Budget Proposals: Unanswered Questions

While it's too early to get much of a handle on Gov. George Pataki's vast budgetary proposals, which he presented to the State Legislature Tuesday, we can be excused for reacting somewhat cynically.

The Governor would, among other things, cut property taxes, increase state aid to schools - though not consistently on the South Fork - penalize districts that have more than the 12 percent state average of special education students, and funnel funds to so-called charter, or alternative, schools.

The proposals as they have been described so far beg all sorts of questions. Residents here can be forgiven if they wonder how state aid will be increased even as property taxes are significantly cut. If it sounds too good to be true, it may, indeed, be. Then, too, if the results mean an inexorable shift in school funding from the property tax to the income tax, the shift ought to be debated for what it is.

If any school districts have been capricious in segregating children into special education programs, knowing that state and county aid would be forthcoming, the practice should, of course, be stopped, although the "mainstreaming" of children with special needs usually has added costs for the districts. The capping of the number of students who can attend state special-education programs, however, seems arbitrary if not callous.

On the other hand, if the state allows parents and community members, without interference from school boards, to design charter schools to serve students on a more individual basis rather than as ruses for the public funding of sectarian programs, they could help improve the quality of education.

Supply-side economics sounds marvelous: Unfetter capital, cut property taxes, increase state aid. . . There is a contradictory ring to the Governor's proposals, however, and we expect the state's educators and decision-makers to study them very carefully before being seduced.