to gauge student progress and changed the way test results are broken down for students in grades three to eight.

The change in the test scoring was part of the state's package of education changes put in place in hopes of winning the Race to the Top federal funding.

District administrators said the latest results show Clarkstown students performed about as well as they did the year before. But DeGaetano said he believes the district has too many students who are not meeting state standards.

"I think we have to do something about this right away," said DeGaetano. "I am in favor of putting back teachers and teacher assistants into the classrooms."

DeGaetano said Clarkstown's recent cuts have included the loss of three teaching positions and 22 teaching assistants throughout the district. He wants the district to see about restoring those positions as soon as possible.